We came across this interesting post by John Bell on his blog, "The Digital Influence Mapping Project" (link below). In the post he talks about two large brands who are "reaching out" in a very intimate and personal way to individual customers, yet at the same time enjoying a resonating effect from their efforts - thanks to the power of social media.

KLM

KLM has created the "KLM Surprise Team". The team monitors social media channels like Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn to find people who are traveling through Schipol Airport, Amsterdam. They then track down travelers and surprise them with a special gift. They take their photo and post it to the KLM FaceBook page. The team then tracks the "ripple" effect as the surprised passenger tells all this friends about the gesture via social media. It's a brilliant way to create lovely brand stories for people to share - and they willingly share them because the stories are loaded with meaning. Really, when's the last time a brand walked up to you and gave you a (pleasant) surprise? 

And if a brand did such a thing, wouldn't you tell your friends, family and colleagues about it?

American Express

American Express has become a "Twitter fairy" as it monitors Tweets about Cardmembers. For example, if you tweet about redeeming rewards points for a trip to New York, you might be pleasantly surprised to get a Tweet from American Express thanking you and giving two concert tickets. Again, American Express does these nice things and then scales it up in a genuine way by sharing it back through its own social media channels.

All these simple, sweet and meaningful ideas create great "word of mouth" brand communications. Far more powerful than one-way advertising, these conversations resonate with meaning as people relate the brand's acts of kindness in their own words - conveying the feelings the event triggered in a way no "commercial" approach can achieve.

Your brand

How might your brand reach out to people in a more meaningful way? Maybe it's time you appointed a "Vice President of Something Special"...

Spotted here: http://tiny.cc/mwew2