The question that I want to address in this post is “how can a brand utilize the viral and entertainment aspects of social apps to achieve authentic product engagement that influences consumer purchase intent, rather than settling for surface-level brand engagement?”

Last year my company, Jellybarn, participated in Nike’s FY09 marketing event at the invitation of Avenue A | Razorfish (Great Agency – Be sure to check out Jeremy Lockhorn’s articles on Click Z. He’s spot on when it comes to social media). At the event, Mike Reeder, a brilliant Account Director at Razorfish, gave a presentation on brand marketing authenticity. It was this presentation that really prompted me to start thinking beyond surface-level marketing.

What does this authenticity look like? How does a brand connect with online consumers in a true, authentic fashion in which a dialog or relationship can grow? These questions are often hard to answer, and I think it is the reason that we as a social marketing community have not moved very far beyond surface-level brand engagement. We still tend to broadcast a brand’s inner-app messaging with a simple logo or an embedded banner ad within the application. In my view, social marketing apps will reach a tipping point by the end of 2009 and become not only a staple for brands, but one of the most important ways in which marketers engage AND SELL products to consumers. But first we must become truly authentic!

Let’s look at a Jellybarn app that I feel is a first step on our journey beyond surface-level brand engagement and closer to authentic interaction with the brand’s actual products that engages and drives purchase intent. Screen shots of the app follow below.

The concept was a casual game for Nike designed to interact with customers, compel them to shop, and ultimately sell them shoes. The idea incorporated actual Nike products within the game, as well as a virtual shoe “micro-store” so that, after users interacted with the shoes authentically, they could shop for and even purchase the product. The user chose which pair they wanted their character to use. To encourage  users to interact with multiple styles, we gave each shoe different abilities and incorporated many of the benefits from the real shoes into the game.

The result was that users interacted with both the brand and the product in a way that was not broadcast, pushy or “selly.” Users do not want to be “sold,” and with this approach they enjoyed engaging with the brand and product. With this type of authentic approach, users are more inclined and even eager to share the application via the social web. Assuming the application is a viral success and includes some simple XML capabilities, the product lineup can be continually updated throughout the application’s life cycle. Lastly, with the incorporation of the micro-store there are now thousands of purchase point locations across the web where users can keep the product on top-of-mind purchase intent.

One final point worth mentioning is that the apps themselves are simply the vehicles by which these authentic interactions happen. Making money is the goal of marketing, yet much of the industry still tends to look at social apps (from a brand standpoint) as a way to “engage” consumers and build brand recognition. I think it’s time we as an industry became more accountable (brands let’s make this a New Years resolution) to tapping the real power of social apps to actually make money for the brand rather than limiting ourselves to brand recognition. Social applications hold so much more opportunity for driving purchase intent through authentic interactions than we have yet to utilize.