The social media point of differentiation: A must read for anyone Twittered out on followers or so over Facebook friend additions.

Earlier on in the year, I commented on Jason Baer’s blog about the harsh reality of too many marketers and PR practitioners flocking to one social network or blogging space in order to claim it a results-driven specialty for new business. While fail whales are now even more common on Twitter with its overall visitors’ base reaching 100+ million, Friendfeed remains “unbeached” with its stellar ‘rooms’ platform. But let’s not talk about the many marketers online who arrive in droves at the next best thing; rather, let’s talk about what so many aren’t doing and should be—in order to provide a social media point of differentiation.

Conceiving your own social media tool, much like Fallon has recently done with Skimmer—with the help of Adobe Air (hat tip to @bbellx for showing me this). This application is “designed to streamline, beautify, and enhance the experience of participating in your most frequently used social networking activities. It improves upon your day-to-day interaction with multiple social networks, removing distractions and providing a rich experience that is particularly suited to multimedia content.” Sounds nice, huh? That’s because it is. And what’s really great is Fallon can go into a new business pitch with this trusty, owned and operated tool.

Fallon hasn’t been the only agency of record who has jumped on board with being the "firsts.” Waggener Edstrom announced earlier in the year its twendz application. This budding technology allows for the exploration of Twitter conversations and sentiment. "As the conversation changes, so does twendz by evaluating up to 70 tweets at a time. When new tweets are posted, they are dynamically updated, minute-by-minute." You can choose to make the API work even faster by simply moving the bar over on the tracking meter. That way, you see updates every second. What a great thing for businesses worldwide!

Monetizing your agency’s custom groups or social network sites. With the amount of FREE tools used to build your own social network, aggregate video content, blog comments, discussion threads, and posts—it’s easier than you think to cash in on what you’ve created. If I told you what Axiom has up its sleeve for several of its LinkedIn trade groups, I’d probably have to tar and feather you. But if you’re curious on self-monetization, here are some ideas:

• Using Ustream.TV or Justin.TV to host a chat room with industry specialists or analysts talking about your client’s product. Leverage your existing fan base that you’ve already created via conversations on microblogs or discussion boards as your first “Sign me up!” numbers. You might also think of getting your chat backed by some corporate sponsors that nicely supplement what your client is doing and how they’re positioning themselves. That way, everyone gets Web exposure.

• Invite fans of your Facebook Page to be part of your street team where they’ll go out and promote products and services for the clients you work for. Invite new business prospects into the venture with a small fee. Yes, this may be a reality sooner or later, if not already… Olson + Company does something similar in-house with its street teams.

• Or, you could create a massive e-mail distribution service akin to HARO, charge buckets for pay-for-say advertisement, and reap generous rewards from those you’re helping out AND those who are fans of your media service. Have you seen lately how Shankman has been cashing in on HARO?! “What’s Hot on Haro”, multi-faceted sponsorship, and a whole slew of partnerships. (Yes, you too can be Peter Shankman. Well, maybe not.)

Go BIG or go home
While it may be strange to start thinking this way, start thinking BIG. Why? Hasn’t it occurred to you that the innovators of these social networks are nothing but BIG thinkers and dreamers? Who ever thought there’d be a way for online users to connect so quickly with their personal and professional interests in real-time, what’s really on your mind? “Get to the point!” fashion? Twitter has made what we’ve always wanted to say to long-winded friends and acquaintances a reality. Who ever thought that I, Tim Otis, would get to hear your comment on the Daily Axioms blog the minute you said it? Disqus (pronounced "discuss") did.

If you’re not into BIG social media ideas and monetization principles, you'll be hard-pressed to land a client interested in social media exploration—and that’s a reality for the future – if you don’t move away from conventional and traditional approaches now. Go ahead and jump on every social network, but where are the results in that—if not for a couple of solid, will-stand-by-you-to-the-end relationships? Turn your focus to thinking BIG in terms of monetization rather than a propensity to accrue 10,000 followers on Twitter or 500+ connections on LinkedIn.

Remember, your clients are looking for new ways to drive visitor traffic on their site that will result in consumer trial or purchase, or sales leads in general. How are you differentiating yourself here? Not there.

