I have been lucky enough to be asked to speak a lot lately about social media and how to use it. Time and time again the questions focus on:  “How do I use it for my business?”  Here is a case study on how I would do social media if I was Converse, the shoe company.

I am a member of AAF Little Rock and was asked to speak at our District 10 conference. While there,  another AAF member (and friend), Kyle Proctor (Director of Public Relations for Centennial Bank), commented on how one of the other presenters was wearing Converse shoes and he asked if I had a pair. Kyle went on to say he had always wanted to try them. I told him I had never owned a pair but wanted to try them, too. We joked about creative types and how, somehow, Converse shoes seemed “cool” in our industry. My presentation was the next morning. Lo and behold, Kyle showed up (as he put it) “Rock’n the Cons”.  Somehow our conversation was the deciding factor to purchase the shoes. Now that he had a pair, I thought “Well, if Kyle can pull them off, so can I”.  So, that next week, I bought my first pair of Converse shoes. When I showed them to my wife, she told me a story of a purple pair of Converse shoes that she had in High School. She had hand-bleached them and remembered how “cool” they were. Of course, I had to tweet about my purchase…

My 6 year old daughter remembered that she had a green pair of Converse shoes and had to wear them the day I did

And the conversation continues….

So the conversation affected 7 people on Twitter. “So what”,  you say;  “just some useless babbling about shoes”?  Not useless babbling, but leads!  How could Converse have turned the conversation into a sale? First,  they could have engaged Kyle and myself to ensure we were happy with our purchases and remind us to go to the website and build our own custom pair. They could have offered us, or anyone in the conversation, a discount, a coupon, or even a free pair. They could have engaged Kerri and made her an offer for her “I will never give up” shoes  or asked her to upload a picture of them for a fan site or other social media site. Converse could make a viral video for Tonya on how to get away with wearing Chucks to work. I could go on and on with great ideas, but the bottom line is this:  if they were listening, they could have engaged with their customers, extended their brand, and made a few sales along the way.

BTW, here is me “Rock’n the Cons” at my last presentation, hope it makes me look cooler..LOL (thanks to @ROBmcbryde for taping)

Pocket cam video of the half-day conference *Integrating Media: Old-School Strategies Using New-School Tools* held in North Little Rock on Sept. 25, 2009.

“Social Media Tools and Tricks”
by Brant Collins

aaf advertising converse Social media Twitter