Failure tactics 5 and 6
Treat social as a marketing strategy
Social is not a strategy, but social should be part of one. The best applications are part of an overall marketing strategy that is designed to resonate with the brand's target customer base. These applications give users some control over the message and make it easy for them to share that message with friends -- but do so in the overall context of the message the brand would like to convey.
For example, GAP's recent Holiday Cheer campaign allows users to customize cheers to send to friends, bringing a personal and social element to the same campaign that GAP is running in stores, on TV, and elsewhere online.
Make it complicated
The best applications are actually quite simple to use, no matter how powerful or complicated they may be on the inside. A simple user experience keeps the hurdles low for users to engage and share with friends.
For example, in Target's Bullseye Gives Facebook application, users simply voted on which of 10 charities they wanted Target to donate money to. The result was more than a quarter of a million people voting within the period of a few weeks.
