This week, I want to continue the discussion by attempting to answer the following question:

Why should I care and how can I use it?

You may not be an early adopter, but the fact of the matter is that you’re sleeping at the wheel.  Even many of the “early majority” has been on Twitter for a few months now.  It’s time to sign up, if only so in conversation or while watching a news report you know what the heck “Twitter” is when you hear about it and don’t sound like an ignorant fool.  I mean, come on people, it’s not that hard of a concept to understand (if you still don’t get it, re-read my first post and/or watch the video at the bottom of this one). If you’re already on Facebook or MySpace, you have no excuse.  It won’t take much extra time and it integrates well.  If you don’t like it, just cease the tweats, simple as that.  Before you spit out the brussels sprout maybe you should let your taste buds decide their opinion first, it might be personally and/or professional healthy and perhaps even enjoyable in the process.  So stop waiting around for a formal invitation, point your browser to Twitter.com and get on it.

Here’s 10 valuable ways you can use Twitter immediately

1. Interact with the media and “the man”
What does CNN’s Rick Sanchez, Barack Obama, the US Congress, Ellen, The Today Show, and The New York Times have in common?  Twitter!  Listen up and talk back, the media and “the man” has never been more accessible.

2. Follow your favorite celebrities, athletes, and brands
There are countless celebs on Twitter, to the point where some are predicting the fall of tabloids due to Twitter.  Brands and wanna-bes have flocked to Twitter in droves as well. From C-list to A-list, from Athletes to Musicians, from JetBlue to Whole Foods Market, Twitter is exploding with fame and hot air.  Twitter provides celebs like 50 Cent, MC Hammer, Ashton Kutcher, and John Mayer with an easy to manage, easy to run platform for fan engagement.  It’s far less hassle than MySpace and a lot easier than Facebook for celebs to use and not screw up.  It’s a simple, portable way of staying engaged with the largest group of people while not creating a management headache and without sacrificing direct content control or paying hefty fees in the process.  Therefore, to Simon Cowell’s dismay, Twitter is tearing it up amongst today’s celebs and you, the user (unless you’re famous) benefits.   Now you can openly stalk your idols.  Maybe instead of the NBA fining Cuban for tweating about the refs they should instead think about paying guys like him and Shaq to keep up the free promotion and for keeping the NBA in the news and in conversations.  After all, any press is good press, right?  Not exactly…

3. Kill your boredom and maybe even learn something in the process
Bored?  Twitter takes web surfing to a whole new level – it’s like moving from surfing to windsurfing.  Suddenty you have a sail and some wind to guide you.  What a difference! Track conversations and content, snag fresh and hidden links, and get a feel for the undercurrent of opinion and rhetoric.   Your eyes my glaze over at some point, but until then you can justify the screen-staring by thinking about the educational value all of those links and ideas are going to provide you with.

4. Arrange local “TweetUps” easily
What’s the easiest way to meet up with peeps?  Call out a TweetUp or announce when you’ve arrived somewhere.  You can leave it vague, invite everyone, or pick and choose.  Either way, no more lonely nights whether it’s a pick-up game or Thirsty Thursday.  Mobile, geo-centric tweats make it easier than ever to prevent solo movie theater nights.

5. Integrate Twitter with your existing social media persona without any substantial extra work
Before you reject Twitter because you’re already on social media overload, hear me out.  Twitter won’t take that much extra work.  Do you change your Facebook status or post links to mySpace or delicious?  Tweat these!  Better yet, connect the platforms and eliminate all manual labor from the equation.  With your tweats hooked up to Facebook, you can update both at the same time.  With your blog hooked up to Twitter, you can post each new blog post as they come, automatically.  You get the idea – Twitter is a screwdriver in your toolbox.  You still need the hammer and nails, but boy does a screwdriver come in handy.

