Doing Social Media Right

Today I watched a webinar with two of the most famous social media gurus right now. Mike Stelzner and Mari Smith who both are active consultants and professionals in the social media jungle.
The subject was "How 9 companies do Social Media Right" and it was extremely interesting to see the examples they showed.
I´d like to just write down what struck me the most this time. What I thought was most innovate and creative.
First of all, hands down to restaurant  San Chez Bistro for allowing people to reserve a table through Twitter. Great innovative thinking and just what people like me need. To all restaurant owners: More of that please!
Next up Ford Motors. Its no brain surgery that Ford is famous for having done social just right for quite a while now. This example was their "Stories" tab and the "Idea" tab. This basically is a way for people to share THEIR stories about their Ford Explorers or Escorts. The idea tab is similar to what Starbucks does with My Starbucks Idea where people can actually contribute with ideas about how to make the coffee better. Awesome work!
 Martell Home Builders build new homes and have a widget on their webpage which shows where exactly on a map your closest contractor is. GENIUS for brands that deliver Pizza or flowers or Cupcakes. Ge-location, I´ve said it before and I´ll say it again. Rocks!

Then we have Zappos.  2 things I love: The CEO is actively tweeting, Go Tony! Secondly they promote a Fan Of The Week which I find absolutely great. Voting, Engagement, Activity isn't that what Social Media is all about?

These are the take-aways:

Develop USEFUL content
Profile your raving fans
Make your content easy and sharable, and FUN!
Build community
Encourage fans to share stories
Make involvement fun
Try Fb e-commerce
Think outside the box
Create special offers for fansTweet