Ever find yourself lying in bed late at night, wide awake, scanning TweetDeck on your smartphone as you finish that last blog post? Or catch yourself wishing you could reach out and physically like something? Do you suffer from ADD and OCD tendencies? If you silently mouthed "yes" to any of the above, you too may have what it takes to become a social marketing specialist.

Plenty of marketers are drawn to social media these days (perhaps because 4 out of 5 Americans now use it), but skeptics still write it off as a flash in the pan. No matter how you look at the social web, one thing is clear: You have to fully immerse yourself in it if you want to tap its full potential. 

My team falls into the former category. We keep tabs on Dell's social sphere, and let me tell you: When your global platforms change without warning and you have to fix them in real time, keeping up becomes quite the challenge.

But troubleshooting is just a small part of what we do. We spend the lion's share of our time reading, evaluating and strategizing so we can take advantage of new opportunities to grow the brand's social presence. Sound easy? Become a fan of Mashable on Facebook and spend a day trying to read every article in its news feed. It's like that times a thousand, every day.

To keep our clients energized about the social web (and spare them the headache of sifting through it all), we created RPPL. Built around a real-time syndication platform called Posterous, RPPL is a branded social media presence that enables us to:

• Share. Innovative campaigns, private betas, ridiculous memes ...there's always something to talk about. We use RPPL to separate the wheat from the chaff. As soon as big news comes our way, we post it. Posterous then insta-publishes to Facebook, Twitter and Delicious, giving our followers plenty of ways to get the scoop. 
• Explore. The best way to understand social media is to get your feet wet. With RPPL, we can just create a presence when a new platform piques our interest and test it like mad. 
• Collaborate. RPPL is a vehicle for passing key learnings along to our followers. We hope they spark conversations and inspire new ideas. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats.

In the few short months since we launched RPPL, we've shared hundreds of posts and befriended hundreds of fans and followers. We couldn't be more thrilled about the response we've gotten so far, and we're just getting started. Keep your eyes on RPPL to get in on the next big splash.

In the world of social media, fantasy and reality duke it out for your attention daily — and the lines between them get blurrier by the second. Hence the branded avatar. Whether you're sick of using the same 3 profile pictures or you just want to kill a few minutes between meetings, avatar builders give you a chance to escape from all that other...escapism.

As you might expect, companies love branded avatars. The way they see it, you get to express yourself socially while their corporate logo keeps your feet firmly planted on the ground (or your head in the clouds, depending on your persective).

But people don't just go nuts over any old avatar. It has to hit that elusive sweet spot more and more companies are competing for these days. Which brings us to the battle: 

MadMen Yourself. Went from dark horse to reigning champ in seconds flat, thanks to a perfect storm of marketing hype, genuine anticipation, authentic panache and reality fatigue. Plenty going for it from a UX standpont, too: no barriers to entry, easy-to-use controls, lots of customization options, decent sharing capabilities and a generally lounge-y vibe. The pure joy of creating clone after jazzy little clone almost makes up for the overt branding or the occasional glitch (try going back to clean shaven once you've grown facial hair...OK, so maybe they did that on purpose). Plus Dyna Moe's mid-century DIY style gives it an organic allure that's hard to resist.

Yearbook Yourself 2009. If 2008 was Thriller for this franchise, 2009 was just Bad (blame MadMen Yourself). Which is a shame, because Colle+McVoy really brought it this year. You can upload images or use your webcam, rotating, moving, scaling, flipping and adjusting skin tone until your face fits your avatar (you have 5 decades' worth to choose from — each one calling out different online stores — but you'll have to re-tweak your photo as you jump from year to year). On top of that, you can create solo or group portraits, then share them via Facebook Connect and other services as neatly branded files. Confused? The funk-fueled video tutorial explains everything. 

