I was glued to my computer far longer than I had time for, as I grasped as much as I could from the masters in this new world of  brand marketing and advertising.  Included were social media branding superstars such as Gary Vaynerchuk, Ramon DeLeon and MC Hammer.  I learned so much from this presentation, that when I recently learned the Gravity Summit was coming to New York City, I was quick to sign up.

The day was packed-full of speakers who look at social media from the perspective of  brand Marketing and advertising.  They examined how people are using social media campaigns to change their businesses, and more importantly, how they are able to track those changes.

Here are some of my key take-aways about Brand marketing:

Mike Lundgren, Director of Innovation Strategy at VML, was suffering from a bad cold, but still managed to launch the summit with these pearls:

•   There are over 26,000 million blogs published.  Work to get some of them to say something about your brand.             •    Lead your community back to your site again and again.
•    I-Phone apps are a great way to extend the social experience.
•    Social media extends your presence beyond the trade show booth.  If you are doing a trade show or event, social media helps extend the life of that event, even after it’s over.

Laura Fitton, a dynamic woman who authored “Social Media for Dummies” and recently launched the really cool website for Twitter Tools, OneForty.com had this to say:

•    Don’t get lost in tweets as tweets – if you do, you are missing the point!  This means if you are wondering about the usefulness of reading “my cat just rolled over,” you are not alone. But there is far more to twitter than the obvious.        •    Make sure you understand what you are trying to accomplish before your start your social media campaign.  It will make all the difference in the type of tweets you send out and the type of community you need to build.

Paul Yiu announced that he was from “the socially unpopular company known as Microsoft.” He was informative and personable as he explained Bing and how it differs from Google.  He even sold me on a few of its features:

•    On Bing, data expires in 7 days, similar to Twitter. That means all the results are from a current search, and show the most current data on the subject being searched.

•   Anything that has been updated in the past 7 days appears in their searches, including blog articles, websites that have been updated, current news releases.

•    There is a Twitter search on Bing: bing.com/Twitter.

Raul Deleon is just plain awesome. He was an immigrant from Mexico and we all agreed that he’ll be the next social media superstar. Ramon owns five Domino Pizza franchises in Chicago and they are the most successful in the entire company.  He loves social media and is having a blast making up contests, tweeting pictures of his customers and his pizzas, and thanking folks who mention what pizza they like, to name a few. He also is very community focused and sponsors lots of events in the communities where he has stores. Ordering pizza from one of Ramon’s Domino’s is an experience. He was truly joyful as he talked about his ideas and how they have worked to draw traffic to his stores, and how he tracks their successes.

The folks at the Roger Smith Hotel here in New York have built a unique brand.  And it’s not because of their service, their interiors, their views or any other thing that most New York hotels have to offer.  The Roger Smith has built a community of social media junkies who want to hang with others like them. This is the place where your “online” friends can become “off-line” friends.
It is becoming a tradition that whenever social media “stars’ come into New York, they will hookup with their online friends at the Roger Smith. Every social media conference or business meeting ends with cocktails there, and many stay there because they feel that Adam and Brian, the managers, are their friends.  The Roger Smith is a true social media success story in the best way: they have true brand ambassadors and they are wonderful hosts to the social media community.
Adam and Brian’s takeaways besides their successes were:
•    First, build your community and next, build your content (which is what I am doing).
•    Promote others 12 times more than yourself (which I’m a firm believer in).
•    When you thank people online you are using customer service as marketing!

In a separate post, I’ll be discussing Ian Schafer from Deep Focus.  His perspective was solid in what to consider when starting a social media campaign and how to track your results.

These were some of the highlights for me. Please let me know if there were any other key take-aways you’d like to share, whether you attended or followed along on Twitter posts.

list of  recommended twitter follows:

@mglundgren, @Ramon_DeLeon @nicadler @kyrareed @theroxy @bmorrissey, @rshotel, @rumford, @BeverlyMacy

Here’s how Twitter Lists work:

Twitter Lists enable you to segment your community (the people you follow) into categories. Your lists can be whatever you feel defines a group of who you follow.  So, with Twitter Lists, people who visit your profile can see whom you are following in an organized way.

