The growth of social media in this new world of word of mouth has sparked many different questions and debates about the value of such strategies for business. One of the social advocates I admire most, Brian Solis, just released a book called Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web. Another that I’ve integrated into my personal vocabulary is Seth Godin’s Tribes - here is Seth talking about it at the recent TED conference…

So many great advocates talking about so many different valuable insights for businesses to leach onto and turn into immediate success for their business.

I believe that the crux of all these valuable messages can be narrowed down to one simple thought – give your customers a seat at on your board.

Here are 3 reasons why this is so important (and easy to do effectively using social):

1 – You Can’t Afford Not To – Businesses have always preached “the customer always comes first” but in today’s world we have quickly turned into a society of “Me Media.” If you aren’t engaging with your customers and making them part of the decisions being made about your organization, services and brand – you will be replaced by a brand that cares.

2 – Your Customer Is Your Tribe…Or Should Be – As Seth Godin so accurately talks about in Tribes, your fastest route to amazing word of mouth is through the audiences that are already fans of your brand. Making them a part of making important decisions for your business will result in providing your tribe with the ammunition they need to fire off wonderful comments, reviews and opinions about your business.

3 – Reduce Costs – I know, this one should probably be first in today’s challenging economic times, but the reality is making your customer a real decision maker for your business means that you spend significantly less dollars on things like focus groups, market research, and hhhmmm marketing (yes, I just said that).

It has forever been a mystery to me why businesses fail to engage in this simple yet unbelievably effective process of making their customers an integral part of the decision-making process.

Let’s make today the last day that we don’t engage with our customers and make them a part of the solution.

I’ve seem many great examples of companies who are doing this such as Modcloth, Threadless, and Kayak. Do you have other great examples you can share?

NOTE: This is a joint post by Matt Batt and Heidi Sullivan. It is cross-posted on Story Assistant and CisionBlog.

Cision’s Director of Media Research Heidi Sullivan) and I did a free Cision Social Media Webinar earlier this month titled Twitter 101, and we received more great questions than we could answer about engaging in Twitter on behalf of a company, organization or brand. In an occasional series of posts, we’ll be answering some of those questions over the coming weeks. Here are some questions and answers about Twitter Account Set-up and Twitter Handles.

Twitter Account Set-up

Emily: If you are tweeting for a non-profit that really needs to get their brand out there, do you still think it is better to use a photo or is it better to use the logo?

Matt: Logic (and others) might tell you to use your logo for branding purposes but the reality is that on Twitter and in life, people like talking with people. For this reason, I would suggest that you use a photo of the individual representing your non-profit on Twitter. If there are multiple people managing the profile, I would try and customize your background (see next question) to reflect the pictures and individual profile names for each and/or I would switch out the photo each time someone new is managing the profile. Ironically, here is a great example of this from Cision.

Tim, Megan, Mark, Amy, Sara: Do you have any tips on making compelling Twitter backgrounds?

Heidi: The best practices in social media apply to creating your Twitter background as well. Your Twitter page provides a snapshot of you so it should reflect your brand (personal or professional) and your personality. A customized background will draw more attention than the blue-skies-and-clouds Twitter default. ZMogo has a nice post that lists the 10 best sites that offer free Twitter backgrounds and templates. I recommend scanning through the comments as well – lots of readers offer additional tips and sites to get started.

Abbey: On your setting panel should you protect your updates?

Matt: Quite simply, never protect your updates. In the spirit of social media which includes transparency, interaction and conversation…hiding behind protected updates just doesn’t make any sense. I have heard of organizations that do this for media purposes (i.e., they release embargoed news to a select group of journalists) but honestly, I don’t think it makes sense. I use the same logic when I look at companies using the Facebook Group (vs. Fan) page and restricting members. I understand the need for privacy…but take it off social media then.

Twitter Handles

Taylor: I heard a rumor that most Twitter usernames with numbers are spammers, is that true?

Heidi: Most of the spammers that start following me do have numbers after their names, but I have also noticed that a lot of ‘legit’ followers have started the practice as well. As Twitter has grown in popularity, more and more handles are already taken and adding a number to the end of your name can seem like the easiest way out. However, I have heard the same rumor about spammers, so if you’re creating your Twitter account for the first time, it’s best to avoid the numbers game so that others don’t think you’re a spammer. Don Reisinger wrote a post about creating your handle on CNET and argues that adding numbers after your name is “so 1999.”

Beth, Nelda, Taylor: My blog name/last name/company name is too long for a twitter username, suggestions?

Matt: This is where years of trying to guess the license plates during long road trips come in handy! Seriously, you have to get creative. You can always elaborate on your bio to spell out all of the details. One of the most important things is to create some consistency with your brand across all of your social media platforms.  Liz Hover had a guest blog post about this subject earlier this year.