6. Expand or detract relationships
There is a difference between followers and friends.  Some of us reserve “Facebook friend” status for real friends we have an offline connection with.  Others accept and seek out friendships and think of Facebook friendship in much looser terms.  To them, a hobby, group, or friend in common is plenty an introduction.  Many of us open ourselves to lots of friends, but still limit certain sections of our profile, like drunken photos.  Twitter gives you a second option in expanding or detracting relationships.  Think about it.  If you send out frequent tweats, it’s a great way for loved ones to really peer into your life and stay in touch with your thoughts and happenings.  Or maybe it’s a profile you can give out to those you don’t want to be Facebook friends with, like a second skin for the strangers (or customers, you get the idea).

7. Build a personal brand and platform
Why do you need a personal brand?  You may have a job or company now, but you never know when shit might hit the fan (pardon my French).  Whether you’re a nobody, an aspiring author, or maybe a 15 year old musician, Twitter can help you begin to build your personal brand.  Building a personal brand involves creating a story (and it should be authentic or risk flopping) and promoting it.  Building a personal brand has never been easier with the Internet and social media.  Maybe your ideas are lame or you don’t need the book contract or record deal now, but why not leave the door open?  By building a personal brand and platform via Twitter, it’s there when and if you need it.   Twitter is like a megaphone.  Imagine yourself in a large, empty opportunity with an open mic.  Now fill those seats with followers and let it rip, but make it meaningful.  Remember, reputation is build in a lifetime and lost in a tweat-second.

8. Promote your business, broadcast sales, and engage in market research
Twitter is all the rage for businesses.  Whether you’re a small business (like this chiropractor or this restaurant) or a Fortune 500, your peers are either already there or are moving in for the kill.  Become a “vocal point” in your industry.  Post sales, promotions, and events.  Distribute links, reports, and articles.  Be a voice.  Answer questions.  Learn from customers, prospects, and market segments.

9. Stay abreast of your industry in real-time
What’s going on in the bridal industry?  Perhaps if you were following a few hundred voices in the industry you would have a better answer to this question?  Whatever your industry, followers find you based on what you post.  So focus in on your hobbies and market and unite with others who care about the same things.  It’s a great way to keep tabs on the ever shifting sandstorm of professional and public opinion.

10. Stay more closely connected with friends and loved ones
As opposed to weekly or monthly calls where you catch up and skip the details, Twitter allows you to engage and be a part of their day-to-day lives, whether the thought of it peaks your curiosity or irritates your senses.

Other popular uses for Twitter include breaking up a relationship, broadcasting a plane crash (colorfully), and telling the world you broke your hip. Let’s summarize: if you can text it, you can tweat it.  If you can tweat it, others will read it and, if you’re cool enough, perhaps even follow you.

Twitter isn’t all peaches ‘n’ creme, though.  Here’s why, in 3 points

1. Clutter, Spam, Abuse & Misuse
What would Simba be without Scar?  Batman without the Joker?  Everyone needs an enemy.  Spam and clutter, unfortunately, is the enemy of the web.  Whether it’s e-mail, links, social networking, videos, you name it – spam affects it.  Wherever there is freedom, there is abuse.  Where there is a system there is an abuser of a system.  Before getting too deep into philosophy, just take heed.  Not every Twitter profile is legit, not every tweat is meaningful, and not every follower is worth following.  Get Rich Quick schemes aren’t limited to e-mail.

2. The Fat, F’ugly Fail Whale
Twitter gets overloaded every now and then. With its breakneck growth rates and ever-multiplying traffic, it’s not always online to accept your tweats. When it breaks, I introduce you to the “Fail Whale” as it’s known.    While this happens rarely, it still happens more often than all of the other websites I frequent.  It’s a bit annoying sometimes, after all, what if my plane crashes and I’m not able to tweat about it? It’s a problem Twitter is no doubt working hard to address.  Meanwhile, the whale calms me and enrages me at the same time.  Not sure how that works…

3. Stupid Tweets & Tweet Overload

It’s easy to get carried away.  There is a heck of a lot of garbage and downright lame tweats out there in tweat universe.  People spew really boring crap either because they are trying to reel in new followers, are that full of themselves, or are simply boring, dull, and uninspired to begin with.  I don’t want to always know what you are doing, right now 24 hours a day.  I want to hear what you are doing, in general (for more on this, re-read Part 1).  Is that really such a hard concept for people to grasp?   On Twitter, it’s too often quantity over quality and not the other way around.  Keep your twitter-holicism in check, will you?  Didn’t your mom teach you to think before you tweat?

