Really. No Joke.

The Mobile Applications consultant, from Providence, R.I., has asked that people keep their purchases to $3 or less and that they tweet or blog about his project. He has also put in the facility to allow individuals to “pay it forward” by adding funds to the card if they so wish. His Twitter Account posts the current balance each time a transaction is made on the card.

It was while researching Mobile Payments for a start-up company in Boston that he came up with the idea. He took a screenshot of his Starbucks card on his iPhone and emailed it to himself. He found that by opening the image on any of his phones that the Starbucks barista could scan it and take funds from his Starbucks card account. He then made the image available to the world.

People with no smartphone were printing out the picture and taking that into Starbucks, one person even had the barista scan his laptop screen.

At the start of the project, in July, Stark had less than 100 followers on Twitter, so the card balance was always fairly low. But then, over the first weekend in August, his experiment was discovered and his followers have already gone past the 5,000 mark in a matter of days.

The card is constantly emptied and charged, with anonymous donations being made by those individuals wanting to contribute something back.

Stark has been criticised by some people who say he should donate money to a good cause rather than giving away coffee to people with smartphones, but he sees his experiment more as an example of “humans being good.”

“It’s literally giving people hope,” Stark said. “Ultimately the goal is for more people to do this kind of thing. I admit it seems a little frivolous to give away coffee to people with iPhones. But imagine if you had a CVS card and you could give someone $10 for their Alzheimer’s medication. The concept of frictionless social giving is very attractive. And this is just the beginning of that.”

It may be that, in the years to come, this kind of activity becomes the norm, with businesses being able to “give” their services for “free” – funded, in part or whole, by donations from users or individuals who see it as a worthwhile cause, in the same way that Shareware computer programmers accept donations for their software.

So is this a simple social experiment, or is it, perhaps, a great marketing and advertising ploy? Stark is getting his name known globally for the price of a few cups of coffee and that’s simply got to be cheap advertising!

You can visit Jonathan Stark’s Starbucks Card here.

This post originally appeared on the SugarUK Blogs.

Here’s a list of things you should avoid posting:

1. Party Photos showing you drunk or with a hand somewhere it shouldn’t be.
2. That you are having a party – unless you really want more people than you invited!
3. Passwords – unless you can afford to lose the information or money it protects.
4. That you are planning to take a sickie.
5. Drama with your friends.
6. Issues with your parents or family.
7. How to get more connections, friends or followers – it sounds like spam.
8. Your bodily functions – really, no-one needs or wants to know!
9. Photos or events which reveal your were not sick that day at work.
10. Complaints about your boss.
11. That you hate your job and want to leave – it may happen sooner than you think.
12. Links to personal sites from a business account – keep business and pleasure separate.
13. Updates that you have escaped from jail and are on the run (stop laughing – this has been done!).
14. Pictures of your, or worse other people’s, body parts (unless this is part of your job – tattoist for example).
15. Anything which you are not comfortable with – don’t post it. Chances are that other people won’t be comfortable with it either!

Some of the above list may seem obvious, some not so obvious.
Can you think of any others which are definite no-nos when it comes to Social Networking?

Now…I set my sights on one goal – SugarCon 2011! This year’s event is going to be so bad-ass, with some amazing sponsors and keynotes, evening events and a metric crap-load of breakout sessions for everyone in the Sugar ecosystem.

This year, we again have another jewell in the crown – the “conference within a conference” that is the Social CRM track – this year dubbed “Going Global, Mobile and Social.” Between keynote speakers like Paul Greenberg, and sessions with Esteban Kolsky, Brent Leary, Chris Carfi, Becky Carroll, Laurence Buchanan (the list goes on…) – this is one of the greatest assemblages of social media thought leaders and practitioners ever. (Seriously. Ever.)

Not a SugarCRM user but love social media?  Hit me up or social CRM track manager Brian Vellmure (@CRMstrategies on the tweet-box) and receive a discounted rate!

More information and registration info is right here.

Hope to see all of you social media and social CRM enthusiasts at the event!

Yes, Tibbr.

While Tibbr may do a lot of what people might expect from a status-update focused tool, in my opinion it fails to do anything actually benefitting a company’s attempt to be more social. Well, at least in ways that can’t be done better by other products or for free with cloud-based tools.

For one, Tibbr is all about filters and categorization – placing labels and objectifying relationships. While there is value in this – for analysis and alerts etc. – how does this really allow me to better see how my customers are aggregating and talking about my brand or services?

And really, like with Chatter and other internally-focused tools, this is more about empowering employees than connecting with customers. Again, this is an important step towards companies being more social and breaking down silos – but we have seen it all before. Tibco seems to be afraid of issues like security instead of trying to change the way companies think of internal/external information flows.

