It was only a matter of time before social networks became shopping networks. Niche sites pop up all the time offering lefty vegetarians, Christian Jamba juice lovers, and cat-loving democrats a place to connect with like-minded people. Social networks are a goldmine for advertisers, but the content in profiles, blog posts, videos, pictures, and reviews is worlds more influential than the banner on the right-hand side of the page.

According to a recent report called “When did we start trusting strangers” involving 17,000 people in 29 countries, 29 percent of people have commented on a product or brand in a blog and 27 percent have posted an opinion in a social networking profile. Companies likely seed a lot of this stuff, but some of it’s too crazy to be planted. In this post we’ll explore all angles of marketing through social networks—from member campaigns to lame corporate ideas.

 

1. Carrots A Facebook group with over 100,000 members tried to create a global carrot shortage by instructing people to “go out and panic buy carrots” at 10:00 AM on May 15, 2008. According to their website—yup, they have a website—it will become an annual event. Despite their initial intentions to create a national veggie deficit, they recommend using the produce to make soup for the homeless. Because that’s what page views, click-throughs, and Internet influence are all about—helping the little guy.

 

2. Nudity YouTube member Chris3ff started the “Naked Vlog campaign” asking viewers to forsake their fabric restraints and take to the airwaves in the flesh. Last I checked his original video got 763,709 hits and 1146 comments. I know—this doesn’t involve buying a specific product but it’s a perfect example of viral influence (and self-inflicted-retina-damage, depending on whose video you watch).

 

3. DNA Analysis Are you curious how your DNA compares to your friends? Who isn’t right? At 23andme.com you can get a DNA analysis for just $399 and then connect with other people who have a similar genetic makeup. Their selling point is kind of interesting: see what diseases you’re genetically predisposed to. I can already visualize the member threads: “Prone to Elephantiasis Seeks Same for Support and Maybe More.”

 

4. Beer Technorati tracks over 118 million blogs—mostly people who make little if any money. And why should they? As teens we hide our journals under the mattress with Playboy and vodka nips, but as adults we expect our daily insights should suddenly become commodities. Here’s an interesting approach:  don’t wait for advertisers to come knocking. Incite some good ‘ole bar hospitality using the “Buy Me a Beer Paypal Donation Wordpress PlugIn.” Apparently people are 200% more likely to give you money if you give a specific reason. (If you like this blog please buy me a BMW.)

 

5. 100 Pixels of Ad Space Then 21-year-old Alex Tew started The Million Dollar Homepage in 2005 to fund his college education. The idea: take one web page with a 1000x1000 pixel grid and sell each hundred pixel block to advertisers for $100. He didn’t promote the idea at all—just let word of mouth do it’s magic. He raised his first year’s tuition in under three weeks, and has earned over a million since the page first went up—all by squeezing a bunch of logos on one cramped-looking page. Now that’s the American (or in this case, UK) dream.

 

6. Blenders BlendTec got over 100 million people to watch videos of actors destroying things in blenders in the “Will it Blend” campaign. They mashed everything from iPhones and hockey pucks to garden rakes and Chuck Norris—the action figure, that is. While you’ll never actually need a blender that can liquidate golf clubs, wouldn’t you feel cool knowing your underachieving appliance could be more than just a smoothie maker?

 

7. A Band Sellaband.com  lets you create an artist profile with a photo and at least three songs. You then get 5000 people to donate $10 each—or just one person to donate $50,000. Once you raise the cash the site hooks you up with an A&R person and producer to help you put out a studio album. Since the site launched two years, 300,000 people have invested over $2 million totaling 23 albums—which means $85,000 went nowhere. Great for the artists that get full funding and pretty smart for the site!

 

8. Celebrity Gossip Gossip blogger Perez Hilton first promoted his web site on Friendster—“when Friendster used to be cool” as he says. He went from being a Star Magazine flunky and entertainment outsider to the self-proclaimed “Queen of all Media.” His site now gets 600,000 hits daily. OK, so you don’t need to spend any money on Perezhilton.com—but admit it, gossip fans. You spend the company money by visiting during the work day. (Not me, of course. I’m on MyThings 24/7!)

 

9. Movie Tickets Facebook caught a lot of flak for their ill-conceived Beacon program. Forty-four companies signed up for Beacon, which alerts members when their friends make a purchase—buying movie tickets through Fandango, for example. So basically people were promoting without their consent since the updates were “opt-out” not “opt-in.” I personally would rather know what people are buying then a play-by-play of their actions, a la Twitter.  (Really, Jenny, you swallowed a needle?)

 

10. I don’t actually have a 10^th item but “top 9” doesn’t have the same ring, so I’m asking for your help.

Has anyone on your favorite social network tried to push some kind of product on you? I’ll start with my biggest annoyance. I have a personal blog on MySpace and I like to keep it a promotion-free zone (unless of course you’re supporting me. Aint hypocrisy grand?) Someone I knew 8 million years ago frequently posts comments on my page about his songs on iTunes. We’re hardly friends anymore, yet he feels the need to promote to my friends. Kind of drives me nuts. Your turn. Speak. Network. Influence.