What’s your level of Twitter involvement?

If you’re like most people on Twitter, you revel in awe over those tweeps who have 10,000+ followers; and if you’re a newby, you’re just in awe over a cool 200. Now that you’ve seen a whole slew of celebrities’ impact on Twitter, the jealousy comes in the form of gawking at 100,000 or more. Are you tired yet?

Honestly, I ask, what is the point of all this tweeting?! Celebrities don’t have to tweet; they just produce because of the viewer and envious masses. And when they do actually tweet, like @mrskutcher—look out world, a fail whale will now commence in the form of 10,000 or so @ replies. I do have to hand it to non-celebrities, though. How do you all do it? Is the label of ‘Twitter whore’ appropriate (where incessant tweeting gives you a guaranteed maximum of followers per day)? Or is it the fact that you build community over multiple platforms such as blogs, Facebook, Ning and you use Twitter as leverage? I’d say the latter. If you’re a smaller outfit like us, you’re just simply not big enough to keep up on all the shared links, gossip, and people to follow on Friday. So how does your organization manage tweeting?

Here are some methods that have worked for the @AxiomPR account:

• Offering 5-10 good tweets a day. By good, I mean juicy stuff. The stuff that is a hot topic on Twitter, such as #SusanBoyle, #twoonday, and like one Twitterer mentioned—the iPhone. That is followers-guaranteed.

• RT-ing tweets that have substance, and by that I mean the tweets that many have already RT-ed and you just have to get in on the action. Sometimes you’ll get a “thanks for the RT!” and when you’ve received that from a person who has 10,000 followers—you’re definitely in.

• An entire eight-hour day devoted to tweeting. That’s right. We stop all of our work and devote our time to reaching the almighty 100,000 followers of influence, where DMs count up in mass numbers and there are so many @ replies, we start seeing the Ctrl 2 symbol appear on our foreheads…

Now if you haven’t figured it out already, this is all a big joke, BUT… so many PR and marketing agencies are coming up with strategies like these for small business clients and beyond. The problem with strategizing Twitter involvement is that it’s entirely built upon contrived interaction—a deadly way to conduct any social media venture, in fact.

While your followers may not see your strategy, you certainly do… and it stinks. If you really care about using Twitter appropriately, you’ll hold to this “Twisdom”: Do what comes naturally. And don’t worry about being a Twelebrity. If you’ve driven one consumer to your product Web site and it resulted in trial or purchase, that’s far better than having 100,000 fans of your jovial tweets, which is no way substantiate your reason for being on Twitter in the first place.

Happy Tweeting!
Tim

Should Interns Tweet for You?

Unless you want to face a social media ignorance charge such as the one against Pizza Hut's vice president of marketing communications Bob Kraut, you better think twice about asking your summer intern to tweet on behalf of your company.

Contrary to popular tweeting belief, corporate Twitter accounts are not for the sole purpose of announcing product promotions and discounts and fielding customer service inquiries. There is A LOT more to it than that. For many marketing communications executives not understanding the 'natural' factor on Twitter, it's so hard to be human, personable and engaging-- as opposed to being a feed hog with promotions, eating something (because it's the default tweet when you have nothing else to say), or talking about literally what you're doing at that moment. And so many digress to handing off this activity as similar to running errands and pushing paper all day long. What?!

Putting it into perspective
Say you're walking down the street alongside your trusty intern. They're jotting down notes of all their duties you delegate to them for the day. All of a sudden, an irate customer steps in front of you and demands an answer as to why their prescription drug is no longer on discount (You are a Walgreens marketer afterall). Stunned at what to say, you throw your intern at them and run off. Your intern is puzzled and the length it takes to reach you is as big as the organizational chart for your company. Would you really trust your intern to deliver a crisis communications response? By the time they find you for tweeting comment, the angered Walgreens customer has already posted a TwitPic of Walgreen's generic Ibuprofen with the caption "Don't be deceived. The Walgreens promotion ended weeks ago!" Unfortunately for you, they have 13,000 followers on Twitter and that pic has already received 1,200 views. An intern's "OMG, Walgreens is so not like that." Twitter response will not save you.