Amanda, Jeanne: So if I didn’t take Twitter seriously + need to change my name, do I cancel and start again?

Heidi: If you aren’t happy with the handle you created because you didn’t realize you’d be using your SexyEyez875 account to interact with clients and the media, there’s good news for you: you can change your handle and keep your followers. Go to Settings > Account > Username to change your handle. Just remember to let your key followers know that your handle has changed so that you don’t miss important tweets. It’s probably also a good idea to set up Tweet alerts (we recommend the RSS function in Twitter Search or TweetLater) for your old handle to catch any residual tweets that you receive.

Shawn: By using my first and last name as a profile name am I detracting from my personal and professional brand?

Matt: Similar to my answer above, you have to determine what your personal brand is on Twitter and across all social media platforms. Take myself for example, it would have made all the sense in the world to have used @MattBatt for my profile name especially since my name is so catchy or I could have used my business name @PipelineMR (Pipeline Media Relations). Instead I decided to brand myself as @StoryAssistant because I didn’t want to seem at all self serving with my agency but also wanted to build a relevant brand vs. my name.

I hope we answered some questions here with this post! Please chime in if you have alternative and/or complimentary advice. Remember, we’re all learning here!

Our next post will be focused on “Multiple Tweeters & Following People on Twitter.”

Shel is kicking of BlogPotomachere in Falls Church, VA – the unconference (i.e., no PPT, etc.).

The following are notes from Shel’s session:

We’re talking about “social media policies” – is it right to manage control around your company’s SM.  Those who are giving flexibility to their teams seem to be doing the strongest on this front.

Who owns SM? The leadership teams within should be driving the strategy and allowing all divisions to contribute where appropriate. Shel provided @zappos as a great example of a company using SM very well…across the organization.

Heard a quote from someone at a recent conference – “We need to drop the whole ROI and move to SOI – Spirit Of Influence” – good idea but we need to still be able to execute with the C-levels so this doesn’t really fly in the board room.

Summary: Shel had a whopping 10 minutes to talk here so he was really focused on the barriers of entry within SM – session title “Integration Challenges.”

Cultural barriers are a real challenge within the organization – especially with something so new as SM. Internal communications need to be about understanding the business’ communications strategy and how your employees can effectively share with their audiences.

Interesting question – “isn’t blogging ineffective since there are so many people doing it?” – Shel: “No” – most of what he reads comes from Twitter and he believes that every company should have at least one blog because of RAPID RESPONSE.

Here is a good stream on Shel’s presentation via Twitter.

How many times have you set a goal only to have it come crashing down on you because of any number of reasons: not enough time, unachievable metrics, too many other goals, etc.?  I felt like this about 30 days ago when I learned I had Sphenoid Sinusitis at the peak of training for my first half-marathon, the 41st Drake On-The-Roads on April 25. I can remember my ENT doctor telling me (while reviewing my CT Scan of my sinuses), “Hmmm, that doesn’t look good,” as he went on to explain that my Sphenoid cavity on the left hand side (located in the middle of your head right next to your optic nerve and a major artery) was filled with something. He went on to say, “In fact, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up to think about having to operate on this.” Always a comforting comment from your doctor:).

Long story short(er) – I was treated with 20 days of antibiotics and about 2 weeks ago I was medically cleared after my final MRI. I tell you this because after 6 months of training, I wasn’t sure if I would get a chance to run in this race…after all the hard work.

I’m happy to say that I ran in the half-marathon yesterday in Des Moines, IA. It was 50 degrees and raining at 8 a.m. The longest I had ever run was 7 miles so this would almost double my longest run, but I was dead focused on accomplishing this goal. The gun shot and…

• I quickly realized I ran the first 3 miles (pure adrenalin) at about a 7 minute pace (much faster than I typically run)
• At mile 5 I watched about 2/3 of the runners make a turn back towards the starting line (they were doing the 8K)…I SO wanted to make that turn with them…but didn’t
• Mile 7.1 I was in virgin territory (for me)
• Mile 8 my cousin (who lives in Des Moines took this picture right in front of her house) I forced a smile:)
• Mile 9 I started losing feeling in my legs but didn’t feel too winded
• Mile 10 I was fortunate to connect with a friend running in the race who gave me some amazing jelly beans for energy (thanks Jelly Belly)
• Mile 13 my feet were numb, my legs were trembling but I did what felt like a sprint…and finished

It’s great to set goals for yourself.  We will all face many hurdles and excuses about why we shouldn’t accomplish them (that’s quite easy). But when you do, it helps you realize that you can accomplish anything you want and inspires you to set and accomplish many more. I hope the same for each of you.

Have you ever accomplished a personal goal in the face of adversity? I’d love to hear about it!