Starting out in social media can be very daunting for many brands – especially when resource may not be there to hire ‘experts’ instantly.

Alexandra Samuel recently wrote this piece in the Harvard Business Review. If you’re new to social media, we thought it may be helpful.

If you’ve got an experienced social media team, a solid budget and an appetite for innovation, you can create an original online presence that engages your customers or supporters in an entirely new kind of online experience.

But many organizations lack the time, budget or experience to start from scratch. That doesn’t limit your social media options to a generic corporate news blog or a standard-issue Facebook page. Here are three great options for robust social media presences that let you manage cost and risk by building on existing tools and established best practices.

1. Suggestion Box

What is it: Invite your customers, supporters or employees to submit their ideas and suggestions for new products, services or improvements. Community members get to rate submissions so the best ideas rise to the top; it’s your job to ensure top suggestions get implemented.

Great for: Consumer-facing brands open to product/service input; member-driven NGOs looking for policy or service ideas.

Examples: Dell Ideastorm , MyStarbucks Idea, Threadless

How to do it: Build your own site using a content management system; many now offer a Digg-style submission and voting system as an add-on. Or use a pre-fab solution like the Salesforce software that powers Dell’s site, or the turn-key Uservoice, designed specifically for managing customer suggestions.

Where to spend: Invest in the implementation of a few user-submitted ideas as soon as possible; then use your media team to publicize the fact that you’re listening. Once people know their ideas will turn into action, it will be easy to motivate participation.

Where to save: Don’t build your own submission-and-rating system from scratch. There are lots of turn-key options available.

Where to get help: Make sure you have a community manager who can reach out to potential early adopters — like the customers who already blog or tweet about your project. And if your product development team is less than thrilled about taking direction from consumers, hire an organizational development expert who can help you evolve into a more nimble and responsive organization.

2. Widget

What is it: Create an interactive badge your customers or supporters can place on their Facebook pages or blogs. A widget can display your latest news, deals or contests, invite Twitter-style updates, or solicit donations.

Great for: Popular brands with young, web-savvy customers who love to wear your logo; non-profits with young, eager-to-help supporters.

Examples: innocent drinks, Ask Your Lawmaker

How to do it: Use a service like SproutBuilder or WidgetBox to create a simple widget with content updates powered by your RSS feed; for non-standard approaches, a web developer or programmer can create something from scratch.

Where to spend: Design skills and interactivity to make your widget stand out from the pack; outreach and incentives to encourage people to install the widget.

Where to save: If you’re soliciting donations, use a widget or development kit designed for online fundraising, rather than creating your own donation system.

Where to get help: Widgets that exist to serve up content (like videos) thrive when they’re presenting really great media, so hire a great filmmaker, photographer or content development team. If your widget prompts action (like donations or media forwarding) get strategic help from someone with a track record in online campaigning.

3. Deal-of-the-day

What is it: Create an online presence that lets people know about a special, time-limited offer. It could be a product available in limited quantities, a discounted service, or donation matching. Update your offer regularly so there’s a reason for your audience to check back frequently.

Great for: Companies with new products or services they want to publicize; businesses with stock to clear; non-profits who want to balance their big-donor relationships with more grassroots fundraising.

Examples: Future Shop, Pizza Hut’s Facebook page

How to do it: Create a Twitter feed or Facebook page that you update once a day (or even once or twice a week) with a special offer. Promote your feed or page to fans or potential customers so they can track deals in real time.

Where to spend: Offering a real deal by taking a hit on profitability–or even taking a modest loss — so that your deals are meaningful (10% discounts don’t cut it). If you’re a nonprofit, invest in donor relationships with individuals or companies who can offer to match donations.

Where to save: Limit the number of items available for purchase or set a ceiling on matching donations so that you control your maximum outlay.

Where to get help: A social media ambassador or web-savvy publicist can help get the word out about your great offers so that you attract followers.

Written by Alexandra Samuel, CEO of Social Signal,

The Swedish furniture company opened a new store in Sweden and rather than spread the word the old-fashioned way, they decided to go directly to the people using Facebook. Nice one Ikea.

