We all know that's the dumbest thing ever, right? Or do we?

I consistently see very large brands make a huge mistake when they have customers engaged in a social channel. They ask those fans to leave the comfort and familiarity of the channel to go see some gimmick that will hopefully hypnotize them into clicking the “add to cart” button. That’s exactly what my client wanted to do.

However they finally understood my point of view when I compared social media to the bar scene. Then their inner party animal emerged. I’m pretty sure they were just fanaticizing about leaving the meeting so they could get inebriated and bitch about how much they paid to listen to me. Regardless, I pushed on with my analogy. But first I drenched myself in Paco Rabanne to create the proper club ambience.

What got the client’s attention was this question: Would you go to a bar, start talking to friends about your job, demand they all get in a car and drive to your office so you can show them what you do, and then return to the bar and talk about it more?

Of course not. If you have the attention of someone in their social comfort zone, then stay there and talk. I PROMISE if you they like what you're saying they'll go look at your website on their own. Sure, you can tell them you're having a sale this weekend. But don't force them into a CAPTCHA war zone so they can print a coupon. 

If you want a great social media effort, hire great social people to manage it. Companies you trust make you feel important because you are important to them. Put that in the stew and set to "simmer" folks.

Every social channel has its own communication style. Let’s walk through the most popular channels and compare each one to a different social scene:

Your Blog: Remember the house from Stephen King's 1987 novel "Misery"? Don't touch Mr. Penguin.

Facebook: Frat Party, keg stands and wet T-shirt contests.

Linkedin: A frantic job fair that feels really important until you discover that no employers showed up to take your resume or hear about what a highly motivated, results-oriented self-starter you are.  

Google+: Think of that moment in the ‘80s when you went down to the basement and your brother was playing D&D with six friends who had clearly not slept or seen the sun all weekend.

Pinterest: Scrapbooking for suicide girls – Google it.

Twitter: Speed dating at a convention mixer.

Reddit: Same basement with your brother and his friends. But they're all hooked up with laptops, not speaking, and playing the MMORG expansion pack of the week.

Flickr: Japanese Karaoke bar.

Instagram: Recently established Japanese Karaoke bar by hipsters.

YouTube: This is the parking lot at a Game Stop, where you will debate comics and cheat codes while looking at a double rainbow.

Quora: Wine-tasting at a doctoral summit in the Hamptons. Um … what do you MEAN you don’t have a summer place there? 

Foursquare: The GPS in a VW Touareg, with ample and prevalent use of medical marijuana.

Delicious: Beer pong.

Tumblr: The convenience store where you to grab a six-pack on the way to the BYOB delicious.com beer-pong gig.

Spotify, Last.FM, etc. etc. etc: Local dive awaiting promise of first-time college sensation "Century Gothica" – see prevalent use of medical marijuana above.

Posterous: The über hipsters that were straightedge but now drink PBR on their porch and bitch that tumblr sold out.

Gowalla: This a local sports bar with favorite teams you don't root for.

StumbledUpon: The girls from your office who tag along to your bar, don't drink and then judge everyone.

Skype, AIM and KIK (all @ JUSTICEMITCHELL): This is an all-ages show where you don't know the band and no one is talking because they're too busy texting and giggling.

Slideshare: This is a pharmaceutical convention where everyone acts as if they want to hear what you have to say – until you take a breath. Then they dive in and dominate the conversation.

Vemeo: Art house theater / coffee shop / gadget review pub. They still smoke cloves here.

Deviant Art: This is a Goth party you were unaware of for a long time. Now you’re invited. The group may seem scary at first. But the longer you hang out with them, the more you discover a love for LARPing and “Dr. Who. 

Squidoo: This is the side room at Denny's that holds 20 people for a bridge-club meeting. In there they have nothing but a series of inside jokes and scenarios where all other social locations are inferior.

Meetup: This is the bar everyone avoids. You show up only if you're invited and know for certain a close friend will join you. 

Myspace: A bonfire party in the woods. Only true believers find their way here. They sing songs, trade stories about yesteryear and tell you they just discovered iTunes and insist it will "change everything.”

