It is not all rainbows and candy though. By simply loading a twitter feed, Skittles has given up complete control of the content. There are negative remarks about the brand, and even worse, racial slurs and "bad" language. I suppose that explains the annoying feature requiring you to enter your birthday upon first visiting the site. Because of this, some people are calling the campaign a disaster. I am not so sure. I am a strong believer in transparency with a brand. If you offer a truly good product or service, good comments will outweigh the bad. Reputations are not likely to be ruined by a few juvenile posts. Beyond that, there is the old adage, "Any PR is good PR." Just look at their Facebook page. They have over 500,000 fans. I doubt many people even knew about the Facebook page before this site launched.

For the past week, I have been trying to help the band Noba get started with all the social networks. The website, which is due for a re-design, is almost a second thought. Most people look for them on websites like Facebook, Last.fm, iTunes, and MySpace. Instead of building them a website with links sending their visitors to varying different locations, why not build a site based on the Skittles.com idea? I think it could work great for musicians.

What do you think? Do you see this model working for other businesses?

1. Update your websites. I installed a "Tweet" feed on my website. It is a sort of mini "What's New" or micro-blog. Because you can Twitter from your phone, computer or mobile device; it is very easy to quickly post an update. This makes your website look current and fresh. Twitter about an interesting meeting or project, post a link to a finished project or photo, let people know your phone lines are down or your new holiday hours.
Example: My website - lower right corner www.15minutesmedia.com/

2. Update your social networks. There are several applications available (Digsby and HelloTxt to name a couple) that link your Twitter, Instant Messaging, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc. so that you can update all your networks with one post from your desktop or phone. How is this useful? You can tweet that you've just posted a review or article called "Widgets vs Whatsits" on your blog. You tweet something along the lines of "Widgets vs Whatsits - see who wins at www.myblog.com". This is posted to your Facebook status and your LinkedIn Status. Now all your friends and collegues go to your read your article. Some of them post the link to it on their profiles, others leave a comment, and soon, friends of friends now know about your fantastic article. It is exactly what is meant by "going viral". Your simple tweet got the message to potentially thousands new prospects.

3. Branding. Create your online personae. Whether you tweet as your company mascot, yourself, or even the office pet, you can create an engaging personality that people want to follow. Make yourself a trusted authority. Make sure you do more than "promote" yourself or company. Offer insider information, tips or gossip.
Tip: Be careful when choosing your personality. If you are writing from the viewpoint of the office cat, make sure you can really "stay in character". Is the personae going to limit you? Is it going to be too much stress to be so creative? If so, it may be better to just be yourself.

4. Get referrals. Need to hire a new salesperson? Looking for a referral to a great PR agency? Send out a tweet asking for referrals.

5. Inter-office communication. With a team like ours, we are spread out all across the country. You can use twitter to let your team know where you are and what you are doing. I might tweet that I am heading back to the office from a meeting, my designer might tweet that she is at lunch, and my programmer tweets that he is working hard - Do not disturb! It gives us a real-time status update for everyone and keeps us all on the same page.

6. Notify customers. This is a biggee. A rock band may notify fans of show times and dates, special ticket prices, "twitter exclusive" mp3 downloads, radio/tv appearances and so on. A retail company could announce new product releases, special discounts, sales, etc. You can make your followers feel like they are part of an exclusive community. Give them a heads up on discounts or events before it is available to the general public.

7. Polls and feedback. Use Twitter as your own personal focus group. Want to know which color your consumers prefer? Whether they are more concerned with a low price or an environmentally safe product? Just ask.

8. Be a spy. Do a search for your product or brand name. See who is talking about you. Has someone made a negative comment about their experience? Respond. Offer to make it right - it will improve your customer relations and others will see the efforts you made. Convert that complainer into someone who posts praise about how you resolved the issue.
Real example: Here is a guy that tweeted about having trouble using a coupon at Quiznos: http://twitter.com/paulsegreto/statuses/1265903120
If Quiznos was monitoring their brand, they could respond to him. Perhaps they could post an special coupon code.
Tip: you can subscribe to the RSS feed for your query. This way you don't have to remember to search everyday.
Must Read: http://www.getelastic.com/twitter-monitorin/

A word of warning: Be careful about how you are marketing yourself via social networks. Remember, these are social networks and your contacts are called "friends". You probably know most of them personally. I encourage you to let them know what you are doing professionally, but don't overdo the marketing speak. Be a real person and make sure you are offering something of value.
Must Read: Twitter Etiquette and Twitter Do's and Don'ts

Follow 15minutesmedia on Twitter (be sure to say hi)

TOOLS & TIPS:

• Snitter - A desktop application for Twitter.

