Keep reading for a detailed understanding of FTC rules and regulations on endorsements and testimonials in social media.

Some background…

Any time the US Government implements new regulations, there is discussion, debate, information and plenty of misinformation.

Nearly 2 years ago, in December 2009, the FTC revised, for the first time in 3 decades, its rules and regulations about endorsements and testimonials in advertising.

The prior rules were made long before the Internet and needed to be updated to account for this new type of media. Since implementing the new FTC Disclosure Guidelines PDF for endorsements and testimonials in advertising, bloggers have been given a multitude of interpretations, rules, best practices and how-to’s. Sadly, most of the information has been more scare tactics than useful.

Disclosure: Good for you, good for your audience. Image: iStockphoto

When do you have to make the disclosure?

The FTC guidelines for endorsements and testimonials in advertising say if there is a connection between the endorser and the seller of the product or service, full disclosure is required.

What is a connection?

There’s no specific definition of what is meant by connection. However, if there is a contractual obligation—whether written or verbal—to post something about a product or service, there is definitely a ‘connection’ that should be disclosed.

If, however, you bought the product and just wanted to talk about it, that might not be sufficient to establish that there is some connection with the seller of the product or service. If your readers (or viewers, if you’re doing a video; listeners, if you’re doing a podcast) believe you may have received a product or service for free or are being paid to talk about it, a simple reference that you paid for the item, while not required, would help the reader understand that a connection to the brand or company does not exist.

What is an endorser?

An endorser can be an individual, group or institution. By providing information about your experience, belief, findings or opinions, you are now taking on the role of “endorser,” and therefore you would need to somehow communicate your relationship with the product or service you’re sharing about.

When you think of an endorser, you may immediately picture celebrities or people in those paid infomercials shown late at night. Just like those compensated celebrities or actors, each of us takes on a similar role of spokesperson many times a day. In talking to our friends and family about the things we like or don’t like, we’re the same those celebrities.

Here we see Colonial Penn Life Insurance is endorsed by a television celebrity.

Companies, educational institutions, civic groups, professional groups and the like communicate with their public. If they share information about a product or service, the organization itself—in encouraging its public to use or buy the item—may be taking on the role of a spokesperson.

Even though we may not think an organization can give a recommendation about a product or service, they do and would need to disclose any relationship. For example, a dental practice only recommends a certain brand of toothpaste. Maybe it’s just a personal preference of the dentist. If, however, the toothpaste company pays the dental practice or provides free product, the practice would need to tell the patients about their relationship.

What is full disclosure?

FTC guidelines do not give example of what full disclosure means. There are no magic words or specific phrases suggested. It also does not say if the disclosure must be within the text of a written post or at the end, or where specifically it must be. The language states that the disclosure must:

“… clearly and conspicuously disclose either the payment or promise of compensation prior to and in exchange for the endorsement or the fact that the endorser knew or had reason to know or to believe that if the endorsement favored the advertised product some benefit, such as an appearance on television, would be extended to the endorser.”

As you can see, there’s a lot left open for interpretation as to the “how” and “where” this disclosure must be made. The focus is on what the consumer or average reader understands to be a disclosure. The average reader is not going to know that he or she needs to click on an icon and navigate to other pages or read a page of disclosures to try to figure out if the link is an affiliate or if the awesome widget you’re telling them they can’t live without was given to you for free.

To quote the marketing genius Joe Dirt from the 2001 movie of the same name, “It’s not what you want, it’s what the consumer wants!“  This couldn’t be truer.

To whom do the rules apply?

The FTC guidelines apply to both traditional advertisers and those of us in new media. There is no significant distinction between a major brand and blogger. If you talk about products or services (either in written form or spoken word), then you are either providing advertising or a testimonial and these rules apply to you.

These voluntary guidelines apply to anyone who’s providing an advertisement or testimonial. In addition, though, social media strategists, consultants, gurus, masters, superheroes and PR agencies and their employees should be well-versed on this topic because they, too, may become liable if they are advising clients or bloggers to engage in action that is clearly contrary to the guidelines.

What does voluntary mean?

While we’d all like to think that voluntary means you can choose not to comply, that’s a bit of a misunderstanding. Voluntary in this sense means that there is no police system that will come after you.

However, advertisers and those providing testimonials do run the risk of having administrative action taken against them for noncompliance. This is not like other laws where failure to comply means a bright line consequence. Keep in mind, though, that choosing not to comply can produce a number of expensive consequences.

