Ideas and profiles of success at the intersection of design, technology and global business
 
uDesign Platform – Applied Social Media
This month we feature the second of our unique platforms highlighting the most successful and newest implementations in the area of social media.

There is a lot of focus and attention on social media currently and there are many ways it can be used to effectively engage with your markets and customers. One can get caught up in the hype and the key is to stay focused on your business objectives and see how social media can help achieve them. We have been fortunate to work with clients and look a little beyond the standard applications to see how social media can be used to truly engage with your customers. Below we feature a couple of these applications and give you some thoughts to consider in the tools and tips section.
 
 
 
Tx:style Challenge by Mannington
Built on our uDesign platform, Tx:style has been a one of a kind implementation of social media in the floor coverings industry. Now in season 2, the Tx:style competition allows Mannington Commercial to develop entirely new product lines and tap into thousands of creative designs and designers. Users are able to upload and rate designs, add comments and even send e-cards. Equally compelling is the high level of interactivity, brand exposure and market insights which include thousands of views, votes and comments – a designer called this the American Idol competition for the design community.

Six talented young designers have been selected as finalists for Season 2 of the Tx:style Challenge. View their creative designs, see a unique application of social media at work and make your vote count as we approach the 20,000 vote mark at www.txstyle-mannington.com.
 
 
 
uDesignet
uDesignet is the first social network designed specifically for the commercial interiors industry.  The idea behind it is to create a network that is unique and relevant to a specific vertical (this concept can be applied to any industry). Just launched and in beta phase, udesignet allows manufacturers, designers, distribution and end users to share inspirations, network, collaborate, learn and engage all around industry specific topics and connections. Check it out and join the network at www.udesignet.com.
 
 
 
 
Tips & Tools: How Not To Use Social Media
 
 
Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, You Tube – these are the major social networks and are evolving business tools and many of us are still trying to figure out the value this can bring to our business. If you look a little beyond, you will see some remarkable applications of social media that are off the “beaten network”. Companies like threadless.com and istock have figured out how to make social media and collaborative technologies work for them. We have been fortunate to work with a client and create a social media platform called txstyle challenge (featured above) that has been very successful and we’d like to share a few ideas with you from our experience:
 

1. Social media to drive open innovation
Social media can effectively be used to engage your current and potential customers in your product development effort. Collaborative technologies that are at the core of social media allow you to reach out and engage with your customers early in your product development cycle to help create or improve on your product and service offering. Involving them in your development process creates a much more vested customer and can be a significant source of innovation and new ideas.
 
2. Brand Exposure and Marketing Impact
Involving your customers in the development and selection process by allowing them to contribute, vote and comment on new development efforts significantly increases their engagement with your brand. One of the designers in the application mentioned above said that she logged into the site 50 times in a two week period…and another referred to the firm as “her family”. That is a much higher level, quality engagement with strong emotional ties to the brand. The marketing impact and brand exposure of creating such an involved customer community is significant.
 
3. Market Insights / R&D
Another valuable contribution that social media can bring to your business is to give you market insights through your customers engagement in the development and feedback process. We were able to get unique written and visual feedback including the sharing of inspirations that shed light on preferences in ways that are different from the traditional format. This is also a great platform for market research and gaining feedback from your customers.
 
 
To learn more, please visit our website at www.azularc.com