If you still want your intern to tweet, allow them to set up their own personal account that incorporates their passions, interests, and role outside of your company. The last thing you want is something mundane tweeted out on your company's feed and it just so happens that it's caused a slight stir and people want to know who said it and who they work for. Responsible and purposeful tweeting can be accomplished, and certainly among interns who are quick Twitter studies. But before you let the intern take the driver's seat for your company's Twitter, get your head examined. It's your deal-- not theirs.

Susan Boyle’s Transparency and Why We’re All Eating It Up

Not only has Scotlander and powerhouse musical vocalist Susan Boyle been a perfect representation of humility over the past 10 days on YouTube, blogs and national TV shows, she has also been unknowingly preaching social media’s major tenet of building loyalty or fans: being natural.

In fact, Susan Boyle’s fans span all age groups. As we peruse comments on YouTube and blogs, you see moms talking about how their 8-year old daughter or son felt inspired by Boyle—or an unemployed husband-wife team now sees “hope” in the world again. Are these psychological, fabricated hope concoctions or are people truly being moved spiritually, emotionally, and mentally?

If 40+ million views on YouTube (based on combined total of all views on original and subsequent versions) can shed some light on the Boyle song event, I’d say it’s the biggest community reunion since 9/11, and it wasn’t founded on tragedy; rather, built upon a last-chance moment and a plea to see beyond the physical. At 47, you don’t see many taking such a sky dive like Boyle did, and that’s why we’re all eating this up. She’s David. The Mockers are Goliath, or should I say were.

Though, Boyle is still battling skeptics long after her angelic voice was first heard. Reports claim she lip-synced. Reports also claim the judges already knew what Boyle could vocally do and their reactions were bunk. I have to completely disagree with all this, because I don’t think contrived moments can make such impacts. A well-crafted, well-scripted 7-minute David vs. Goliath story can’t do it naturally. After all, the genuine article is what everyone wants to see conveyed whether on TV or in-person. Susan Boyle keeps it natural, and that’s why she’s the biggest viral success story—ever.

As the world of marketers continues to see that genuine articles are the key to viral spread, we might be waiting a while to see another great moment unscripted and unpolished.

P.S. Looks don't matter, heart does.

The Winner of the 2009 Easter Twegg Drop

Here's the guy who won.



Find out how he was picked out of 260 egg entries (and 1,980 other ones)!

3 Common Misconceptions with Twitter Spelled Out in Real-Life Scenarios

Advocates of Twitter usage have long been pointing that it’s great for shorthand media pitches and a great alternative to SMS or texting. But what it lacks lies in the very thing that made it such a household name: 140 characters or less.

Having specifics to communicate on Twitter is impossible—even in a DM, because that will only take you so far in characters. If your goal is to pitch an event or product, you have to be very general but still include a call to action. Chances are the recipient will either ignore your @reply, not see it, or DM you with their e-mail address to send more info their way. A person’s amount of followers depends of whether or not they’ll see the pitch, unless they’re hungry for searching out their Twitter ID, who’s used it and how.

The other side of the specifics argument is using Twitter as an alternative to e-mail, text or the telephone. You can’t have long-running conversations on microblogging platforms such as Twitter and I’m really not sure why social media consultants have Twitterviews (interviews via Twitter) because the back-and-forth seems to be tedious and long-winded at best. No one wants to see a blog post detailing an interview conducted on Twitter provided a twitter feed screen grab showing drivel in every tweet. As you move along reading the tweets, you’re thinking, “get to the point already!”

@Comcastcares is also a great example of the specifics problem. Here’s the tweet and response scenario on Twitter:

@person1 Comcast sucks. Charged me $200 for installation fee and still my Internet doesn’t work. Not happy.
@Comcastbob Hi, how can I help?
@person1 My internet is not working and I’ve had a service rep come out to my house 3 times and it still isn’t fixed.
@ComcastBob Please DM me your home phone number and I’ll take a look.

Even @ComcastBob (and other @Comcastcares staff) realizes that this problem is going to take a lot more than Twitter dialogue to document, so the DM with a phone number follows. This shows us that Twitter is simply a means to an end but cannot provide the nitty-gritty of ISP server trouble-shooting. After all, who would want to in 140 characters or less? Why not just handle it in a phone call.

