I was interviewed for a just-published Knowledge@Wharton write-up entitled "Social Marketing: How Companies Are Generating Value from Customer Input," which provides a high-level look at some of the different ways that organizations have attempted to use social media to connect with customers by the past couple of years.  specific companies/approaches covered in the essay include:

• Southwest Airlines
• Dell (including Dell IdeaStorm)
• Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty"
• Captain Morgan (and the fake Captain Morgan character blog)
• CareerBuilder's "Monk-e-mail"
• SprintNextel
• Chevy Tahoe (and the Chevy Tahoe video campaign)

The editorial provides a nice survey

of a number of well-known organizations and their social media-centered efforts to connect with customers, and wraps up with some sage advice from Paula Amunátegui Perelló, project manager for new media at General Motors Europe.  Says Perelló,  "It's a slow process, not a revolution. We have to have a
discerning approach, and not just grab every new tool that comes our
way. But we recognize that social media is no longer a fad. It is a
larger evolution of society."

Exactly.

Original post by Christopher Carfi - Cerado, Inc.