Pepsi is hoping to be its best friend. For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi traded Super Bowl dollars (and a viewership of 95 million) for a social media campaign that "Refreshes Communities" by fueling grass roots neighborhood initiatives. And the online community is raving about the move.

H&M, on the other hand, is scrambling. After an article in the New York Times revealed a store's practice of trashing unsold clothes, the Twitter and Facebook community roared for days before H&M took notice, apologized and tried to win back conscious consumers. Their brand was severely hurt, and although they made a $100,000 donation to earthquake relief, tweeters still comment about what the previously discarded clothes could have meant to the people of Haiti.

Like the Beatles, those shepherding their brands through the maze of social media should be singing, "we'll get by with a little help from our friends."

"Social media offers new opportunities to activate brand enthusiasm."

Stacy DeBroff, CEO/Founder of Mom Central