Ultimately, Tibbr is not a true social platform – it is just a nice to have tool. Like Chatter or Yammer – there is nothing really here that I would say a company can build upon to reach out, listen and improve a customer’s experience in the social realm.

Maybe I’m missing the point. Maybe Tibco thinks internal collaboration is enough. I am just waiting for more companies to understand that in order to be customer-centric, the customer needs to really be at the center of everything – not on the fringes and locked out by cultural and technological firewalls.

This plays into a concept I was discussing yesterday with my associate and very socially savvy pal Randy Hamilton. I was saying that I do believe that broad-based social networks will give way to a more diverse and rich mosaic of social sites and destinations. The combination of Facebook’s terms of service, and the fickleness of individuals makes this an almost certainty.

Also, it just makes more sense. Look at LinkedIn versus facebook. What I share on LinkedIn,  look for, and even behave inside that network is vastly different than anything I would do on facebook. For example, I could see myself clicking on an external link in LinkedIn with far less hesitation than facebook. Is there any less security risk clicking on a “business seminar” invite versus joining some silly social gaming platform inside facebook? No, but LinkedIn SEEMS more business-focused and in my silly brain, more secure.

We as individuals like to compartmentalize our lives; we want to share with the world – but only in bits and pieces and at certain times with certain people. Managing a tiered profile on a single network is annoying, time consuming and fraught with potential problems.

But what does this mean for social marketers? Until now, social media marketers have had it easy. Between some Twitter blasts and buying adwords on facebook – there really isn’t much else to do. Very few social channels have the kind of critical mass that commands marketers attention the way Twitter and facebook do. (Of course, there are a lot of very imaginative social marketers who design and execute awesome campaigns – I am just being flippant here.)

But in the near future, social media marketing will be more like, well, traditional marketing. We will have to research and discover ideal networks and channels, temper messages to the rules and expectations of those channels, measure results and adjust accordingly. Ultimately, it presents a challenge but also opportunity. Not only will there be more varied and numerous social networks, but first moving marketers will be able to establish channels and networks for themselves, stake footholds and reap the benefits.

I was talking with Mitch Lieberman (@mjayliebs to most of you) and we were discussing how for many analysts and consultants – social is seen as a silo, or simply something you drop on top of an existing IT infrastructure and then go to town. In short – a “Meatball on top of the spaghetti” – the spaghetti being the complex IT systems, apps etc. in your organization.

For many, this is how it is done, sadly. The ease of use, and perceived lack of any need for process or data integration has many people thinking they are embarking on a killer social media initiative – but in reality they might be setting themselves up for big problems later.

Instead, I argue people need to think of social media initiatives as an important layer in a tightly integrated IT stack – like a lasagna instead of a plate of pasta.

Social data, social interactions and social channels are the future – and simply throwing policies, campaigns and users at the issue just begs for problems. Instead, people need to think about  how the data will be collected and analyzed. Also, how will social interactions be tracked and measured for effectiveness, reach, and most important the positive or negative net effect on customers?

I think there are a lot of great consultants out there who understand the need to integrate social channels into traditional CRM and other internal/external processes in a very immersive manner. However, I am also seeing a lot of “gurus” and other types spread what I see as dangerous messages and quick-fix strategies towards social.

So, ask yourself… “Am I making more spaghetti or layering a lasagna?”

Also note, while it’s true I am too lazy to change spelling back to American English – I think the British English stylizing gives my thoughts a bit of an air of respectability

The explosion of social media over the past several years has certainly begun to make its mark in the business world. What started out as a primarily consumer-driven concept has become big business on many fronts: companies are marketing to customers via social networks; supporting customers and identifying trouble spots via Twitter; and leveraging these new social channels for market research and to qualify leads.

While social channels present an opportunity, companies must not forget the core foundations that actually manage the core data and processes within the organisation. New concepts like ‘social CRM’ are appealing for many reasons. But, ultimately, are not a replacement for traditional CRM. Rather, it is more important to augment existing CRM strategies and systems with social tools – because abandoning core systems could lead to chaos inside the organisation.

To best navigate your move into social CRM, it is useful to ask yourself five simple questions before spending precious time and other resources towards a social media endeavour:

1. Where are my customers and prospects aggregating online?

This seems fairly simple, but might be more complex than it seems.  For large B2C organisations, it may be enough to blast messaging across sites like Facebook. But for more niche markets and products, or more specialised B2B sales models – it may take some more research and listening to your customers before you begin any outreach via social channels.

2. How will this social initiative enhance the customer experience?

Just being social for the sake of being social is useless, and can backfire. For many B2B sales and support organisations, social media should be a means of adding convenience to the sales or customer support cycle – not an intrusive waste of time. Insure that your social interactions are a benefit, not a detractor to the overall customer experience.

