Bad Lemon

Back in February I did something stupid but it was worth it. I tried snowboarding for the first time. That act in itself wasn’t stupid, trying to go down a particular slope before I was ready was the stupid part. I ended up with some pretty sore ribs. So sore that six-weeks later I still feel an occasional ache. Chances are it was a hairline fracture that will comeback to haunt me when I am much older.

Pushing boundaries has never been issue for me. I tend to look for something else to try  just as I am learning and becoming capable at something else. This approach has suited me well as a beta-tester, entrepreneur, and in my current position with the Washington Capitals as their director of digital media. I have also found this invaluable as the point person for the Caps in regards to social media.

I may not be the first to discover a new social network or service but can often be the one that says we should try this or try that. With social media it is really easy to say that too. So easy in fact it can cause you to fracture a social media rib or two.

Awhile ago I became enamored with stickybits. Stickybits was an attempt at gamification of  consumer products and tying that gamification into a social network. The idea was pretty cool. Start by scanning a product’s UPC bar code or a QR code, leave a note, pic or video “on” that product, get prizes, connect with other folks. Great in theory but it fell a little short in practice. We tried using it for a couple of contests at the Caps. Not as successful as I would have liked them to be they lesson we learned was a pretty valuable one in regards to social/mobile behavior and how far someone is willing to go to get a prize. The short form take aways are: 1) If the bar is set even an inch too high people won’t care what the prize is they won’t go for it; 2) people want to have or believe they have a choice in which tools they download or use on their mobile device.

Neither of these tenets are set in stone. Taken separately each can be overcome but together they get to be rigid and create a high barrier to adoption.

At the Caps we continue to work with third-party apps. We just make sure in some way it benefits our fans, makes it easier to include the Capitals in their lives. Another way to connect with each other. Our fans don’t have to download these apps because we almost always have a secondary path to the majority content but we also throw in exclusive items in order to entice fans to engage with us on whatever new front we are heading out on.

I guess in short this means go out, try new things, break a couple of ribs and get back out there after a stumble. Risk and reward are only two of the three Rs of social media, for me the third is resilience.