Why did these rules come about?

Complaints: A way to hold businesses accountable. Image: iStockphoto

As with most laws, these disclosure guidelines came about because the FTC began getting complaints from consumers who felt duped or misled. Enough people complained that bloggers and those with websites were leading them to purchase products or services because the writer was getting some type of compensation to give their review, insight or testimonial.

Rather than getting honest information, consumers felt they were being lied to by what was portrayed as an unbiased source. In fact, though, the bloggers and content providers were hawking goods and services and singing their praises while being compensated. Were they lying? Probably not. Did the consumer feel lied to? Many did.

As a result of the desire for what was seen as greater consumer protection, after almost 30 years the FTC updated their rules. They now apply to pretty much anyone who would be deemed an endorser of a product or service.

Consequences of noncompliance

As with most governmental regulations, noncompliance carries with it some sort of fine. The FTC administrative procedures are handled within the Commission. Penalties for noncompliance can range from a written warning and request to provide full disclosure to the maximum of an $11,000 civil fine (per incident).

Noncompliance is a failure to follow regulations. Image: iStockphoto

Keep in mind that the FTC must follow due process and that an alleged violator will not just get handed a bill for $11,000. First he or she will receive a written letter detailing the FTC’s position regarding noncompliance. In addition, the $11,000 fine is a maximum penalty. There are many other options for compliance enforcement.

Is the FTC reading my blog or visiting my website?

With millions of blogs and websites under the jurisdiction of the FTC—these include all US-based domains, hosts and servers—the task of monitoring every one of these sites falls on a small number of people. Because these are real people who work for the FTC, even on their own time they are often on the Internet. As such, they may come across your blog by happenstance.

When compliance is your job, everything you encounter is often read through that lens. This means that even if the FTC monitors are not coming to your site based on a complaint, they may very well be checking out your site for other reasons.

What should bloggers do?

There has been a lot of discussion about how to comply with these disclosure laws. I’ve heard of bloggers hiring lawyers to get guidance, I’ve seen companies start up just to provide some type of third-party notification system and I’ve listened as bloggers lament feeling like they’re losing a competitive advantage because they disclose but their competitors do not.

The problem here is that so many want to comply but don’t really want to be “clear and conspicuous.” The rule is not aiming for sending readers on a scavenger hunt around your blog to find a disclosure page; using icons that are neither standardized, recognized nor understood by the consumer to be a type of disclosure; or burying the disclosure.

Disclosure is evaluated through the eyes of the consumer, not what we think we can get away with while being as vague as possible.

The “how to” is tricky because much will depend on your readers, your content and how the information is presented. The basic KISS principle goes a long way with this, however. Keep it simple, smarty! If not for our readers, we’re nothing. Why not trust that they want to support the site?

What exactly should a blogger do? Just tell your readers in some way how you obtained the product, if you were provided a complementary service or if clicking a link within your post could somehow mean you get a commission or some type of compensation.

Honestly, it’s not very complicated. If you can seamlessly disclose within the text (e.g., “Company A sent me this widget to try,” “I received a complementary or reduced-cost stay at Hotel XYZ,” “Affiliate links are used and I may receive a commission if you click”) that is the best. However, including a disclosure at the bottom of the post is easily done as well. What I don’t think is a best practice is the use of incomprehensible icons or a generic “see my disclosure policy” link.

The disclosure policies I’ve seen on a vast majority of sites are inadequate. Using a general boilerplate disclosure policy is fine if you actually read it and understand what it says. One of the 26 ways to enhance your blog includes having a good disclosure policy. A succinct and accurate disclosure policy, if nothing else, can go a long way in offering some protection if ever the FTC reviews your blog.

As of this writing, no individual bloggers have been fined or sanctioned by the FTC. That’s not to say everyone is complying or that what is happening now is acceptable to the agency. All it means is that the FTC has chosen not to formally sanction bloggers at this time.

Why brands and PR reps need to know about disclosure rules.

First, education is key. In my experience, brands and PR reps take a hands-off stance when working with bloggers. To ensure that bloggers have autonomy in what they write, brand and PR reps often provide little direction. In fact, those running a campaign should set out the requirements very clearly. A simple disclosure at the end of a post would be all that is needed. Although, I think icons such as these might just make disclosure much more interesting.