3. Am I using social media to hide deeper flaws in my business?

Many companies are using social media as a “band-aid” to hide poor support processes or other problem areas. Customers who tweet about a bad experience get preferential treatment; but what does that really solve?  Before adding layers of social engagement, try to insure your customer-facing processes are already strong before exposing them to the hyper-critical social channels.

4. Who will be responsible for our social outreach?

This is a huge problem area for those looking to jump into social business. If you are going to generate leads, or attempt to handle customer complaints via social media – insure that a proper escalation path is in place. If a customer reaches out via social media and gets no response – it is almost worse than not having a social policy. Insure the right people are in place to quickly and consistently manage inquiries received via social channels.

5. How will I track and measure success?

It is very easy for a social media initiative to create even more data silos, with loads of data not providing insight. However, if you tightly integrate your social tools and data with well-structured existing systems like a CRM tool, you can more effectively track interactions and outcomes. Again, social CRM is not a new concept in itself – we are just using new technology to do what we have always done as  businesspeople: attract and manage customer relationships.

What I mean is that while the cash is certainly good to keep a company running, VCs tend to invite the dreaded enterprise sales conundrum. While “social” apps are best when they grow virally and through a natural adoption pattern or “ground up” approach to use inside the enterprise – selling usually takes a “top down” approach.

In my opinion, the best applications will have a freemium model of sorts – creating amazing market penetration and relevancy simply by the fact that they work, are easy to use and generate value for employees. I think InsideView has a great application of this model. This concept rings true in my opinion for all internal social apps, and even for some external-focused applications. Lithium, for example, sells by an enterprise sales model – but succeeds because the actual platform is easy and intuitive for customers in the community, and generates clear value for Lithium’s customers.

I even think Salesforce.com gets this – as it has started to make noise around a freemium version of its Chatter social tool. And when the one company that has probably mastered the art of the modern enterprise sales model thinks freemium…well, then you know there is something to the concept.

Just as open source allowed smaller players and upstarts to enter the market in the past, small and nimble social players must have great ideas, super usability and a clear value proposition to the enterprise – NOT a slick team of sales people banging on the doors of CIOs and VPs of Sales and Marketing.

I hope Yammer keeps these ideas in mind as it expands its market reach with its new funding.

I mean, it is important to think about your advocates and influencers – but how can we really standardize someone’s level of influence? I am not sure the Klout algorithm actually has the ability to scour public, private and semi-private customer networks. And, many people with only a few followers or a small sphere of influence may be terribly important to one company’s social strategy.

As more and more purpose-built communities and networks come in to play, thanks to platforms like Lithium, third-party tools like Klout can be less and less useful. This is because these purpose-built communities can capture and analyze data in a far more profound and useful way than the generic system Klout uses across public networks – in my humble opinion. A company can identify, nurture and work with its influencers more closely and gain so much more in an interactive platform like Lithium versus simply fearing potential “big follower list” influencers and kowtowing to their demands.

The latter model is just bad business. Or,I should say is a symptom that you have broken service models in place or simply are not as customer-centric as you think. I have blabbed ad nauseam about using social as a band-aid.

How do we stop fearing the potential damage to our brands on the part of influencers?  For starters – create a consistent experience for all customers. Set expectations and apologize when you fall short.

If you truly believe in delighting customers, and do your best to see that happen, no influencer sending a few choice negative tweets or blog posts can do any real harm – the rest of your intelligent customer base will know the truth. And – if you can quickly manage the issue (by either addressing it on your community platform or pulling that influencer in and showing them you care) – the unhappy influencer can present an opportunity – not a problem.

Right after posting my latest blog post, I went over to check out Paul Greenberg’s ZDnet blog, which is always rife with something I can take away and mesh into my overall social media thought process (that’s a nice way of saying steal paul’s great ideas).

Paul wrote this week about United Airline’s mulling over eliminating economy plus seats.  This in my mind is a great example of what I was hinting at with Salesforce.com’s decision to jack up pricing for EU customers. (This story seems to be getting more and more popular, which suits me just fine.)

United is in a similar spot – looking to drive profitability and defray its cost of business. Salesforce.com is in the same spot. None of these actions are done with nefarious intention – they just are what they are.

Now, if United and Salesforce truly listen to their customers, they would probably both make moves that are in line with the real expectations of the customer. For United, they are in danger of losing a lot of fliers that take for granted to economy plus upgrade and the downgraded experience of their flights will cause some deflection. United MUST see that adding 6-8 seats per flight is not worth the risk of losing frequent fliers, or the negative brand attention (as if it hasn’t had enough of that in the past few years).

The great thing about social media is its immediacy. As Paul notes in his blog, United can quickly gauge the potential result of this move without doing all that much – simply reaching out and engaging. The low risk and cost associated with engaging via social channels before making sweeping changes is a huge benefit.

If United ignores this – it will say a lot about how some brands are simply not “getting it” in terms of today’s business atmosphere.