Still hung up on the concept?
I present to you “Twitter in Plan English” courtesy of CommonCraft

- @epsilonc

As a 22 year old tech veteran, having started and led a successful digital agency for going on 9 years now, I am used to a certain kind of reaction when people find out the story behind Epsilon Concepts and my personal adventure in this fast-paced digital world.  In a nutshell, I started Epsilon Concepts at the age of 14 (not including freelance “bitch work”, of course, as that started much earlier) and have simply worked hard since then to continue to grow, personally and professionally. Let me give you some background: when I was 14 I was already very entrepreneurial and I also realized at a young age that though money isn’t everything, it certainly helps and provides freedom and leverage.  I also thoroughly enjoyed working.  I guess I should be more specific: I didn’t really enjoy physical or mental labor in_the_act.  I think saying I relished the actual work all the time would be a lie.  But I did certainly love the way it made me feel and I loved the relationships that good, hard work helped create.  I experienced what it felt like to be able to buy your own things and the sense of freedom and security that money can bring.  I felt pride when I tried really hard on a job well done, and felt gratified when it was a thorough, professional project completed.

I realized early that your reputation, your personal brand, was everything.  It could also be tarnished as easily as an exotic car can be dented by one careless driver (or shopping cart).  I started Epsilon Concepts by learning-on-the-fly and building websites for real estate properties, training elderly people on using the Internet, and building websites for the local car dealerships, photographers, furniture companies, travel agencies, and pretty much the entire small town of Chardon, Ohio after moving on from Redding, California, where I started my work.  I had a knack for sales and marketing and understood business and relationships very well.  I was meticulous about my services and tried to be as fair and and friendly as possible, frequently sending out birthday cards, client gifts, and receiving numerous testimonials, references, and friends in the process.   I built the company website and I started getting very good positions on the search engines and building up a strong lead pipeline.  I have since revamped and relaunched the company website 8 times. I started working with contractors and have expanded ever since over time, even internationally.   I was diligent in approaching everyone I could and following up with people for months and even years, in a polite and personable way, in order to get their business.  I developed a very nice client list over time, met many amazing people, and learned so many lessons along the way.  Not to say I was perfect or didn’t make mistakes.  Far from it, my mistakes were critical to my growth and the growth of Epsilon Concepts and I was fortunate to have started the company in an almost incubator-like environment.

My age also proved to be mostly an advantage.  In the minds of most of those older than me, I “grew up on the Net” and especially social media.  Sure, I’ve been to more than a few meetings since I started where I noticed eye brows raise thanks to their perception of my youth, but 99.9% of the time those looks were erased after they realized that my company and I were just as legitimate as the next guy, even if he was twice my age. I’m 22 now, having run Epsilon Concepts and other businesses for the past 9 years during a very fun ride of a decade for the Internet.  I sold my age to clients by explaining that I had the energy, the passion, and the time to really blow their socks off with my work.  I explained that even though I didn’t have a portfolio (then), because their piece was such a critical piece for me in that moment, it meant the world and they would get the best end-result imaginable.  And, for the most part, many people trusted in me and I know I didn’t let the majority down (you can’t make everyone happy, it’s not possible).  I worked really, really hard, intent on investing in the future personal brand equity I’d have and hoping to watch it and the company snowball.  Over the past years, it’s really paid off as I now have an amazing business partner and we lead a diverse team of twenty specialized web and marketing experts, we’ve completed well over 250 projects, and we have some great brands and compelling examples to our name.  Our project management (the weak point of the web development industry) is now extremely high caliber, our processes highly optimized, and our overhead minimized.  We’ve mobile, connected, and specialized.  We offer a suite of web services from strategic consulting to branding to web development and production to social media marketing.   We are launching shortly our Marketing Agency arm, Moon Berthume.  With this addition and with our existing experience with SEM/SMO, we will offer the full range of services to those start-ups and companies looking to differentiate.  We’re now headquartered in downtown Los Angeles and are well connected with industry press contacts, investors, organizations, events, experience, and human resources.