As someone that has a lot of followers, I find the main Twitter feed very hard to navigate.  That’s why I’ve been using TweetDeck for the past year to segment the people I follow into groups.

For example, I follow “event professionals”, “photographers”, “social media folks” and I also have a list of my “top tweeters”.  Now with Twitter Lists. I don’t have to leave Twitter.com to organize my groups in that way.

The best part of this new feature, in my mind, is how Twitter Lists helps you find new followers in subjects that you care about.  If I look at someone’s profile that I admire and see they are mentioned on many lists, I know the list owner has good taste-, and I can choose to follow the same list.  It’s like a Follow Friday referral, but even better.

Here are some of the Twitter Lists titles in my profile:
•    Social Media Folks I Learn From
•    Funniest Tweeters
•    Wedding Bloggers
•    Event Professionals
You can choose to make your Twitter Lists private, but I am one that finds privacy on Twitter to be useless, since the reason you are on Twitter is to do social networking.
Some things to be aware of when starting your own Twitter Lists:

1. Be specific in choosing names for your lists so followers can quickly decide if a list would pertain to them.

2. Be patient: building a list takes time; there is not an easy way to sort your own followers. Don’t worry if your followers are not in your list immediately. And avoid words in your list like best and favorite, so not to offend.

3. Build your lists and your following by checking out the lists where you appear. If someone has included you in a list, see whom else he or she has in his or her lists.

4. Use geography to build lists to help your followers find local info (i.e. NYC Tweeps).

5. Be gracious and thank those that include you on their lists. It means that you have value to them. As with everything on Twitter, it’s nice to engage and build rapport.

6. Hashtags are not as important now. You can use a list instead of a hashtag (#) to follow an ongoing conversation.

7. Twitter Lists may make it easier for vendors, companies and potential consumers to follow and target you. For instance, in my account @AlbumBoutique, I want to reach brides so I am compiling a Twitter List of bridal bloggers. It’s a way of building my credibility as a resource for brides!

8. Twitter Lists help you easily identify what types of people a Twitter user follows. Seeing their lists in the sidebar what is important or useful and this helps with networking. When you see that you have a mutual interest and follow some of the same people it’s easier to start a conversation. Great when you are trying to join a community or connect with a new person.

9. You can see how many lists other Twitter users are on…it’s a popularity gauge. As I write this, I’m on 40 lists but @Mashable is on 8,945!  @Mashable is a great resource for all things Social Media, so it makes sense. But, it’s nice to know that since Thursday, 40 people have included me in their lists!  It is my hope that I can increase that number, because it means that people find value in my tweets.

10. Follow other tweeters’ lists. This feature allows me to look at a stream of conversations and make a decision if it is of interest to me, and moreover, it also gives me a great tool to find new followers. I am actively checking out the Twitter Lists of people who I get value from.

I’m researching and learning all the time. It still amazes me when something really simple pops up on my radar — and makes total sense.

Here’s “This Week’s Find” – or perhaps it’s a revelation:

Did you know that you are helping your search engine optimization by commenting on other people’s blogs and posts and including your website url? Any time you enter your website info, you are creating a back link. Back links are one of the keys to increasing your search engine visibility. So comment on blogs when you have something to say and enter your website when asked! (And even when you’re not asked.)

On the Twitter front, I’ve started a list of the best Twitter tools I use and why I use them.

The other night at some ungodly hour, I started a Twitter conversation with Rachel Levy@bostonmarketer about a list of Twitter chats that we had both seen. We came up with the idea of keeping a list of all the cool programs we’ve seen in the past. She sent me her complete compiled list. Its outstanding! Following is my condensed list of some of the Twitter Tools from Rachel’s list that I like best (for Rachel’s complete list check out http://www.rachel-levy.com/confused-by-all-the-twitter-applications-take-2/ )