Friendster: The house party where you find out the host is a hoarder of cats and magazines about the doily industry.

Ortuk: A great bar with lots of seemingly wonderful people. But at some point during the night, you realize you have nothing in common with any of them.

Personally, I’m a social butterfly and former bar-hopper. But you’ll find me making the rounds to a lot of these places regardless. And when a new joint opens, I’ll always drop in for a few just to check it out. But forget about the Paco Rabanne. My pheromones and natural manly, musky scent serve me well when I’m out in the wild.

Amon Tobin 'ISAM' Live (Extended Trailer) from Ninja Tune on Vimeo.

I've reported to you my recent education of the modern electronic recording artist. This old dog can indeed pull his head from his ass if given the time and inclination to do so. Therefore, I found myself exploring new artists and came across a recommendation of Amon Tobin. Needless, to say I was stunned when I saw the brilliance not only in his music but the amalgam of talent they've assembled to rethink the physical stage for the artist. Recently, many of my posts have fallen left of right of the puritanical creative process. Perhaps finding this little gem will inspire you as it has me. Enjoy.

Maybe you have a gut feeling about something that might be a trend. Before you unleash your mind-dazzling observations on the community, put a little more thought into exactly WHY you think it is a trend. There's a very fine line between a genuine trend and the herd mentality of mass adoption. 

For example: You can do all the research in the world about denim trends, but if the fashion market says boot-cut jeans are “in,” and they push enough money against the various trade publications in order to make it so, then boot-cut jeans will be popular.

That is feeding cattle. It’s NOT a trend.

Questions About Your Target 

• Does it hit you on a personal level? Do other people feel it? Would you sit at a bar and passionately wax on about it to a stranger?
• Does it hit you on a professional level? What's the likelihood that a mass quantity of people will want it, use it, and keep using it?
• Is it totally new? And if so, is it “iffy” new or “must-have” new?
• Does it fit comfortably in the current social, technical or economic climate? Is it too soon? Or worse [gasp!] – too late?
• What is the likelihood this is simply a manifestation or revision of an earlier trend?
• Do you believe it's on the verge of blowing up? Can you add any supporting credibility, personal connection or specify a behavioral characteristic as to why?

Do I have to like it to hunt it?

NO! 

In fact, I recently started following the musical genre of Dubstep. Admittedly I got on board a little late in the genre’s lifecycle, or at least well past its point of blowing up. That’s because I hated the music at first and dismissed it as "a bunch of noise” created by talentless, knob-turners. Seemed like complete bullshit to me.

[BTW: You damn kids need to stop cutting across the corner of my lawn on your way home from school. HOOLIGANS!]

Then I took an interest in why it was popular, and poked the badger with a stick named Twitter. The many responses I received were passionate and varied.

The important thing is that I pursued an education in this new thing. Since opening my mind to the genre, I now understand the music from the perspective of its passionate fan base. I understand (on a basic level) the tools and talent that go into this new way of crafting music. And I even like some of it now.

Here are some other tools to help you confront, hunt, discover and uncover possible trends:

Instagram:

There are a few reasons I love using Instagram. First off, it provides global perspective in a flash. Facebook, and Twitter are great, but they don't always push the global content I’m looking for. It’s there in spades, but I miss a lot of the good stuff because it’s swimming in a sea of status updates about annoying co-workers and dinner plans.

However, Instagram makes it easy to find great images because it was designed as a visual platform. If you use the "popular" tab on Instagram, or if you follow an eclectic global mix of people, it can be like drinking from a fire hose. I use the search tools and search #hashtags that will give me the broadest variance within my hunted trends. Then I follow people who look to be not only shooting great photos, but also seem to have a pulse for the SAME TRENDS!

“Wait a minute, Justice. Do you mean to tell me I'm not the only person looking for cool shit within my interest category?” 

No, people, that's why there are now more blogs than there are old hippies who claim to have been at Woodstock.