It wasn’t always easy, though, building the company while being a teenager.  I graduated High School early and prepared to enroll full time as a marketing student.  I thought it was imperative to get my bachelor’s out of the way so that I could grow as an individual and also be able to step into a master’s program easily at some point in my late twenties to continue my studies after building Epsilon Concepts into a large, stable and thriving ship.   I simultaneously started taking more and more projects with Epsilon Concepts and I was extremely busy. I juggled many things, was oft stressed, yet I managed to experience a lot and only sacrificed a bit of sleep in the process.   I had special arrangements with professors who understood my situation and were willing to let me leave class if I had an important conference call or business engagement.  I stayed completely connected regardless of which world I was in, and for the most part everything was pretty smooth.  Of course, there were good projects and bad, but I and my growing team learned from our mistakes pretty well I think. I took all that I could handle and then some and was personally carrying the burden of literally dozens of projects.  It was very overwhelming at times, but in the past five years this stress has been reduced as my team has grown and we now only accept a very limited number of engagements per year.  We’re thriving in a down economy because we’re focusing on quality, ROI, and long term strategy.  It’s not just the web production work we provide, it’s how we provide it.  We work with our clients as strategic partners, being proactive and thinking on our feet.  We know how to make money and we know how to build web apps that rock in terms of usability, user experience, and achieved objectives.  We have a team of amazing people that are extremely talented and have genuine personalities.  I’ve had many lessons, mistakes, and some amazingly pain-in-the-ass clients and employees along the way, but I’ve learned that just like in life, the life of a business is made up of cycles.  It’s a process, a dynamic series of changing events.  Problems arise, but so do opportunities.  Duds are hired and fired, but the more duds you get the more likely you’ll get some gems along the way.  Most things in life aren’t easy, but most things aren’t that hard either.  It’s just a matter of riding the days and weeks as effectively and efficiently as possible, so that you are always improving and as ready as possible for the opportunities that will arise. I am incredibly grateful for the problems and opportunities of my youth.

So I got off on a tangent about my personal background, but the whole reason I wanted to write this post in the first place was because I get asked oftentimes at this point in my life how I was able to become this successful at my age.  Of course, there are many people far more successful than I am, regardless of how you measure it.  On a financial level, guys like Mark Zuckerberg obviously take my cake.  I don’t think I’ve gone the easiest routes to make money for the sake of it (that would probably be porn or oil).  I think a lot of people think maybe I’m pretty smart or maybe I just got lucky or maybe my rich uncle helped me out!  If you ask me, it’s because I’m self-conscious about being lazy.  Laziness isn’t an attractive quality to me, when it comes to the analysis of myself.  I’m truly my own worst critic and I’ve always thought of myself as being a lazy person.  In reality, I’m not sure anyone who knows me or is around me would say that I’m lazy.  I work very hard and typically at least 50-60 hours a week and then some, plus other commitments and personal obligations.  But, this “thought attack” pushes me to work harder and stay focused.  My true secret is simply that I visualize the end result and then pursue it with a focused diligence.

This sounds so easy, right?  In theory, it shouldn’t be.  But in practice, apparently it’s pretty hard.  I’ve really heard a lot jibber-jabber from many people around me about what they can do, what they’re going to do, how they used to rock in a former life.  I for one am tired of the lame excuses and the empty rhetoric. Don’t get me wrong, I truly think most people have excellent intentions.  They just fail miserably to execute and then whine about it.

Being successful, in my opinion, means you can’t be a total dumb ass, but you don’t have to be Einstein either.  The biggest factor affecting your success will be diligence.  You will have to work hard, harder than others.  Hard meaning intensity and/or hours and/or stress.  You will also have to work with focus, with vision.  You will absolutely need to zone in on your goals, on that destination to power your pursuit.  I hate to sound like some self-help article or a smart-ass advice column, but it really comes down to how hard you want it.  If there were five things that I could recommend to someone looking for a secret recipe for success (however you define that), I would say:

1. Get off your fat ass.
2. Visualize the outcome.
3. Get off your fat ass.
4. Do the best you can with what you have (be resourceful).
5. Get off your fat ass.