My comments are in Red

Twitter tools I use

Tweetdeck – I can’t say enough about this program. (agreed!!) Basically, Tweetdeck shows your Twitter feed in columns of information based on your preferences, rather than one long stream. For example, I use the following columns: All tweets, A-list, B-list, event professionals, photographers, and social media experts. A list are the people I learn from and engage in conversation. B list are new friends on twitter that I hope will become A-listers (those I want to keep an eye on). In addition- there are @mentions and direct messages on the same screen. You can also see your Facebook friends’ updates right in the application. You can update your Facebook status directly from here. You can click to see anyone’s profile, and from there add them to a particular column. It has a URL shortener build in, which is invaluable. I find this application the best way to organize the twitter universe. The new Mashable version has a few more statistics and buttons that I feel useful- the best is that you can see follower numbers directly under profile picture.

Twellow – A search program that also searches bios, names and locations. It also has a graphical interface that enables localized searching. VERY useful, if you are trying to find someone, or target particular people. I use this tool once a week to target specific groups and to help clean up my twitter account. Twitter sets limits on the number of people you can follow without having a similar number of follows- your allowed to follow up to 2000, before the first limit. After that, you’re allowed to follow 10% more people than are following you- after that you have to clean up your account if you want to stay targeted.-this program is the one I use to do this. It helps me evaluate whether to continue following if they are not following me back.

Tweetchat – This program aggregates all tweets for a certain hashtag into a chat room. The benefit of using this vs. Twitter Search for hashtags, is that when you write your tweet, you don’t have to add the hashtag, as it is added automatically — a HUGE timesaver and is so much easier. Also, you can tweet directly from Tweetchat, so there is no need to flip back to twitter to enter a tweet. I use this whenever I’m on a webinar or at an event… amazing! (I agree!)

Tweet Later – You can do numerous things with this site. First, you can use it to set up alerts to track keywords you are interested in. You can also schedule tweets at certain scheduled times. And, you can auto follow or auto DM. I use the scheduled tweets feature.

Twollo – This program finds people for you to follow based on your interests. Twollo will find them and automatically follow them for you.-I find people talking about events and photo albums.

TwitPic – Allows you to easily post a photo on Twitter. Just browse to the photo, and it creates a link. It’s built directly into Tweetdeck, so it’s easy to use from there!

We Follow – A user powered Twitter directory that categorizes people into groups, such as social media, marketing, celebrity, politics, etc. (I signed up but have not found it useful yet!)

Bit.ly - Shorten, share and track your links. I find this site to be super helpful in trying to determine the success of a tweet when linking to articles on your blog. Great for tracking best times to tweet.

Twitter tools I plan on trying: (Rachel recommends these!)

Friendfeed – “Helps you discover and discuss interesting stuff that your friends and family find on the web.” Basically, it allows you to see what your friends are sharing (and share yours with them) on various websites across the internet, including web pages, videos, photos, and music. It’s used for sharing, idea generation, conversation, marketing, etc. It’s used for much more than just Twitter. Seems great, but it’s just too much information for me right now. I will probably be an addict at some point soon.

Topify – This is one of my favorite applications! What this application does, is makes your email work much better for you with Twitter. When you receive an email about a new follower, instead of being without any information about the followee, it will include their bio and basic stats. And, directly from the email you can follow the person! It also allows you to reply to a DM directly from email.

Tweepsearch – Similar to Twellow, this program searches bios for a particular keyword. But, it can also search the bios of your followers only, which can be very useful.

Twimailer – Rather than receiving the plain emails from Twitter notifying you of a new follower (include just their name), Twimailer sends you their statistics and their last few tweets. Very cool! To me, the major limitation is that you still have to click through to their profile to follow them. Topify solves that issue, which is why I use that application instead.

Twitterfriends – With TwitterFriends you can …

• find out the hidden network of Twitter contacts that are really relevant for you.
• visualize the network of your relevant contacts and their contacts
• see who of your Twitter friends are online this very moment
• read some stats about your Twitter account
• take a look at the most conversational Twitterers or those who are posting the most links

Wow, there’s a lot of great information here, but I found it to be too much!