• TwiTip - More resource than tip, this is a great site chock full of useful articles on how you can get the most out of Twitter.
• TinyURL - When you have only 140 characters, every one counts. If you want to post a link, use tiny url to convert this to this http://blog.15minutesmedia.com/marketingseo/using-twitter-to-promote-your-business to this http://tinyurl.com/c8vpmx.
• TwitterLocal - Filter tweets by location.

We'd love to hear how you are using Twitter. Post a comment with a link to your Twitter profile.

* Desktop PCs
* Workstations
* Notebook PCs
* Tablet PCs
* Monitors, both CRT and LCD
* Printers, both ink and laser
* Digital cameras
* PDAs
* Smartphones

Go to the HP Consumer Buyback and Planet Partners Recycling Program website to see how much you will get.

Here is a list from CNET of 7 more electronics buy back programs.

How to Use It

Products for sale
Notify your "followers" about exclusive sales, promotions, coupon codes
Announce product launches, recalls

Events
If you are a band, announce "secret shows" or appearances
Announce locations, times, special guests You can reveal the date and time online but invite people to "follow" you on twitter in order to get the location. This makes your event feel exclusive.

Toot your own horn
Twit about press mentions, tv appearances, etc.
Notify followers when you have updated your blog

Other Ideas
Polls - Ask a question and post the results.
Notify followers of extended hours, a new menu, trends, etc.
Tie it into your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts for instant "status" updates.
Use it to update your website (we do this on our homepage)

PC World recommends using a character like your company mascot. It also suggests you find out when people are talking about you and make sure to respond:

\\Scan for customers. Search for your company name, products, and learn what people are saying about you. Enter your search string and even click the RSS link in the upper-right to permanently track search results. Reply to customers through Twitter. I vented once to no one--and everyone--about a bad customer experience. I was surprised to find the subject of my scorn saw my note, followed-up, and fixed my issue.\\

Are you using Twitter yet? Tell us how you use it.

Ivanka Trump told a Professional Women in Construction panel moderated by The Post's Lois Weiss that the Trump Organization is looking for opportunities to take over other developers' projects stopped in mid-construction or being taken back by lenders.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02022009/gossip/pagesix/we_hear_153186.htm

According to the study, 61% high school and college age students read marketing emails "rarely to never" while 66% rarely or never take action on marketing email. Students spend more time with text messaging and social networks. How can we more effectively reach out to this audience? Most college students do not feel that companies' advertising is not effectively speaking to them personally. Email marketing should be about building relationships. As a marketer, you have an opportunity to find out what your targets interests are and speak directly to them. By segmenting, you can reach out to young adults in a unique way.

Here are just a few ways to make your message more relevant to your young adult audience:

Rely on past behavior
Has she bought something from you recently? Customize the message based on her past purchase. Maybe there are new accessories for the item she previously purchased, or maybe its time to upgrade. Personalizing the message "Hey ‹FNAME› - I hope you are enjoying the ‹PRODUCT› we sent you last ‹MONTH›. I just wanted to let you know about the new ‹PRODUCT› and offer you 20% off if you purchase by ‹DATE›."

Encourage Sharing
Young adults spread the word about their favorite products and deals virally. Make it easy for them to forward to a friend and post to their Facebook profiles. Think about ways you can reward them for spreading the word. Send them a free gift or coupon for every 5 friends they tell or even a simple thank you.

Spread Your Wings
Don't rely soley on email. Get a Facebook profile, encourage subscribers to "follow" you on Twitter (post "exclusive" discounts to your twitter page) and look into other social and viral avenues. iContact provides a free blog and posts your message to iContact community and adds social networkings tags directly to the bottom of your email. Its a simple way to really expand your network and exposure.

Give Them Options
Why not add some options to your newsletter sign up page? Allow subscriber to opt-in for Text Only messages or messages sent to their mobile device instead of email. And, remind them to "follow" you on twitter or become a "fan" on Facebook.

clipped from www.mediapost.com Though DMNews, Bokardo, and Skype & Harris Interactive have reported that email is a dying channel, says the report, speculating that students are now using email primarily to sign up for social networking sites and receive email alerts, the eROI study finds that: 83% of college students use Facebook, 65% use MySpace and 21% use LinkedIn The study identifies the channels are students using most. The preferred means of communication for college students are: Text messaging (37%) Email (26%) Social networking IM (15%) Instant messaging (11%) Social networking email (11%) And 12% of students check email on a mobile device Overall, concludes the study report, "... email plays an important role in college students\' life as a personal communication device, but not as a major marketing channel."