Pinterest:

For the exact same reasons I like Instagram, I LOVE Pinterest. It's still a bit young in social adoption terms, and there aren’t 500 pins on "elderly, leather-bound mailmen" – but I'm sure that won't take long. A VERY interesting feature of the mobile app is the ability to see images get "repinned" and gain popularity. It's almost like cheating in the trend-hunting world, as you see what people are glomming onto in nearly real-time.

Tumblr:

One word defines why I like Tumlbr for fast hunting of trends in closer-than-real time: laziness.

When long-winded people like me write huge posts like this, not everyone gives a shit. But when someone quickly posts the past half dozen interesting photos, or excerpts from a favorite site, the content is quick and current! It's lazy because MOST Tumblr post are quick hits of content. Nothing more than a photo and brief description. Plus, the system has kick-ass search.

Here are a few examples of quick searches on trend and cool hunting: 

• http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/trend+hunting 
• http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/cool+hunting
• http://www.theimpossiblecool.tumblr.com/
• http://www.designcorner.blinkr.net/ 

Alerts:

http://www.google.com/alerts & http://socialmention.com/ - If you read my blog, you more than likely know why and how to use this tool. Fair to say, however, that setting up a system of alerts around trends you like or want to keep current with will be very helpful.

Digital intelligence:

I suggest you kick the tires on the various trends apps. Some are simply real-time content streaming, but you'll see the usefulness if it applies to your prey. There are many tools at your disposal. I've outlined some free ones here. But if you're hunting professionally, there's a fleet of social monitoring tools that would be worth their weight in gold to have at your disposal.

• http://trendspottr.com/
• http://www.trendistic.indextank.com/
• http://www.google.com/trends/
• http://www.trendsmap.com/
• http://www.tweettabs.com/
• http://www.twittercounter.com
• http://www.misotrendy.com/
• http://www.twitterfall.com/

Cool Hunting Apps:

• http://www.coolhunterapp.com/wCoolHunter/

Rejoice! as this is my last post regarding trend hunting for a while. Let me know if you learned anything or I'm missing anything. Much love to you all.

But I bet you DID think about how brands will use the tool – didn’t ya?

SURE! Of course you considered the big household consumer names that will certainly have a banner year if they get on board with you. But sadly, the Unilevers, Louis Vuittons and Barclays of the world aren't holding their breath waiting to exploit your app.

However, we are.

“We” are the agencies and creative consultants hired to help big brands catch the next wave.

Crowd Surfing

Interactive and social media strategists spend countless hours searching for new tools. Sometimes we immerse ourselves in the search and stay heads-down all morning without even going downstairs for a fresh latte.

[Editor’s note: Most of your top-notch interactive strategists rent office space over a coffee shop.]

Moreover, we look at new tools in terms of how we will use them to deliver a message. And it's not just social media tools specifically. In fact, the more widely adopted and publicly accepted a tool is, the more likely we are to use it as an advertising vehicle.

Instagram: Here's a wonderful mobile/social photo application. And now brands (and their respective agencies) use it to deliver content about their products and services. They create contests, conduct conversations and aggregate connections using a tool once considered a “toy camera” app. This app will have a larger user base than Foursquare this year. And it's not even on Android yet.

Pintrest: Brands that don't see the value in constructing multiple Pintrests boards are blind to its potential. These are the same companies that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get your eyes to an e-commerce page where all their products reside. Hmmm, sounds just like a Pinterest board!

Empire Avenue: Here's an online social media game played with thousands of users. And brands are weaved in as participating players. Not only are they welcome, they have respect as players. Users don’t disregard the brands as entities that simply bought their way into the fold. This holds miles of digital street cred, because users trust those who they know and like. A good community manager working in-game with a passionate fan base could give you endless brand impressions without the endless expenditure.

So, developers, you need to think, "Where is the marketing loophole?" As strategists, we will look at your app and wonder:

• What kind of audience uses this tool?

• Will this application’s community of users eagerly accept my brand?

• How can a brand naturally engage users within this tool’s community?

And if we don’t get back to you right away, you can probably find us downstairs.