Twitter Search (formerly Summize) – A mandatory for Twitter users. Type in any search term (including AND, OR, quotes) and see what’s happening on Twitter for that search. Also shows you trending topics. Clicking on “Advanced” lets you get more detailed in your search, including tweets from one person to another, date, attitude and place.

Twitseeker – Finds people on Twitter based on what they’re talking about. Cool! I searched for Marketing, and it came up with a list of 20 people who have been tweeting about Marketing. Very useful, especially for my job search.

What the Hashtag? – A wiki that tracks hashtags on Twitter. Great idea, as I so often see hashtags that I don’t know what they are being used for.

I’ll update soon on what I discovered using the new programs-Thank you so much to Rachel Levy…. For her great comprehensive list

1) R.O.I. With Twitter (and most Social Media strategies) R.O.I. doesn’t mean Return On Investment, it means Return On Influence. Twitter helps you build influence in a particular community and this influence can in turn lead to more business. But it doesn’t happen overnight – Social Media is a long term relationship, not a one night stand!

It is very difficult to calculate what the traditional Return on Investment can be from Twitter (some tools, such as Twitalyzer, are getting close). But, if you are building influence by having conversations with new people, leading people to your blog, and sending visitors to your web site who may even buying your products or services – then something significant is indeed happening.

2) Indentify a Community Sometimes it’s hard for a business to identify the perfect community of people to engage on Twitter. But, if you find a community that’s compatible with your business you can really tap into it. For example, RubbermaidTM is tweeting about “organizing” and engaging people with their brand that way. They assume that talking about plastic containers isn’t going to get too many people excited, but by engaging people who are interested in staying organized, they have found a compatible community for their brand. Use Twitter as a way to connect with customers people, not just as customers.

3) Twitter is Not like a Billboard! Twitter is not a billboard for your brand. A billboard doesn’t talk to people, people do! Twitter is a two-way conversation.

4) Create More Value than you Take Away It’s important on Twitter to create more value then you get. A good ratio for success:, Listen, share your knowledge, offer information, and answer questions 80% of the time. And tweet about yourself or your brand 20% of the time. The most successful users tweet 10 to 15 times per day.

5) Have a Plan Businesses should have a social media plan that includes Twitter and an integral part of this is deciding if your brand will be doing the talking or if a person who happens to represent the brand will be doing the talking. Either way, make sure your message is always consistent and be transparent about who you are. Twitter users sense lack of authenticity a mile away!

6) Tweet Important Messages More than Once Very few of your followers will be on Twitter from morning to night but you don’t want any of them to miss your tweets, especially if you have something very important to say or want to direct them to your latest blog post. So, it’s OK to tweet the same message more than once in the same day, as long as you vary the tweet slightly. Twitter users can get annoyed if they see the same tweet over and over again.

7) Think Before you Tweet Remember, tweets are forever! See Jeff Pulver’s insightful blog post: twitter: For Legacy and Family

8 ) Speak the Language of your Community When re-tweeting or mentioning someone, it’s a good idea to include your own explanation that will speak to your community of followers in the language that they understand. If you are retweeting something that has already been retweeted, than give credit to the original tweet by using the term “via” (example: RT @bevisible….and end with via @photobiz).

9) Twitter Killers? Most Twitter aficionados agree that the only thing that could kill Twitter is aggressive marketing and spam.

10) Twitter is Fun! Twitter is awesome fun and there are a lot of really smart people in the “Twittersphere” to meet and learn from. Watch and learn about how some of the big brands are using Twitter. WholeFoods (@wholefoods), Zappos (@zappos), and Dunkin Donuts (@dunkindonuts) are three companies who have embraced Twitter and are using it successfully and with full disclosure. I love what Marla Erwin from WholeFoods is doing and Tony Hsieh, Zappos’ CEO, wants his company to be loved for its customer service, not just for their shoes and he uses Twitter to facilitate that goal.

So, join Twitter and follow me (@photobiz) and learn how you can use this incredible tool to market your brand.

Co-Written with Betsy Kent of Be Visible Associates (@bevisible).

If you have always hated the photo that you are using in your profiles, TAKE IT DOWN! Your face is your logo in the pervasive new world of online social networking. The way you look, the expression on your face, the pose that you chose, deliver information about who you are to the people who may want to know you better. So give them something that you are really proud of.