Short-lived share of information. One of my biggest irks with Twitter is that the Axiom account has over 2,000 followers and every ‘refresh’ equals a new Twitter feed that replaces the 2-minute-ago tweets. I know I can hit the back button, but that’s somewhat irritating. Sometimes you just miss information altogether because Twitter is too fast. This is like someone talking excessively at you and you aren’t allowed the time to soak in the information. You then say, “I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?” To which they reply “Huh?” because they don’t understand that question in this new environment. Twitter understands a person’s desire to keep it relevant and offers services like ‘favorites’ or Tweetdeck, but still, I’d much prefer a feed that represents all of what I’m into, as opposed to having to seek it out. (If there are other services out there that completely do away with this argument, please let me know in comments. I’d love to check them out.)

Word-of-mouth (WOM) can reach a stand still. So you just figured out that Twitter is a great tool to communicate your contest or promotion. You think the WOM will spread like wildfire because Twitter is fast and offers residual networks that will just take off in promotion-push stride. Wrong. Pushing out a contest has its limits on Twitter and it’s primarily due to this: the more popular someone is, the more likely they will miss your general message. This tells us that, like mass e-mail distribution, general tweets are not good to push a contest or promotion. You need to personalize it if you want to garner longevity—the type of longevity that leads to a blog post or publicity for the promotion. True, you will see people RT your general announcement, BUT it has only grabbed them for 2 minutes and 20 seconds (140 characters) or less. And if you think 15,000 followers equates to 15,000 promotion/contest tweets you’ll monitor and bring back to the client-- wrong again. You will never know what the person is thinking, and furthermore, how the person will use the info. The more personal you make a push for a promotion or contest, the better.

While I’ve mentioned three problems with Twitter’s short-hand style, one thing always rings true and involves this great rule of thumb when working in any social network: focus on the relationships, not the quantity.

Twegg Drop Contest Closed. Winner Announced Today

UPDATE: A couple of donations have yet to be accounted for and we want to give everyone a fair and equal shot at winning the Kindle 2-- which will be presented to the winner by Mobile Loaves & Fishes' President Alan Graham. I will let you know when we're ready...

After two weeks of non-stop tweeting and hard-boiled egg donations, the 2009 Easter Twegg Drop is now closed and the winner of the Kindle 2 will be picked today when the eggs roll out! But if you're interested (and we meant to have this up on Monday), here are the names of all of those who have been entered into #tweggdrop. If you see that someone has more than one entry next to their name, they followed our instructions on how to double and triple their chances of winning the Kindle 2. Any disputes, let me know and I will look into it for you.

Debra_Hamel 1
CollectedMisc 2
kevinfentonbiz 1
rehor 2
barbekresla 1
bennesvig 1
quick13 2
mnpr 2
RobinMarie 1
mgnelson 2
mmarteen 1
Obsession88 1
peterbokunet 1
jimakin 1
RosevilleWriter 2
Rmediavilla 1
katsushiro 1
morrischris 1
Ignitus 1
nathanrhansen 1
rwilson89 1
jojeda 1
ChristineCape 1
questionyou 1
Karen_Eden 1
amycrea 1
BryanPerson 1
TexansVsHunger 1
heatherjstrout 1
leslie_dippel 1
amymengel 1
elseash 1
ahanin 1
anvilcity 1
mambome 1
paigeorloff 1
sheenamiller 2
KathyPurdy 1
etechwriter 1
cvillemama 1
alanashley 1
jonl 1
poneal 1
churchlady4 1
cafecyan 1
StarAasved 1
derek_harris 1
phire42 1
Wilsonart 1
PyrateWench 1
denebir 1
ttrentham 1
avennerberg 1
hamblinj 1
StorlieDawg 1
foodbankrgv 1
Vertie 1
jefftaff 1
jcraiglewis 1
daveyank 1
webguypdx 1
CCahillMN 1
coreyehlert 1
TrishasTravels 1
Jen_Hanson 1
ramcosca 1
jesipr 1
Daleylickliter 1
laurajean 1
lafromboise 1
Jkarkula 1
dannybrown 1
deliriousgirl 1
robinwithani 1
mad_cow_chris 1
eliyet 1
cbreitling 1
judithsthoughts 1
rachieannie 1
CommanderNChef 1
hbobier 1
nocollars 1
inaeyaert 1
AprilAMiller 1
cjoien 1
Zpad 1
Crapdraz 1
kayjay15 1
Impeifer 1
txvoodoo 1
JustJon 1
JetWithAnya 1
adammika 1
HazelTwiggs 1
BigMikeInAustin 1