You get the point.  If you think I’m being a little condescending by telling you what to do, I agree.  So tell you what, I’ll get off my high horse when you get off your fat ass. Until then!

@epsilonc

Conversations trump campaigns and the word “campaign” has a military undertone I’m not comfortable with. The people you’re supposed to be having a conversation with are not enemies to be raped, pillaged & plundered.

Although I will continue to use the phrase, it would be nice to find a more accurate way of describing how brands initiate conversations with true fans (see also: Seth Godin’s Tribes)

Until that happens, I will continue to use the word campaign because:
1. It’s pretty much a standard phrase when social media is a part of the marketing strategy, which means that:
2. It is the most efficient way of having conversations with other people involved in the social media landscape

I realize I’m deviating from the original reason these words began to be used in this context to begin with; and that is exactly what I’m saying we might need to do.

One conclusion I’ve come to so far is that although the Sun Tzu route may work in a certain context, there’s a need to draw a line somewhere so that that hawkish mindset doesn’t carry over to the conversations brands should be having with their fans.

Otherwise, we would just be paying lip service to the social in “social media”.

I will now proceed to shut up & return to looking for a word to replace “campaign”.

Any suggestions on where to begin?

Here are a few of the posts that have given me food for thought about the “campaign” part of the phrase “social media campaigns”:
Chrome + Art of Story Telling = Google is the web communication Sun Tzu
The Myth of the Social Media Marketer
Sun Tzu and the Art of Social Computing
Marketing warfare strategies (wiki article):
Sun Tzu Marketing (the book)

“Be yourself” is a pretty cliche statement, but its value cannot be diminished despite the frequency of its use.  Authenticity has been on a lot of minds lately and personality is even a new P in marketing (according to author Rohit Bhargava).  In this new era of the web and with the evolution of the open source paradigm, those with personality, humanity, and authenticity will likely succeed.  The skin of protection and privacy is disappearing, word spreads quicker, and brands sour faster than the milk in your fridge.

The platform now exists for personality.  You can paint a digital picture of yourself (positive or negative) and over time, leave digital footprints and snapshots of yourself along the cyber-highway. Personality will always serve you well so make sure you’re giving people an impression of who you are as a person.

Now that we’ve established that the platform exists and the time is right for making an impression, why exactly should you make a personable impression?  Why be yourself in order to be useful?  Because being yourself creates an aura of authenticity and helps you come off as genuine.  The more genuine you appear, the more people will trust you.  The more people trust you, the more use you can provide to them (and the more value you can create).

People can spot spammers and scammers.  Sure, if you are yourself, some may not like you, but that’s the risk you take.  Unless you’re truly a jerk who provides no value to the world (I’m going to assume you’re not), chances are you’re going to increase your success rate with your social efforts by being yourself.

As a resident of Tinsel Town, I can attest to the fact that there are a lot of fake people in the world.  And it’s easy to spot them, they are the name-droppers, the flashers, the ones that brag and carry on about themselves.  Don’t go too far.  Be yourself.

Lastly, we all admire what we perceive as original.  Original thought, original people, original looks.  Originality is sexy.  The thing is, you don’t have to be original to be perceived as original.   And you don’t have to be original to be yourself.  Be yourself and chances are, original thought will come as a byproduct.  And you’ll be respected as a result.  Remember, the more social capital and credibility you have, the more power you have and therefore the more useful you can be.

Note: Kevin Kelly also has one of the best examples of lifestreaming I’ve ever seen. Check out his site: http://kk.org/ to see what I mean.

The title is bloated, but the article is important for at a few good reasons:

• People are the heart of any worthwhile business model (See also: Happiness as a business model)
• Listen to user feedback and actively do something about the feedback you’re getting
• Change should not be implemented lightly. Or slowly
• Forget traffic. You’re nothing without engagement
• Always build a good user interface. Always.