A humorous way of disclosing you were paid cash for your testimonial. Image: Louis Gray

Witty disclosure about stuff we all get. Image source: Louis Gray

Shortly after implementing the guidelines, the FTC began an investigation of a blogger outreach program by Ann Taylor stores. The company held a private fashion preview for select bloggers and expected those bloggers to post content in exchange for gifts.

After an investigation, the FTC did not recommend enforcement action against Ann Taylor. The decision was based on a number of factors; one being that during the investigation process Ann Taylor implemented a blogger disclosure policy. It’s important to note that Ann Taylor had engaged a PR agency to carry out this blogger outreach program but the FTC chose to deal directly with the brand.

More recently, though, the FTC fined Legacy Learning Systems $250,000 for having affiliates write reviews under the guise of being ordinary consumers or independent reviewers. While the Legacy situation was unique because it involved a company specifically soliciting its affiliates for what were advertised as “unbiased” reviews, it is important in that no affiliates were fined.

Rather, the company was held responsible and must, in addition to paying a significant fine, monitor many of its affiliates for a period of time. Whether the company knew of the disclosure laws pertaining to its affiliates is irrelevant. The fact is the company was held responsible for its actions in directing compensated affiliates to pose as unbiased.

For brands and PR agencies, the key to compliance is setting standards. Some bloggers do a great job with disclosure. For the most part, though, they don’t. Ultimately, it is your brand or your client, and you should feel comfortable setting out basic expectations as to how you will protect your company or your client.

Do the disclosure rules apply to social media?

Absolutely! While it is slightly more complicated because there are often character or word limits, some type of disclosure or notice to readers is required. When anyone other than the brand itself touts a product or service, the FTC disclosure laws require disclosure so that the potential consumer knows there is some relationship and the recommendation or information could be biased.

Twitter is the biggest challenge because of the 140-character limit. There have been suggestions to use certain hashtags such as #sp, #spon #ad, #aff or the like. There’s no single set standard though, which makes it difficult for consumers. So far, the FTC has not gone after allegedly misleading tweets. They may in the future, so it’s something to be mindful of. That being said, given the pervasiveness of pushing blog posts to Twitter, using retweet buttons, retweeting and losing space it might be a bigger challenge than anticipated.

Facebook offers more characters, so there should be no excuse not to include some type of disclosure. However, as with Twitter, there are a multitude of automated programs that post blogs, tweets or other types of status updates or shares that make disclosure standards difficult. They key here, though, is if you can make a disclosure in some way, you should.

Location-based and location review/rating mobile apps bring a new set of challenges. When the FTC disclosure rules were promulgated there were one or two, if any, location-based mobile apps. Checking in to a location may lead someone to believe you are endorsing it. You may even write something or offer a tip to others who go there in the future. If you’re compensated to write about the location or experience, that should be disclosed.

In addition, while some mobile apps of this sort will prevent you from checking in or offering recommendations if you are not actually at the location, keep in mind that if you don’t actually have the experience, don’t write about it regardless of whether the app allows you to or not.

It's important to follow all disclosure guidelines in social media. Image: iStockphoto

Final Thoughts

The reason the rules exist is to protect consumers. Consumers have a right to know the information they read online is truthful and accurate. The FTC disclosure guidelines are not onerous, overly detailed or difficult to understand. There are few ethical standards when it comes to blogging. In some ways it’s still the wild west on the Internet. Brands and many PR agencies were already aware of disclosure needs for advertising and testimonials when it related to traditional media. The new guidelines moved those same standards into the new media realm.

Readers are essential to every blogger’s success. FTC disclosure rules for bloggers are easy to comply with, if you’re willing to trust that your readers want you to be successful. This is an opportunity to raise the bar. We just have to be willing to see this as a good thing.

What are your thoughts? Do you think the FTC disclosure rules are easy to comply with whether you’re a blogger, a brand or a PR rep? Leave your comments in the box below.

Disclosure: While Sara Hawkins is an attorney, this article is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice.

Images from iStockPhoto and Louis Gray.

Here’s a simple strategy to help you convince prospects to become customers. And it’s done by embedding Twitter testimonials on your website.

Why Testimonials Matter

When potential customers check out your business online, they want to see proof that you deliver what you promise. It’s important that you provide evidence that you have happy customers.

Testimonials are powerful because they come straight from your customers in their own words. It’s important you add testimonials to your site. You can easily tap into tweets from people who say great things about your business.