kmskala 1
pamkakes 2
TeresaWrites4U 2
DLRWriter 1
Tdbttrfly 1
gautieraustin 1
mommy_grrl 1
exactlythat 1
bsblchik 1
atxsarah 1
bouffee 1
sarahmcquilken 1
arikhanson 1
ellenm53 1
minnemom 1
modmama 1
comefollowme 1
Vicki_Test 1
MargieNewman 1
janetmom2maya 1
makasha 1
good concepts 1
luckytoddler 1

wanderingmn 1
ryanvanasse 1
laurynw 1
promising 1
tglwesttexas 1
comol1982 1
zealotonastick 1
harveydanger 1
Aaronstrout 1
CatherinVentura 1
Cassel 1
ryjo 1
asdeos 1

3kidsandus 2
KellyNeufeld 1
aLITTLEbitNUTTY 1
AsTheNight 1
Minneap 1
thomaskvamme 1
Aleksija 1

fingerscrossed 1
Laurie2008 1
Swtlilchick 1
LoneWolfMLS 1
sewcat 1
sewbird 1
lastnerve2000 1
twinbush 1
TheGrimmReaper 1
JamesFelder 1
SaraMama 1
hondaray6 1
jmd61 1
Hapysun 1
nickqueen 1
flinflan 1
1stopmom 1
vlbsweeps 1
easagredo 1
PrincessGill88 1
FantasyDreamer 1
tdfangirl 1
Gnome_King 1
NancyHolzner 1
donnalocklin 1
whammo52 1
src1964 1
ladyozma 1
lftcan 1
amezri 1
luke314pi 1
cammeiosis 1
Emisi 1
georgefiddler 1
buhfly 1
Auguris 1
1001cranes 1
amymessere 1
crazypoet 1
marvolosriddle 1
deberito 1
princessamymo 1
cassiejamie 1
lizdyer 1
CFitz 1

bbricke 1
animal_cracker 1
cheesygiraffe 1
tinkerbellehell 1
newtypegirlie 1
bettyrose 1
GothamGal 1
HyugaFenrir 1
TinkaTayla 1
modbebe 1
ebrenner 2
sarajhenry 1
charleneburke 1
princessrica 1
jodeit 3
wastebasket 1
ELLCteacher 1
BooksOnTheKnob 1
BeesOnTheKnob 1
drewperry 1
kandisprizza 1
mntruck 1
ecaron 1
MoreThanARoom 1

vrigsbee 1
SandDanz 1
BookstoreDeb 1
chennpug 1
sweepstakesgirl 1
madly59 1
TropicsZ4 1
goldone 2
SapphirePhelan 1
rj_edwards 1
renewbee 1
strawberryredx2 1
joannaonthelake 1
ladybug_3777 1
HomeArtCraftBiz 1
Jennmarie68 1
JessicaHyde 1
cbjones00 1
cjmartin 1
Jim_Seal 1

caragonza 1
pestkaj 1
Melsbb1985 1
apryll_lopez 1
annedoggett 1
ooodaisymaeooo 1
sumrthyme 1
jmd61 1
ithink_ican 1
KarinHousley 1
ellensNEWintern 1
mtheilmann 1
lily2423 1
lvelasco 1
SgtBV1 1
Krimsin 1

Twegg Drop: Triple Your Chances of Winning the Kindle 2!

