One of the areas where social media will excel is in the opportunity to make things our own, to give them our own look and feel. Remember when you got your first personal computer? Remember changing the background picture? Remember when you could change the theme? The world is pushing further and further into a desire for customization, and I think social media gives us a chance at custom communication/interaction.

The photo above are Disney’s Vinylmation toys (note: Hanes brought me to Walt Disney World for an event, but I wasn’t paid by Hanes or Disney for any of my thoughts on their workings or properties). I thought the toys were really clever, but then I found the do-it-yourself ones. Those really caught my eye. Because once you see what others had created, your next thought (or mine, at least) was, “well, what could I do to make it look different?”

Social media allows us to customize our communication. I can talk directly to Jon Swanson, and not to preachers. I can have conversations with Glenda Watson Hyatt and not just people interested in accessibility. That means, if interested, I can talk specifically about things that matter to them, and not to crowds.

Custom is everything.

Look at these flowers. The Disney Imagineers made them for the Hanes event:

They’re made out of socks. First, it’s cool because they look like flowers. Second, it looks like a fun craft you could do with kids. Third, it’s something that didn’t have to be there. And yet, because it was, the dinner looked custom to the rest of the Hanes Comfort Crew and me. Disney SAW us. They knew we were there.

Custom is everything. Do you agree?

First, Shaun has put himself into a brand expansion by dressing 4 year olds in skateboarder clothes. Second, the art of the label is great and whimsical, and gives equal love to Shaun and Target, telling us that Shaun is involved, but Target did the heavy lifting. Third, and this is the coolest part: It’s a sticker!

So, the kid gets a shirt (pretty cool flannel-ish skateboarder buttondown). Dad stole the sticker. I can put it on my laptop or whatever. I can put it anywhere. It’s a “share” tool built into something typical like a tag for a shirt.

Yes, I realize that this is very low tech, but I see many things in this move:

• Brand expansion for Shaun.
• Partnering by Target.
• Sharing by Shaun/Target.

These are all things I think 2010 will see more of, and this little example poses a microcosm of them all summed up. If you packaged your own marketing efforts so cleverly, social media or otherwise, what would you get for results? I’m thinking you’ll get a bagful of awesome.

What say you?

Think about buying from a non-Amazon site. Maybe your site. Why would I? So, if you’re not Amazon, you’d better have a decent answer to beat my first emotional reaction: simplicity.

What would make me search your site to buy something? There are some reasons I might choose another site:

I’d go to Savvy Auntie because Melanie Notkin will give me advice that would help me buy for kids, where Amazon’s just too big to feel helpful in that regard.

I’d go to Wine Library because Gary Vaynerchuk will take the fear factor out of buying something I’m not educated about.

I’d go to Glynne’s Soaps because I appreciate Gayle and Jennifer’s efforts via social media, so it’s like buying from a friend.

Beating Simplicity and Ease of Purchase is the Goal

Think about that for a moment. We think that price matters. We think that locale matters. We think that having a good shopping cart software matters (it certainly helps). What really has to happen when you think about buying is that you have to beat the current “best in class” for “simplicity.”

It’s not enough to push the “buy local” mantra. It’s not enough to push “homemade” as the big push. You’ll find someone for every one of the reasons why you think they shouldn’t buy from Amazon or Walmart or whoever you consider to be the competition, but to my thinking, the real goal is to instill a powerful reason why someone should buy from you over anyone else.

• Expertise – Melanie and Gary give me knowledge I don’t have.
• Support – Gayle and Jennifer could use some love for all they’ve done on Twitter and Facebook. (But support like that doesn’t last forever, I’d offer.)
• Specialization – Someone like Thinkgeek does a great job of speaking to the nerd crowd.

And there are other ways. Adding value helps. Adding personalization helps. Adding some personality to every order helps.

What do you think? Who’s doing it right? Are you bucking that trend? Are you competing against any of the big guys and how are you doing it?

Photo credit will hybrid

I am completely frustrated with the state of face-to-face retail. Upon watching a commercial for the Timberland Earthkeepers brand boot, I was hooked. I wanted a pair. As I need new boots for winter, I thought this was a serendipitous opportunity. So, I marched into the nearest Timberland store (about a half hour from home), and asked to try out the new Earthkeepers.

Only, they didn’t have any. I asked the store clerk if they were sold out. No, he replied. They just didn’t have them yet. I asked him if there were other stores that stocked the boots. He gave me a few names to try out. I called two stores, Macys and Journeys. One you’ve probably heard of, and the other, not.

Macy’s took about 10 minutes to answer my call, hold time included, only to say that they’d never heard of the model of boot. Journeys answered much faster that they’d not heard of it.

Zappos.com had a few models in stock, but not very many, and not in the color I’d have preferred. (But at least they had some.) If one is going to buy shoes online, to me, there’s only one choice: Zappos, and that’s because their customer service is top shelf. Buying shoes is tricky: fit, comfort, and all kinds of other factors are hard to determine over the web.

And yet, no face-to-face store had the boot in stock, nor did they seem all that interested in helping me get a pair. In fact, they didn’t seem to want my money at all.

I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated that Timberland is advertising something their stores and their affiliate stores don’t carry. I’m frustrated that the only purchase points seem to be online. And I’m not frustrated for me, a reasonably savvy tech consumer. I’m frustrated that I learned about these shoes via a TV commercial (saw it at my parents’ house during Thanksgiving), and that I couldn’t actually get the shoes in a store. Further, I’m frustrated that no parts of the distribution chain seemed to know much about the shoe in question.

I guess, in thinking this all over a bit more, I’ve come to realize that there’s really very little reason to walk into a brick and mortar retail store for most products these days. I can research better on the web. I can get better opinions on the web. I can find better deals via the web. And I can actually order something that was advertised, when using a web channel.

What does that tell YOU about retail?