Why Tweets Make Good Testimonials

Tweets make great testimonials for several reasons:

• They’re short, so they get to the point quickly.
• People write them in a moment of enthusiasm, so they’re filled with praise and excitement.
• They’re written for public review, so you don’t need to ask permission to use a tweet as a testimonial.

What kinds of tweets make great customer testimonials? Those whose entire content is about your business, your product or your service.

An example of a customer testimonial written as a tweet.

Use Twitter Favorites to Display Testimonials

Twitter makes it easy for your business to capture and display tweets when you mark them as Favorites. To make this strategy work, you must use Favorites exclusively for testimonials.

To Favorite a tweet, hover your mouse over the tweet. Twitter displays a list of commands that are not visible until you hover on the tweet. Locate the Favorite (star) option and click it. Twitter adds this tweet to your list of Favorite tweets.

An example of a tweet showing the Favorite option while hovering the mouse over it.

Twitter allows you to display your most recent Favorite tweets on your website or blog using a widget. Every time you mark a new Favorite tweet, Twitter adds it to your customer testimonials automatically.

An example of a Twitter widget displaying customer testimonials.

How to Create Your Testimonials Twitter Widget

Before you start creating your Twitter Favorites widget, you need this information:

• The size of the spot for your Twitter widget on your site in pixels (height and width).
• Optional: The hex code (for example: #d34e01) for colors used on your site to customize the widget.

You may also need technical assistance to insert the HTML code into your blog or website.

To create and customize your widget:

#1: The Twitter Widgets page

Choose widgets for your website on the Twitter Widgets page.

Click My Website.

Click "My Website" to display the widgets available for your website.

Click Faves Widget.

The Faves Widget contains a list of tweets you mark as favorites.

Make sure you have Favorited some tweets.

#2: Customize your widget heading

To customize your widget:

• Change the Title to What People Are Saying About (or something similar).
• Change the Caption to your business name (if necessary).

The Customize Your Faves Widget Settings page.

Click Test Settings to see your changes take effect (if necessary). On the right, Twitter displays your widget with your favorites and your settings.

#3: Customize your widget preferences

Click Preferences. Twitter displays the Customize Your Faves Widget Preferences page. This page allows you to customize how your widget works. Choose the options that you want for your widget.

• Poll for New Results keeps checking for new tweets marked as a Favorite.
• Include Scrollbar lets you add more tweets than fit into the widget display area.
• To make your list scroll through your tweets, choose Timed Interval and Loop Results.
• To remove the date, uncheck Show Timestamps. (Leave this checked if you want to display the customer testimonial dates.)

The Customize Your Faves Widget Preferences page showing common preference options.

To see the effect of your options, click Test Settings. Experiment until the widget works the way you want it to work on your site.

#4: Customize your widget to your site and brand colors

Click Appearance. Twitter displays the Customize Your Faves Widget Appearance page.

This page allows you to change the colors used in your widget. Use the hex codes for your site colors to exactly match your Twitter widget to your site.

To change a widget color:

Click the color box next to the color you want to change. Twitter displays a color picker window.

The Customize Your Faves Widget Appearance page showing the five color options you can customize to match your website or blog branding.

Type the hex code for the desired color.

The Customize Your Faves Widget Appearance page showing a color picker window for one color option.

Click Done. Twitter updates the color box and the widget example.

An example of the Customize Your Faves Widget Appearance page showing a color picker after typing the hex code for a new color choice.

Click Test Settings to see your colors (if necessary).

#5: Customize your widget to fit the space on your site

Click Dimensions. Twitter displays the Customize Your Faves Widget Dimensions page.

Type the height and width of your finished widget in pixels.

The Customize Your Faves Widget Dimensions page showing the Widget Dimensions boxes.

#6: Finish your Twitter Faves Widget

When you have finished customizing your Twitter Faves Widget, click Finish & Grab Code.

The Customize Your Faves Widget Dimensions page showing the Finish & Grab Code button.

Twitter displays the code in a text box in the middle of the page. Copy and paste this code into a text file for storage, or directly into your website.

The Customize Your Faves Widget page showing the HTML code box.

Tip: When you leave this page, your customization settings are lost. Save this code permanently by storing it in a text file, Microsoft Word document or other location.