Food for thought: the recent piece that ran in Adweek 23rd Sept: Fast, cheap and out of control by Tor Myhren.

Wired magazine calls it the “MP3 effect.” It goes like this: Any audiophile can tell you vinyl records have the best sound quality. Then CDs were born, which sounded worse than vinyl, but quickly dominated the market because they were easier to play, more portable and cheaper. Then MP3s came along and they really sounded like shit — worse than CDs, way worse than vinyl. But most music purchased today is in the MP3 format. The lesson: We will quickly sacrifice quality for more functional things like speed, price, shareability and accessibility. It’s why the Flip camera, which shoots basic video, has no image stability control and produces horrible sound, is now the best-selling consumer video camera in America. You can put it in your pocket, shoot anywhere, then plug it into your computer and download everything to your Facebook page.

Welcome to the lo-fi, high-tech revolution. Where fast, cheap and out of control is the new way to do business. And we as marketers better get used to it. It’s why old-school agencies are laboring to keep up with their clients. It’s why once-booming production companies are dropping like flies and trying to reinvent themselves as “content” providers. It’s why big media companies that purchase their plans 18 months in advance are being laughed out of the room. In short, it’s why our industry is 20 percent smaller than it was a year ago. And, ironically, it’s why this is the most exciting time in the history of advertising.

Fast, cheap and out of control. Anyone in our business knows that time lines are shorter, money is tighter and expectations are higher than ever. It’s a time for renegade productions. Where smart, fast and fearless is winning over slow, safe and methodical. Where videos done for free with a Webcam or mobile phone can be seen by millions of people worldwide with zero media dollars. It’s a time unlike any other. It’s chaos. It’s anarchy. And it’s fun as hell.

Why fast? Because speed kills in this market. The rise of digital has amplified the speed of business exponentially. We’re no longer reporting things that happened, we’re reporting things as they are happening. Since we now get all our news in real time — online, mobile, texts, tweets — rapid response time for marketers is now at a serious premium. And things aren’t slowing down anytime soon. For agencies, production companies and media companies alike, the ability to think, move and execute at lightning speed is what clients and consumers expect.

Why cheap? The cost of execution these days is low. Blame it on the Flip. Blame it on YouTube. Blame it on the kids, for God’s sake. But how we view has fundamentally altered what we view. Most screens we’re watching these days are about 6 inches wide, so high production values are lost. We want to watch on any screen, anywhere and be able to send it to our friends anytime. It’s the MP3 effect, in video. This cultural/media shift is devastating an advertising production community built on the two-week, $2 million dollar, wet paved Icelandic road boondoggle. Confusing the hell out of media buyers who get their biggest bargains buying 30-second slots months and years in advance. And forcing agencies to reconsider where their profits are coming from.

Why out of control? Well, we could start by talking virals, blogs, chat rooms, parody videos and consumer-generated content. But let’s not. Suffice it to say we have less control over our brands than we ever have. Which is terrifying and wonderful. The best we can be is proud parents and the brand is kind of like our own little baby boy. We can raise him, dress him, teach him right from wrong and prepare him for the real world. But eventually he has to leave home. And then people are either going to be his friend, or kick his ass. Our brands face the same brutal reality once put in the hands of the digital world. Out there, your brand will be praised, punked, glorified and vilified. So make sure you raise it well. And like any good parent, be ready to jump in on a moment’s notice and help it navigate the stormy waters. Because in this wild media landscape, brands need our guidance more than ever.

The future of advertising is fast, cheap and out of control. And I personally wouldn’t want it any other way. We’re living in a time when quality of content, rather than quality of picture or special effect, reigns supreme. People are seeking out amazing stories over amazing production values. Shorter lead time means less focus groups and less overthink. Faster, cheaper productions mean more experimenting and more chances to shine. We live in a time when everybody has the means to shoot, upload and spread their message. And if it’s great, the world will listen. They don’t need an agency, or a production company, or a media buy. They are renegades, marketing their ideas with new tools and new rules. And we can learn a lot from them.

Tor Myhren is chief creative officer and evp at Grey, New York. He can be reached at tmyhren@grey.com.