Five Examples of Successful Social Media Strategies in Business

Social media has become the new cost of entry for businesses.  Ten years ago it was all about having a website - even if you were a brick and mortar business.  Now, its not enough to have a website, you have to have a close, ongoing relationship with your customer, and social media is the new venue for these customer relationship management (CRM) efforts.  Listed below are five examples of businesses that I think are doing it well:

1.  Starbucks - Blog:  www.mystarbucksidea.com  

Starbucks employs its blog as a global brainstorming platform. Customers submit ideas for new drinks, food items, packages, even store designs. The company blogs about the ideas (about 100,000 so far!) and readers build on the ideas through comments and ratings.

2.  Zappos - Facebook:  www.facebook.com/zappos

Zappos uses Facebook as its culture cultivator: using discussion posts, wall updates, a Fan of the Week contest, and other tactics to whip their fans into a frenzy.  

3.  HuHot Mongolian Grill - Pinterest:  https://www.huhot.com/Recipe_Contest

HuHot is the fastest-growing Mongolian grill concept in the United States. HuHot launched a Pin It to Win It contest during the month of June, 2012. The participants had to create a HuHot recipe and pin it on one of their own pinboards in order to enter the contest.

4.  Apple - YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/Apple

Apple's YouTube channel is straightforward: repurpose its television commercial content, archive special announcements by founder Steve Jobs, and republish longer product-related videos from its website. 

5.  SaraChristensen.com - Twitter:  https://twitter.com/saracxoxo 

This San Diego-based online weight loss and women's holistic health website uses twitter to keep it's followers motivated and informed.  The result:  building a tribe of dedicated followers who get good content...for free!