That's exactly what Munich, the Spanish shoe manufacturer who made my lovely shoes, has figured out.  And they've tapped into that essential need people have to express themselves, get attention, feel special and connect with others.  As a result, they're having remarkable success.

I learned about Munich recently when I had the good fortune to be on a speaking panel at an event in Barcelona with Marius Cirera (@mariuscirera), who heads up online marketing for Munich, so I not only heard the story of Munich's successes in social media, I also got the chance to meet Marius. Since I started with the premise that shoes say something about the owner, here is a picture of the shoes Marius was wearing when we met: 

Munich, a company that dates back to 1939, specializes in sports footwear (that's trainers for my UK readers, sneakers in the US), and their shoes feature a distinctive "X" in the design.  Their shoes are sold primarily through leading retailers in Spain and Italy, as well as online.  I hadn't heard of them until seeing Marius' presentation, but that certainly caught my attention, on several levels.  First, on their Munich My Way website, they give online customers the ability to personalize your shoe design (remember, it's all about me).  As soon as I was off the stage, I used my iPhone's browser to visit the site and begin designing my own shoe.  From that moment, I knew I'd be a Munich customer (and that I'd likely have to be treated someday for an addiction to their shoes).  The tool is fun to play with, but it's more than that, it's the sense that this is a company that isn't just marketing at me, it's listening to me, giving me the control instead of trying to manipulate me. That alone is enough to make me a fan.  Add an iPhone app so I can play with it when I'm in a boring meeting or waiting for a train, and I'm hooked. Munich gets that.

The company has brought the same insight to its social media involvement.  They've used their Facebook page to create a real connection with their customers, and it has more than 37,000 fans already, who post photos of their latest purchase or their whole Munich shoe collections.  In his presentation, Marius told of the first event they held for Facebook fans, opening their factory for a one-day sale, at which they expected at most a few hundred visitors.  The response was so great that the traffic overwhelmed not only the factory parking lot, but the road leading to it and the nearby town.  They learned from the process, and subsequent events have been even more successful.  For a company that had previously sold primarily through third parties, this direct connection to their customers -- and to their passion for the products -- was completely new.  But the Munich team has the right instincts, they understand this isn't just another old-school marketing channel, to be used to push information one way.  They are engaging with their customers.  And they're being rewarded by them.

I'll be following Munich's business progress (as well as wearing their shoes) for many years to come, and I expect that their growth will be tremendous, because they truly understand the fundamental changes that social media has brought about. They understand that it's all about me.