SVEDKA Bot Builder. This slam dunk from Barbarian Group (with the assist from Oddcast) oozes style. The Bot Builder leverages 3D modeling technology to create cool avatars that are icy and detached yet freaky-looking and kinda kinky. In other words, Scandinavian (although art director Ryan McManus tells me he snuck Tom Brady's jersey number in as a customization option — USA! USA!). Facebook Connect is integrated right off the bat, allowing you to do things like upload and use profile pictures. Once completed, your animated avatar will fly, sashay or karate-chop as you see fit, and will continue to do so in your news feed or on your friends' walls. Blame it on the alcohol.  

Dell Lounge Trans-Poser. Our contender doesn't need bells and whistles; what it does, it does well. Sporting a retro look and feel, the Trans-Poser makes cutting and pasting yourself into the action at X Games 15 as easy as twisting a few knobs. But it's the little UI touches (like multiple drag-and-drop anchor points for editing) that keep you coming back to see how far you can push reality's boundaries. Every trans-posed image gets saved to Dell Lounge community gallery, where you can see, rate, comment, download and share whatever grabs you. And because we built the Trans-Poser into the Dell Lounge, it can be reskinned and repurposed to engage users on an ongoing basis. Check and mate.

If you think Dell can’t hold its own with Apple when it comes to getting love from Gen Y, you’re probably Justin Long’s agent. Or you haven’t been to DellLounge.com lately. Either way, shame on you. 

The new Dell Lounge delivers the kind of stuff digital kids go nuts for — authentic, grassroots and ready to share on your social networks du jour. But the site isn’t just winning hearts and minds with original shows, exclusive interviews, UGC and cool partnerships: it’s cementing self-expression and creativity as Dell brand values.  
 
Like any relationship, Dell Lounge is a labor of love. A crush this big doesn’t develop overnight, though. It’s taken years to make it work — and we’ve been there every step of the way.

Stage I: Serious Flirting
Before Dell Lounge was even a glimmer in Dell’s eye, the company tapped us to help promote its role as tech sponsor of Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex LoveShow. They needed to spread the word about the world tour and (ZOMG!) the chance to win an Inspiron signed by JT. Fast.

To get the job done, we created a simple, stylish microsite designed to turn heads and bring the masses on board. It worked, and audience response got the C-suite talking about how to apply this approach to other Dell sponsorships. Since these relationships fell outside of the product-centric domain of Dell.com, everone agreed the solution should, too. Enter Dell Lounge.

Stage II: Courtship Dating
We designed the original Dell Lounge as a place where Dell could showcase its partnerships and its playful side to reach new audiences. For launch, the site featured JT's fall tour, ACL Music Fest, the BMW Sauber F1 Racing Team and the Inspiron Urban Challenge.

Springbox handled every aspect of site development, from creating a fresh new look and feel to cultivating a unique voice. A Flash-based interactive site, Dell Lounge came equipped with custom-built video player, image galleries and MP3 player to provide visitors with a fully immersive multimedia experience.

The resulting site was unlike any other Dell property, yet it tied back to the brand in all the right places. As a result, Dell Lounge began to carve a niche for itself as a lifestyle brand, connecting Dell to young audiences via cool, engaging content. As soon as we put it out there, they wanted more.

Stage III: Gettin’ Engaged
Thanks to big wins with events like ACL Music Fest and the Sound & Jury Contest, Dell partnered with Springbox again to take Dell Lounge to the next level. Dell Lounge 2.0 delivered even more exclusive content, fan participation opportunities and live events — all tailored to suit the audience’s digital tastes.

As Dell Lounge expanded, it embraced opportunities to partner with the likes of Paste Magazine, Billy Bob Thornton and Hot Freaks. The crowd went wild. “The Dell Lounge has quickly become a great destination site,” explained former Dell Lounge project manager Michael Lambert. “Now the 2.0 launch will allow us to become a true lifestyle site.”

So our brand and our audience were making full-on goo goo eyes at each other. It was time for their mutual friends to get to know each other, too.

Phase IV: 2gether 4ever
Our relationship with Gen Y had blossomed in a matter of months. Still, there was one crucial piece missing: a real sense of community. So we completely reinvented the site, extending its reach with a branded social media ecosystem (Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Imeem, etc.), custom tags and RSS feeds so we could create and share our killer content everywhere. Which, incidentally, slashed our production time in half. Then we gave it a coat of neon candy paint and spritzed it with SEO body spray. Voila. The new Dell Lounge.