Here’s a quote from the interview to get you started:
“Goldberg has stated several times, “Our model at SocialMedian has been:  small, fast, and listen to users.” You have probably noticed that you do not see any advertising or many press releases plastered all over the major news sites. Essentially, SocialMedian has been built through its user base. The only “press coverage” you tend to see are reviews from various blogs, including here on Mashable.”

I’ve used the site long enough to know that

• SocialMedian actually pays attention to user feedback
• They take change seriously
• Once prioritized, changes are implemented quickly

Don’t set unreasonable goals
This is worse than setting no goals at all. Stretching the team too far guarantees that Monday through Friday, everyone’s simply showing up to put in their time and go home. That attitude has eerie ways of showing up in online communication and people have a second sense for these things.

Don’t implement changes lightly. Or slowly
The only thing we know about change is that it will come. We don’t know how or when, but we do know it will happen (for example, blogs are now officially “old school”). Think hard before you adopt a (small or large) change. If you do decide to accept it,  go after it like your life depends on it because while you were thinking, someone else started going for it.

Don’t get greedy
The effect of a well executed idea has a way of multiplying in significance, but it’s also the same thing with mistakes. Dream all you want, but make sure your focus is on what can be achieved in the short term (along with the lessons you’re going to be learning constantly).

Don’t assume you can “catch up” later if you get off schedule
In the same vein, don’t expect you’ll stay ahead of schedule later because you’re ahead of schedule now. In fact, you’re probably better off without a schedule altogether. You’re dealing with people and they won’t always keep to your well-organized schedule, no matter how great your intentions are.

Don’t take shortcuts or relax standards
I’m going to assume you know all about this so there’s not much to add here.

This is the 3rd, and last, post on what it takes to have successful social media campaign (you can read the 1st one here and the 2nd one here).

See also: 7 Ways to Ensure a Successful Social Media Campaign

(In a similar vein, don’t overdo the planning or it’ll end up hurting more than helping. Be like water.)

2. Empower campaign personnel
Who manages your communication channels? What tools do they need? Do they work in an environment that actually helps them work better? Thankfully, the tools needed to run social media campaigns are well priced (read: virtually free) and you don’t have to break the bank to get a top notch toolkit.

3. Minimize red tape
Bureaucracy slows things down, which is always ugly. Always. If you’re starting from the top, a successful social media campaigns will require contributions from a wide variety of people (design, writers, customer service, marketing, PR and a host of other little pieces. Please think carefully before you clog the channels of communication with unnecessary (and pesky) obstacles.

4. Establish baselines & manage changes to it
“Social media campaign” is just a fancy term that basically amounts to allowing people to communicate with others online. Because the keyword in that sentence is people, there are certain goals you cannot establish as requirements because people can (and will) make up their minds for themselves. Social media isn’t a magical pill that will change minds in 2 days, 6 months or even 5 years. Nothing in real life does (except maybe fear, but that’s another story).

5. Take periodic snapshots of the campaign’s progress. Replan if necessary
Things happen: a new tool comes out you can’t get into (just yet),  the “competition” comes up with a better feature, etc… In other words, real life happens and you’re better off learning from what did or didn’t work right now. Make sure you don’t go overboard on this one. Points #3 & #4 are your guiding principles on this one.

6. Re-estimate size, effort & schedules periodically
Yes, this is related to taking campaign snapshots (#5 above) and although they are similar on the surface, reestimating or replanning without first finding out why you need to do so waters down the effectiveness of your great re-organizational effort.

7. Foster Team Spirit
Content is king only when people enjoy it so pay attention to how happy the team creating the content is. Google provides world class food, 37signals give their employees credit cards and others use the time tested “Thank you” to keep the team spirit alive. Regardless of how you choose to do it, just make sure you are doing it.

This is the 2nd of 3 posts on the general framework of a social media campaign. Read the first one here and come back next week for the last post. Better yet, subscribe to our RSS feed and get posts automatically delivered to your RSS reader.