In the spirit of this Holiday weekend, we’re giving Twegg Drop participants the opportunity to triple their chances of winning the Kindle 2! This Friday, recommend @MLFNOW as a non-profit to follow for #goodfollowfriday (instructions on how to do it are below). So to summarize, below is a listing of all the ways you can enter our 2009 Easter Twegg Drop. We'll pick a winner on Tuesday, April 14. List of all the entrants will be posted on Monday.

And remember, deadline for entries is Easter Sunday at midnight!

1. Tweet: Follow @MLFNOW because they are a social outreach ministry for the homeless and indigent working poor #goodfollowfriday
2. Tweet the message: Real Eggs for the Hungry. Win a Kindle 2! http://twurl.nl/maj4x6 #tweggdrop and your Twitter handle will be put into an egg in the Axiom phone booth.
3. Make a direct egg donation of $5 or more to Mobile Loaves & Fishes at their site (www.mlfnow.org/egg)

Alas-- one more Twegg video update, with the culmination of our live video streaming of the egg rollout next Tuesday. We have 230 Twegg entries now. Happy Passover, Easter... Holidays!

How to Avoid Facebook Fan Facades

Built into a social media tactic for a brand’s Facebook Page is the always-popular incentive: a contest, a giveaway, something really special. But what if it’s not incentive enough to keep fans actual fans?

Sure, word-of-mouth (WOM) contests are the tactic of choice for brands on Facebook, but the problem is it’s only stimulating one’s interest for a season—not a summer, winter or spring. What evidence is there to show for fan declines on Facebook? Plenty.

After Papa John’s free medium pizza push lost its edge, it started losing fans by the thousands. Its page pretty much went dormant after the Super Bowl. In its earlier Facebook Page years, Crest Whitestrips (Proctor & Gamble) dropped 4,000 of its fans after a launch ‘smile’ promotion left little WOM impressions. Having to report numbers to your respected client, I don’t think they’ll appreciate such declines. For most, a loss of fans or members in social networks is like seeing the Dow drop 777 points; it’s monumental and the problem is no one’s buying what you're selling.

There are many ways to avoid the dreaded brand fan decline. Here are some that I’ve used in conversation with clients looking to jump on Facebook with their brand:

• A call for C-suite level involvement- If a client thinks for one minute that I am going to respond to all of the brand comments, in particular, the quips with products or services, on wall posts and discussion boards, it is wrong for them to assume so. I may be a representative but I can’t talk about a brand the way the person behind the brand can. Putting a senior level official into the mix of conversation may open themselves up to ridicule, but it’s hands-off now and fans want to know C-suites are listening—and that it’s not some receptionist behind the desk trashing complaints. Sometimes the ridicules are just a test to see if someone is actually there and listening.

• Find your #1 brand fan- somewhere out there, someone loves your product, so why not crown him or her your #1 fan on Facebook? Companies are seeing the potential in categorizing brand fans in terms of activity, and are now offering their services to address the need. #1 fans can make a lot of headway on Facebook, which includes making their friends fans of your brand. From status updates about a company’s product or service working out in a certain situation, to subscribing to the monthly e-newsletter, you can be assured this person will work for you, not against you. Okay, so maybe your #1 brand fan doesn’t have that many friends, but give him or her the credit they deserve and be patient with the fan-building process.

• Leverage the Twitter base- I think Twitter is an absolute must to supplement Facebook brand-building efforts. Why? Anyone who’s active on Twitter is most certainly active on Facebook. Plus, Twitter has warp-speed response time, and a quick reply to someone bashing your brand may make a 180-degree difference. Who once was a brand antagonist now is touting your brand on Twitter and they’ve joined your Facebook page too. Twitter is also a long-lead base because it allows for long-term and continuous, and might I add that the interface is composed so effortlessly. It’s hard to justify long-winded dialogue on a Facebook Page. Try wall-to-wall but eh, no-- Twitter is better. If you haven’t already, create a Twitter account, start talking and link your “want more?” motive to your brand's Facebook Page.

• Themed days and events- This goes right along with the contest idea, and if you want contests or a way to keep fans hungry for more about your client's brand, make every month a new month for the Facebook page. This means coining a fun event name for that month that coincides with the brand’s key messages. To use a hypothetical example for Crest Whitestrips: Crest announces May as “wear your smile proud” month. Fans are invited to upload as many quirky pictures in different landmark locations where they’re showcasing their teeth smile. The best teeth smile in the most patriotic situation wins a year’s supply of Crest Whitestrips. That’s just one example of what Crest (or you) can do for your client. Go on—be creative.