OK, so it was a little more complicated than that. You get the idea. Fresh look and intuitive feel plus flat IA and easy-to-use CMS equals a site that thinks young but gets along with everyone. Best of all, the site’s design also allows us to fold in branded content from Dell and partners in engaging but unobtrusive ways, so brand skeptics can open their mind at their own pace as they grow to love the site.

Back to the features. Whether we're talking user-generated or premium content from Springbox, Super! Alright!, VBS, Perez Hilton or whoever, Dell Lounge makes it easy to find what you love. Users can scan by category (Music, Style, etc.) or browse our channels (Koi, Motherboard, Comrades, Candy and Limelight). They can also click, search or create tags to drill down directly. No matter what, the most popular stuff always rises to the top. Digital democracy at its finest.

Apparently, people just looove democracy. “When Springbox pulled up the new site for me, I was simply awestruck,” says Lisa Martin-Louro, Music and Entertainment Digital Content Integration for Dell Global Consumer Online. “The Dell Lounge has evolved in so many ways — it’s amazing to see where it’s at today.” And with plans to go global, the love is spreading. Fast.

Several weeks ago, my team jumped on a call with Facebook to discuss impending changes to the fan page layout. As our FB rep walked through an example, describing all the ways it would more closely resemble a profile page, I couldn’t help but compare the new structure to a typical sitemap. He then handed over the keys to our test pages and mentioned we’d have until “sometime in March” to play around in the sandbox.

Sure enough, they flipped the switch about a month later — with no further warning. Surprise! Our new fan page was live.
 
We used the new features to our advantage right away, publishing a notification that said, “We’re playing around with our new fan page. Tell us what you think!” Within minutes, dozens of people had shown approval of our little remark with likes and encouraging comments of their own. In an instant, our openness had endeared our audience to the brand that much more.

Which brings us back to the fan page versus website issue. Thanks to page tabs, it’s very possible to essentially recreate your website. But is that the right solution for your brand’s Facebook presence? Combine the revamped structure with enhanced capabilities (ex. publishing content directly to your fans’ news feeds) and you have the potential to evolve your brand’s relationship with its audience in ways a website can’t.

When it comes down to it, we never stop playing around in the Facebook sandbox. To us, it’s the only way to stay on top of an ever-changing environment. What’s your take?

In our industry, the term user experience (UX) is in danger of becoming played out. This is a shame, because unlike some of the other interactive buzzwords at death's door — Web 2.0 and wet floor immediately come to mind — UX deserves a better life.

At its core, UX goes a long way toward defining a brand — especially a digital one. People form opinions about a brand based on their interactions with it, from in-store kiosks to rich media microsites. Consistent look and feel helps to anchor those opinions, but great UX goes beyond consistency, reinforcing brand identity while engaging, entertaining and — if the stars align — inspiring the user. Ultimately, the takeaway is brand affinity, which can be worth plenty over the long haul.

What does any of this have to do with where you work? Well, the look and feel of a given physical space conveys a lot of information to people who spend time there. Is the agency a boutique or a behemoth? Does it have an experimental or a more traditional business model? Everywhere you look, visual cues reveal a company's identity — and its priorities. Hopefully, those priorities include helping you achieve your goals.   

Shameless self-promotion aside, our offices serve as a good example of how look and feel come together to express brand and philosophy. From mid-century modern decor and orange FLOR tiles to wide-open spaces and the distinct absence of cubicles, a handful of carefully chosen interior design elements have come to define our visual identity.

These elements also encourage collaboration and spark creativity on a daily basis. How, exactly? To paraphrase a wise woman, by giving people the space to be people. Instead of trying to rigidly define experiences, they should provide a strong environmental framework that's flexible enough to accommodate the imagination (Workplace UX? Nah...). This kind of flexibility allows creative minds to do some of their best work.

While it may not seem obvious at first blush, the relationship between what you put into an office space and what you get out of it is pretty clear. When something is designed to inspire, people notice — and everyone involved is that much better off for it.