A few years ago I attended a social media conference where the keynote was given by the chief marketing officer for a brand that was touted for ‘getting’ social media.

I couldn’t wait to hear this CMO walk us through how this global brand effectively leveraged social media to connect with its customers.

About five minutes in, the CMO spilled the beans, “We are excited about social media because it gives us an exciting new way to connect with our customers and to let them tell our story for us.” Yes, I threw up in my mouth a lil’ bit.

Sadly, this has become a more prevalent theme in the last few years as brands have become entranced with connecting to their fans and advocates.

They’ve seen how companies are using services such as Klout and Kred to identify customers who are influencers, and believe there’s great untapped potential in turning their customers into megaphones for their brand.

The problem with this approach is that, shockingly, most customers are not sitting around waiting for brands to let them shill their products to their friends and family. Amazingly, this comes as a great surprise to many brands! (more…)