If you’re having trouble figuring out how to build a brand’s Facebook page, use these suggestions as a strategic guide to planning your client’s next social media move.

What the Easter Twegg Drop is Really All About

We're helping Mobile Loaves and Fishes feed the homeless through hard-boiled egg donations. Donate now and increase your chances of winning the Kindle 2. The winner will be announced Tuesday of next week-- via live video feed of the egg rollout!

Twegg Update #4

Hey tweeps and fellow bloggers, we are excited to report that we have almost 200 egg entries added to our phone booth. Remember there are 6 more days to donate $5 or more to Mobile Loaves & Fishes' hard-boiled egg trucks. You can also tweet the message as we've seen the majority doing.

Here's an update on the names entered this past weekend, Monday and some today. My apologies for not mentioning @newtypegirlie in this video update. Don't worry- you're entered!

So You Wanna Be a Trendsetter on Twitter: 7 Heavenly Ways to Do It

Today’s gander at the most popular trending topics led me to consider how people become trendsetters on Twitter. Here’s a list of Axiom’s 7 heavenly ways to own perpetuator bliss with some link luv too.

1) Coin a new term or phrase before someone beats you to it, such as #snowmageddon. Translation: Really big snowstorms encroaching on cities big and small, and everyone talks about it.

2) Create your own microblogging application to track trends and get people talking about how ubercool the API is.

3) Tweet out an event’s hashtag with info from the event-- that has at least 50 or more like-minded tweeters there. This year’s #bmasocial crowned @evaekeiser as the trendsetter!

4) Create a themed day of the week with a feel good component. Everyone knows #followfriday all too well, but what about hashtagging #musicmonday? (I’d like to know who started this one).

5) Create a themed day of the week with a funny, malicious component, such as #unfollowfriday

6) Broadcast an event that runs during less popular times of tweeting, so it will be a hot topic by default. (In doing research, Axiom discovered that 1:30-5 p.m. is a crowded time to be on Twitter and there is more likelihood for fail whales in feed flows.

7) Tweet every detail over the course of a 3-hour period that involves a tragedy, hostage situation, or being stuck in an elevator.

Twegg Update #3

So far we've had 147 entries come in-- in the form of tweets and $5 or more donations for MLFNOW! If you don't hear your Twitter ID in this video, check out Twegg update #2. And if you don't hear it at all and you know you've entered, please comment and I'll get it in! If you have no idea what this is, read all about it.

Twegg Video Update #2

So far we have put 126 eggs into our phone booth! Help Axiom and MLF reach 2,009 eggs by Easter's end by entering Twegg Drop>>>>

Can social media be done while 'on the clock'?

It's one thing to convince the 'powers that be' that social networks are worth a gander for brands, but it's another to reason for social media time while you're working. A recent conversation with a PR friend led me to consider how our own agency is embracing social media and if we're actually being paid for the hours we put into it.

My short but rather long answer: everyone is open to social media, but has yet to rationalize long hours spent on Twitter and writing blog posts. I don't blame anyone for being turned off by what could be considered a very unconventional approach to reaching reporters and building relationships. I, too, oftentimes find Twitter as nothing more than a coffee shop where people are shouting "Smell my coffee!" and the aromatic tweets draw one or two or a couple-thousand to the community table. Unfortunately, not everyone will get the same welcome reception-- especially if you're not popular enough. To become popular, it means hours and hours and hours of @-kissing and finding unique and original content all the day long.

Luckily, you can rest assured that social media is not about popularity. It's not about who says something bigger or better. What it boils down to is relationships, so if you're frustrated that Joe Schmo with 7,000 followers isn't responding to your @ reply referring to his recent social media blog post, don't worry. Focus on building the relationships that matter to you and your agency/organization/corporation, and I bet you soon enough your skeptical colleagues will take a second long, hard look in considering what they're missing out on-- while on the clock.

What's your organization saying about your time dedicated to social media?