Your website uses this code to display your Twitter widget. You insert the code into your website at the location where you want the Twitter widget to appear. Common places for Twitter widgets include:

• The front page of your website. Put your customer testimonials where new visitors can easily find them.
• In your blog sidebar. If your website gets traffic landing directly on blog posts, consider adding your Twitter widget in the blog sidebar.
• In your website footer. You can adjust the height of the Twitter widget to fit your footer height.

When you install the code, the Twitter widget appears immediately and displays your current favorite tweets. As you mark new tweets as favorites, they appear in the widget, also.

An example Twitter widget using favorites as testimonials.

It’s Your Turn

What do you think? Have you used tweets as testimonials on your site? Have you tried the Twitter Favorites Widget? What testimonial strategy works well for your business? Leave your comments in the box below.

We relied 100% on social media tactics to drive traffic to this site.

In less than 5 months, Social Media Examiner was declared the #1 small business blog in the world by Technorati, added more than 13,000 email subscribers, brought nearly 100,000 people a month to the site and is ranked as one of the top 4200 websites in all of America by Alexa.

We didn’t advertise, didn’t rely on the press and almost none of our traffic is coming from search engines.  Nearly overnight, this site has become a top destination for businesses.

This all took place via social media.  We simply leveraged the power of sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to deliver the kind of results that would’ve cost us a fortune in the past.  We didn’t spend a dime on marketing, just our time.

Watch the above video to hear more of the story…

Only a few weeks ago we launched a Facebook Fan Page and already more than 2000 people are actively participating.

Here’s a very common sentiment we hear nearly daily.

“Have I told you lately that I love you? No, seriously. I found your site a couple of months ago and signed up for email. Now with all the info I subscribe to I know that 100% of the time yours will always be a great informative read…..so thanks!” Jo McDonald Hooker

Clearly we’re doing something right!

How Does Social Media Examiner Make Money?

One of the big struggles most publishers face is actually making money.  Maintaining a site like ours is a big team effort for a LOT of people.

We toyed with the idea of running display advertisements.  However, it quickly became clear there’s very little money in advertising (we might reconsider down the road).

Since our inception, a “lot” of folks have asked for recommendations to better their social media learning.  The common questions were, “What courses can I take?,” “How do I really master this important form of marketing?” and so on.

So the team here at Social Media Examiner decided to put together a conference just for you.  And it’s called Social Media Success Summit 2010.

So the answer to the question, “How do we make money?” is large online events.

What Is Social Media Success Summit 2010?

Social Media Success Summit 2010 is an event designed to to empower you to build social media marketing plans, track your social media results and learn from other successful businesses.  You’ll also discover how to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare and Groupon to attract high-caliber customers and grow your business during this economic slump.

Twenty-four of the world’s leading social media superstars will be summit instructors.

Join Guy Kawasaki (author, Art of the Start), Chris Brogan (author, Social Media 101), Darren Rowse (author, ProBlogger), Mari Smith (author, Facebook Marketing), experts from Best Buy, Home Depot, Whole Foods, Foursquare and Groupon; Steve Rubel (Edelman), Ann Handley (MarketingProfs), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Greg Jarboe (author, YouTube and Video Marketing), Kim Dushinski (author, Mobile Marketing Handbook), Jason Falls (Social Media Explorer), Jay Baer (Convince & Convert),  Ramon De Leon (Chicago Domino’s Pizza) and yours truly—just to mention a few.  Together this team of “who’s who” in social media will help you succeed using practical tactics.

This is the world’s biggest online event designed to empower marketers and small business owners to master social media marketing.

And the great news is it’s a live online conference you can attend from your home or office.  Click here for a free sample class.

I hope you’ll consider attending! And thanks for supporting Social Media Examiner.

What do you think about our story? Do you have any questions about the summit? Please comment below…

Social media goes beyond Facebook or Twitter.  It’s about connecting with people and developing relationships.  And sometimes those connections can be literally face-to-face!

Social media allows us to make connections faster and over greater distances, but there is power in social media to bring us closer to our neighbors, too.  One of the ways to do that is with a Tweetup.

What Is a Tweetup?

There are some things that just can’t be done with a 140-character limit.

A Tweetup is an in-person meeting of Twitter users. It has also become a colloquialism for any in-person networking event organized using social media.

For example, there are lots of events on Facebook that result in large parties. One I was recently involved with is Bring Gary Vaynerchuk to Chicago. The whole thing was organized through Facebook. The end result was to meet Gary in Chicago, along with a lot of other entrepreneurs, networkers and wine lovers.

