How are you using Twitter? Here are some useful pointers and best practices: Twitter’s changing rules of engagement and usage, quantity and quality, The 10 Twitter Commandments from eConsultancy, and further advice on what to watch out for.

By Steven J. Slater, guest blogger on Pat Lovenhart’s blog

I gave a marketing presentation to Johns Hopkins University business graduate students this past summer, on how only the strong brands will survive rough economic times.  This was before the effects of the economy really hit.  I was not trying to be prophetic, just pragmatic and get the point across the importance of positioning.

There are so many programs dedicated to social media and web technology development in this region, it is hard, if not impossible, to keep up with everything. This includes forums for showcasing new undertakings.

If you are not already on mailing lists (see info below), I suggest you check these out. You may get some new ideas and can also investigate what your competition’s doing. Even if your endeavor is unique, you’re still vying for a fixed pool of capital (and possibly some of the same target markets).

It was time to bring the role of new media (Web 2.0, social networking for business) into my marketing research course material. The course needed to include newer online techniques and resources for gathering and analyzing data. These techniques cover finding, observing and listening to the chatter, and then analyzing and learning from the vast amounts of data.

To get on the mobile marketing bandwagon early and beat your competition to the punch, you will need to prepare yourself for a bumpy road ahead in the short term. You will need to communicate with the many different devices in use today from different manufacturers as well as different carriers and their specifications and competing protocols.

Naming is integral to branding and to your overall strategy and mission, and this is no easy task. With a financial crisis looming, doing it right is critical to your success. 

Before you name your business, products or services, it’s wise to have the answers to many questions – most of which you have already dealt with if you’ve written a business and/or marketing plan.

You’ll need to have all your major stakeholders in mind: customers, the public, investors, etc.

With all the programs and conferences about social media, social networking and new media for business, one thing I almost missed, and perhaps you did too, was that on June 26, 2008, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), overseer of domain naming, announced a relaxation of its policies.

A friend and colleague, Steven Slater, has been focusing on the importance of embracing Web 2.0 and helping PR executives understand and take advantage of Web 2.0 services and capabilities.  His focus here is on “Taking the Mystery Out of Web 2.0” for the uninitiated.

The media link is a given. After all, what is politics without an audience?

People running for political office depend primarily on various forms of media to draw attention to their candidacy, sign up volunteers, poll opinions, solicit requests for funding, solidify their base and sway the undecided to (a) vote, and (b) vote for them or their cause.

Just as entrepreneurs with a new idea or product must break through the clutter of the massive numbers of messages everyone sees, reads or hears daily, drawing attention to your candidacy is an uphill battle for those new to politics who want to enter into public life and serve their region’s constituents.

The Theory:  There are several marketing industry gurus who champion the approach of marketing to ‘influencers’ to build a brand or ignite an idea through social marketing or business networking. The premise is that some individuals in our society have more power than others. This we can all agree on. And, yes, there are those with strong networks who are activists in one way or another (e.g., in the community, in business, politically, socially). Opinion leaders, another way to refer to them, are generally respected by the people in their network and often emulated. Among those championing the influencers are Malcolm Gladwell, the well-known author of The Tipping Point, Blink and other widely read books about business and society, and Ed Keller and Jon Berry, who co-authored the best-selling book, The Influentials.