Andrew Shue can still work a room even if he no longer appears in your living room each week.
“You are all from ad agencies,” he said as he introduced himself Wednesday to a crowd of advertising executives during a luncheon panel on social media. “And I used to play an ad executive on TV.”
It was a lighthearted moment from the now very serious Shue, a former star on the Fox drama “Melrose Place” and co-founder of the year-old social media Web site CafeMom. Shue calls the site a “Match.com for moms,” a place where discussion boards include “venting about doctors” to “legitimate work from home businesses.”
The luncheon chat focused on leveraging big brands on social-networking sites. The panelists included executives from Bebo, Facebook, Izea and MySpace.
Other than the opening quip about his former profession, Shue very much played the role of Internet entrepreneur.
“We talk a lot about relevance, about being in the middle of their daily lives,” he said of the users of CafeMom, which averages about 6 million visitors a month — all women. As a guy, even Shue isn’t allowed to join the site he started.
One brand opportunity is a new platform to help busy moms prepare dinner. “Who is going to own that?” he asked. “Is it going to be Kraft?”
The implication was clear: There are opportunities for big brands to get more deeply involved in online social communities.
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“It’s about engagement with the brand,” he said. “We have an audience that really talks to each other a lot. You have to trust that if you integrate a brand successfully into that community, there will be a conversation.”
But he acknowledged community members may trash a name from time to time, something brand managers should not fear.
“The moms are on duty on our site and very quick to defend a company if someone is in bashing mode,” he said. “In our experience, if there’s bashing going on, it’s 10 percent negative to 90 percent positive.”
“Community has been around forever,” Shue said. Social networks just “facilitate a more efficient community.”
They may be more efficient, but I doubt they’re more interesting than living in the same community with Marcia Cross and Heather Locklear.
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What do you think of Andrew Shue’s social Web site? Post your comments on Eric’s blog at chicagotribune.com/eric.