Remember: this is networking! Imagine a dating service with no pictures! or going to a networking event with a mask on! To illustrate this, go to the Public Timeline on Twitter and take a look (http://twitter.com/public_timeline). See all those faces? Those are brands. What does each picture say about the person/brand? Someone who chooses a family shot is making a statement about what is important to them, i.e. “I love being a mom.” A person who shows themself in a sport or other activity is saying “I want to connect with other people who are into what I’m into.” Some people even have custom avatars that create a fictitious or humorous persona. A company with numerous tweeters may use their logo. But look at the folks who have not customized their profile at all. or those who have a really lame old photo that is hard to see. These folks are saying, “I’m a member, but I am really not too interested in this.”

Think about the image you are using for your profiles. What does it say about you? Does the image convey your brand, your interests, or your goals? Do you like the way you are portrayed? If not…take it down now and get a professional headshot made. Getting your headshot done is not expensive, it’s really fast and it can be a lot of fun!

If you have time to tweet, you have time to get a headshot made. And…there has never been a better time because Fifth Avenue Digital is offering 50% off our regular rates on headshots for social media profiles through June 30, 2009.

Because we know you need it and you need the incentive to do it. Call and we’ll book a quick and convenient appointment for you. We have our top-notch headshot photographer ready to meet your specific needs. Don’t settle for a “so-so” photo that doesn’t even look like you!

Re-Brand yourself today!

Fifth Avenue Digital provides photographers for all corporate needs, as well as ancillary services such as prints and albums. For over 10 years we’ve been vetting and hiring great photographic talent for our clients around the country. Our unique mix of creativity and technology has enabled us to be chosen by top companies such as Edelman Advertising, JP Morgan and the Walt Disney Company. We handle every aspect of corporate photography, including meetings, event marketing and onsite printing, as well as executive headshots and group portraits. And, we always listen carefully to your needs and assign the right photographer for your job.

Twitter allows you to communicate with people who you don’t know, share your knowledge and build a community around common interests. Twitter is a fascinating marketing tool as well as a fascinating learning tool. Here are some basics to get you in the game.

If people on Twitter find what you have to say interesting they will follow you, receive all your tweets, and even re-tweet your wisdom to their communities. The more people that re-tweet you, the more people you have the ability to get in front of. You can ask your followers a question and usually you will get an answer.

It’s easy to find experts on a particular topic in Twitter and learn from them. If you follow someone because they are good at social media, for example, then you can learn what the next “hot” social media site is or why EarthLink is off line on a particular day. If you like what someone you are following has said, you may want to pass on the info to those that follow you by re-tweeting the tweet.

Twitter Basics:

1) Find people who know more about Twitter than you do and follow them. you don’t have to follow a guru right away, just someone who knows more than you. See what they do, what they say, and read the articles or info they pass along. Mostly…listen.

2) By following people ,it will help you learn some of the basic Twitter lingo and how they use it:

• @ used at the beginning of a username to refer to that person.
• RT: “Re-Tweet” is when you give credit to the person who directed you to the content; the more someone is re-tweeted, the higher his or her standing in the social media world (so they say).
• DM@: “Direct Message” lets you send a private message to the user name.
• Make sure you follow back the people that follow you. Its polite and it’s the only way to have a conversation vs. a monologue
• tinyurl: When you have a long link, tinyurl.com shortens the link so you can fit it into the max 140 characters that Twitter restricts you to.
• #hashtags: allows all conversations that share a #(code) to be found real time when using the search feature; such as #followfriday (which is a day set aside to recommend people you like and want to share with your followers).
• TweetDeck: A great program that helps you organize your tweets into categories.

That’s really all you need to know to get started! The most important thing to do when starting out is to listen and follow some interesting people! My username is @photobiz.

I look forward to your tweets!

“Twitter can be 50% PBS and 50% QVC –if you provide content 50% of the time to your followers, they will allow you to hock your wares 50% of the time”-

Guy Kawasaki