We’ve got U2 – a huge band – teaming up with You Tube – a huge force in social media – and the community sharing the experience  with each other in real time on Twitter.

In this world first – U2 have broadcasted their Los Angeles concert live over the internet via You Tube – allowing citizens of the world to share the experience with people live at the concert.

U2 have changed the way that music concerts are watched and given us an example of how free content works within social media.

Free content

U2 are giving away free content but they will still profit from playing live concerts – people will go to the concerts for the live experience. This is a great example of giving the content away for free and monetising “The Souvenir” (if you follow Seth Godin.)

Leverage

U2 are leveraging their free content with four call to actions located in prime page real estate next to the video – directing the viewer to complete an action that is a meaningful conversion for the band.

• Buy the album
• Join the newsletter
• Visit their website
• Donate to their chosen cause

Functionality

• You can follow and add to the conversation on Twitter without leaving the concert page
• It’s easy to send a link to the content to your Twitter and Facebook network through the two distribution buttons
• Video and sound streaming is extremely high quality

Here’s some stats

• First concert broadcast live across the  world in real time
• People across 7 continents viewing it as it happens
• Roughly 530 new tweets every 60 seconds during broadcast

What people on Twitter said

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If you haven’t heard of him yet – Gary Vaynerchuk took over his family business and grew it into a 60 million dollar business. He leverages social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to promote his daily video blog about wine and has become a leader in personal branding and using the internet for business growth. Read more.

The business

The concept of the website is simple – it sells a selected bottle of wine per night with a free shipping incentive for purchases of three bottle or more.

Let’s take a closer look

The website uses social media to interact with its customers and helps its customers interact with their own networks.

• Includes user generated content in the form of “comments”
• Shows proof of low pricing via text and link to a popular wine shopping search engine
• Includes several ways for visitors to tell their friends about the site
• Surprisingly doesn’t have a link to the Cinderella Wine Twitter account (@cinderellawine)

Content and Design

The website features a professional, clean design with an obvious call to action.

All content and design support this action – to purchase the bottle of wine that is offered.

Proof of the offers value is displayed clearly with supporting evidence including a link to a popular wine shopping search engine.

Content Distribution

Content sharing buttons are located in prime position, encouraging the visitors to share the deal with their network.

There are links to popular social networking sites in addition to a complementary niche network that the audience may be familiar with.

This allows the content to be shared within the visitors network and within a niche network of wine lovers.

Visitor Interaction

The majority of space on the page is taken up with the primary purpose of the website – to sell one bottle of wine multiple times.

All other real estate on the page is devoted to social media – encouraging contribution, conversation and community building. The user generated content also provides social evidence and proof to purchase.

We’ve got discussions about the upcoming wine submitted by visitors and we’ve got reviews from other wine websites.

The approach is ‘don’t take my word for it – here’s what other people are saying’ and is very effective in social media.

What you can use in your own website

Cinderella Wine is a good example of using social media within a business website and giving your audience the tools to take your offer from your home base (your website) and spread it to individuals networks using distribution tools.

The Tweetmeme button, Facebook button and email sharing buttons are all free for you to add into your own website.

What are the niche networks within your industry? Where do the people who are passionate about what you offer spend their time online? Find those places and make sure you give your audience the tools to share your content.

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I visited one of my favourite sites this morning – Dooce.

If you don’t know about Dooce yet her story begins with getting fired from her job in 2002 for blogging about her workplace.

I’m browsing through the site and I notice a new button on her menu bar called “Hate”.

I’m intrigued. I know that a lot of people disagree with her honesty about family life etc.

The navigation button called “Hate” is alluring – it makes you want to click on it – what’s Hate? Is it going to outline a procedure for letting her know you hate what she wrote? Is it going to be a sad story of how the hate ruins her day?

No, turns out it’s a clever way to turn a negative into a positive – literally.

Dooce has published her hate mail on a page filled with advertising.

Sure, some people might click back. But if you like Dooce and what she does then you’re probably going to give her a break and click on an ad.

I know I did.

Would love to know conversion rate on that page!

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In an example of the power of word of mouth online – Australian brand Cotton On is being flamed in social networking site Twitter as I write this.

This morning I noticed a tweet by popular Australian blogger Mia Freedman. “I have not been this furious for a looooong time” with a link to a post on her blog describing her outrage at a slogan t-shirt sold by Cotton On that said “They Shake Me”

Her audience have responded by re-tweeting the link to their own social networks all morning.

The word has spread to influential social media personalities – an action that will ensure the negative exposure will continue to grow.

Mia has updated her Twitter with response from Cotton On – that is that there will be no comment.

At the time of writing the blog post had been re-tweeted on Twitter 230 times with 143 comments posted in response.

—

UPDATE

Cotton On did listen and have now withdrawn the t-shirt line as a result.

From The Australian…

“CLOTHING company Cotton On has admitted it “crossed the line” and today vowed to withdraw a range of offensive children’s t-shirts, including one making light of child abuse, after a consumers threatened a boycott.

A t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “They Shake Me” was the last straw for many angry parents, who sent emails and Twitter messages to the company this morning expressing their disgust and an intention to vote with their feet.

Last month Cotton On had stuck by its range of shirts, which included slogans such as “I’m a tits man” and “I”m living proof my mum is easy”, saying there was a place in the market for their “edgy” humour that pushed the boundaries.

But today, as anger spread through the social networking sites, Cotton On finally cottoned on to their customers’ feelings, offering a contrite apology and a promise to withdraw the offending items from sale.”

Full story here.

SUMMARY

From a Social Media/Online Business perspective this is a great Australian business social media case study. Individuals used their collective voices and personal networks to create change and were successful.

The lesson here for any business is that each and every customer and potential customer of yours has a voice and they’re not afraid to use it.

It’s crucial to develop relationships before the preverbial hits the fan and it’s important to be active in the social media space. By being active I mean – monitoring AND engaging.

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