Earlier this month an event was held to celebrate the program and generate content and discussion. The results were modest despite some smart people working hard to activate the offline participants into online action (tweets, blog posts and video/photo uploads). Two weeks later for the same cost, I launched a blogger engagement program. Here are the results about a third into the program.

Here’s why we found better success:
1. I worked with bloggers that I had a personal relationship with (borne from a professional one) that I knew would produce not only volume, but meaningful volume (subjectively determined by how captivating the post is + engaged readers are through substantive comments).

2. I worked with those same bloggers from the beginning to develop the program (they were invested –> excited –> stronger results).

3. The program we developed incentivized both bloggers and their readers to participate in a co-creation project that promised to produce a solid takeaway that the client can further merchandise.

4. The client was 100% behind the idea and was willing to try given the relatively low cost of entry.

5. I didn’t micromanage, but I dissected the results to find the source of small successes and worked with the bloggers to grow them to big ones. (See the second bump just before June 27th?)

These are a few tips from one very particular program. I’d love to hear yours.

The model is simple: offer a huge cash prize to non-profits or social entrepreneurs who will then creatively, enthusiastically and relentless beat the bushes to win. It’s like creating a seemingly infinite amount of brand ambassadors virtually overnight. Chase competitors recently hit me up an incredible 9 times in one day via email and Facebook.

The question that haunts me (and one that the Pepsis of the world need to carefully consider) is whether people care more about Chase now than they did before the $5million was up for grabs. If the goal is to create buzz online then it’s probably been a success, but if the goal is more focused on their bottom line (like hoping people now or in the foreseeable future will choose Chase for their banking needs) then I’m afraid this will come up short.

Here’s a perhaps oversimplified reason why: of the “tens of thousands” of non-profits that competed in the Challenge, only a handful had any connection with Chase’s core business – banking. A quick scan of the $10,000 winners reveals groups like the “Cavalier Drum and Bugle Corps,” the “Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps,” and the “Feel Your Boobies Foundation.” I’m sure all are fine organizations, but why would Chase giving them $10,000 make me more loyal as a customer or motivate me to actually become a Chase customer? Wouldn’t a similar commitment exclusively to, say, microfinance organizations or New York City non-profits make more sense, though still only marginally interested in Chase? Without even getting into what I suspect is the main reason people choose their banks – convenience and interest rates – or the fact that hosting a free-for-all contest brings up problems like this, there is a huge strategic piece missing here. Unfortunately, that missing piece is critical if Chase hopes to receive a sustained, positive brand impact from their efforts.

Before succumbing to the economy, Advanta bank – a small business credit card company – developed ideablob.com as a forum for people to crowdsource new business ideas while competing for monthly $10,000 grants. As a special incentive, existing customer could win $20,000. Advanta generated an enormous amount of loyalty from existing customers and positive publicity in places that were relevant to our business, including  The Motley Fool, The New York Times small business section and the social entrepreneur-focused TriplePundit. We also partnered with Kiva during that time.

It’s very possible that Chase just felt like giving $5million away and was looking for a way to do it that was more engaging, fun and promised more publicity than just writing another check. Maybe they just wanted to give money away without worrying about “maximizing” ROI. If that’s the case, then I can appreciate that. As a business accountable to shareholders and one with some slip ups in the recent past I don’t understand it, but I can appreciate it.

What has been your experience with the Chase Giving Challenge? Am I way off base? Are you more likely to become a Chase customer because of the Challenge? If you’re a Chase customer do you think of yourself as more loyal now?

A July 2009 research study by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law found that 81% of senior management, marketing and human resources executives view social media as a valuable tool to enhance relationships with customers and build their company’s brand. That’s the good part. Here’s the challenge: the same amount, 81%, perceives social media as a corporate security risk. There’s a natural balance. You want to use social media to enhance your brand and customer relationships. Who’s managing the associated risk? Your new best friend – your in-house counsel.

Before joining the 360 Digital Influence team, I worked on customer outreach Web 2.0 platforms for a large financial institution. As the study correctly suggests, our success was inversely proportional to our corporate security risk. The more reach we achieved, the more our in-house counsel panicked. With a background in law, I was uniquely qualified to take verbal beatings for our compliance failures and debate (argue) the merits of our outreach efforts. It wasn’t that much fun. To lessen the unpleasantness, I developed some best practices to improve our relationship with in-house counsel and improve the likelihood of our social media campaigns seeing the light of day.

I’ll expand each one in the coming weeks, but here they are in brief:

1. Work with counsel to develop an overarching social media operations plan. Have an offsite and create timelines for review processes, content guidelines, and expectations. Doing this together enables buy-in from both sides and you’ll also start to learn some of the legal issues that keep them up at night (so you can proactively try to avoid them).

2. Put yourself in their shoes. Lawyers are doing their job. Take pains to understand their point of view and explain yours. They don’t know who Guy Kawasaki is and are more focused on violating CAN-SPAM legislation than the reward you might receive from sending him a personalized email.

3. Involve lawyers early in the process of any specific social media campaign. They’ll want to review everything anyway, so save yourself revisions by telling them what you want to do and ask them if they foresee any issues. Keep them updated on changes that inevitably take place during the creative process. Get their sign off in writing early and you’ll avoid setbacks.

4. Don’t sneak anything by them. The old adage, “do now and ask for permission later” only applies to loved ones. They don’t love you and will show you as much in increased surveillance for the foreseeable future.

5. Be nice. Make sure to include them in a congratulatory email to the team on a successful campaign. They have stressful jobs and have the double indignity of feeling like the bad guy all the time. Let them know they’re appreciated.

These 5 suggestions made my life easier, but every situation is different. What interesting ways have you learned to work with your legal team.