How Tweetups Benefit Your Business

Obviously Gary benefited from the Facebook event by having a lot of attention drawn to his book. Did anyone else benefit?

On a personal level, Nancy S. (a friend, entrepreneur and wine connoisseur) was inspired by meeting Gary. Nancy has been hesitating about starting a new venture, and gained new confidence from the event.

Kelly Olexa, the event organizer, also benefited by hosting this event. She is now recognized as the person who brought Gary Vaynerchuk to Chicago, and she was able to network with a targeted audience during the event.

The nice thing about a Tweetup is that it doesn’t have to involve a celebrity. The key element to a successful Tweetup is having something people are interested in. Just think of parties you’ve had before and what made them successful. You’ll generally get more people to come when you give them a reason to be there.

We’ll cover how to organize a Tweetup in a second. For now, let’s take a look at three major benefits you get from a Tweetup:

Thought Leadership

This is when people recognize you as a leader and influencer of opinion. Kelly gained credibility as a thought leader by reaching out to Gary and getting him to come to Chicago.

Community-Building

By bringing people together around a common interest, you help them to get to know each other better. Whether it’s a backyard barbecue or a national convention, the most important aspect of any networking event is the conversations and relationships that develop.

Credibility-Building

The person who organizes a Tweetup is recognized as a leader and an expert. In Kelly’s case, her expertise is in media, getting the word out, and organizing events. She was able to capitalize on her complementary interest in wine to develop a major event with Gary.

Other benefits of hosting a Tweetup include:

• Deeper relationships
• New testimonials
• Media exposure
• Lead generation
• Increased sales

Organizing a Tweetup

The first thing to understand about organizing a Tweetup is that it has already been done. There are lots of resources out there for you to use and make it easier for yourself.

Three of those resources are Meetup.com, Eventbrite and Amiando. They all have free elements to their service, and paid components as well.

Meetup allows you to join and participate for free. When you decide to become an organizer for events, there is a subscription fee for accessing those tools. You can subscribe for up to 6 months at a time for $12/month. You can charge for events through Meetup if you want to. They allow you to connect to Amazon Payments and PayPal to collect fees.

The great thing about Meetup is that it announces your new Meetup Group to the community. You just pick a topic, describe your Meetup, and you’re ready to go.

Eventbrite and Amiando are more like Ticketmaster. You can use them to organize events, and when you charge a ticket price they take a percentage of the sales.

Aside from using a service such as Meetup, Eventbrite or even Facebook to organize your event, there are three important organizing elements I want to draw attention to.

#1: Visit the Venue

Especially when you’re hosting the Tweetup at your business location, take time to look at the location from the perspective of guests. You might even ask a couple of friends to give you their opinions.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Will guests be able to have conversations without shouting at each other?
• Is there enough light to read business cards?
• Where will refreshments be?

#2: Use Name Tags

Everyone has an online handle, and it’s often different from their real name. Plan to have name tags that show both.

#3: Be Active During the Tweetup

To get the benefits of hosting a Tweetup, guests need to see you and meet you. Make a point of speaking to everyone and introducing yourself.

Stuart Foster wrote an excellent article for Mashable entitled Organize a Successful Tweetup. He outlines 17 things both to do and to avoid when planning and hosting a Tweetup. I suggest you print the article and keep it as a resource, but there’s something else you need to do first.

Networking Before a Tweetup

You’re going to have the most success by making sure you have lots of people to invite. To get a good crowd, you need two things:

1. A local network (not huge – millions or even thousands – a couple of hundred people is plenty)
2. A common interest

The common interest part is fairly easy, and it doesn’t have to be directly related to your business.

When the earthquake struck Haiti, you know a lot of business owners organized fundraising activities. You could easily use status updates, tweets, and email – even the telephone – to reach your network and tell them about an event like that.

The great thing about it is that everyone you tell is definitely going to tell a friend or two. Being able to help others gives everyone a good feeling.

You could be a hardware store owner and still find plenty of common interests for a Tweetup. In spring, organize an event around garden planting. For the do-it-yourself crowd, organize summertime events around barbecuing, deck installations, and landscaping.

Any time you’re stuck for an idea, just pick up the phone and call your best clients. Ask them what they’re interested in and would like to know more about. Finding a common interest is easy. Building a local network is a tiny bit more challenging. And I mean just a tiny bit because there are lots of tools to help you do it.

Naturally you’re going to start with the social media sites you already belong to. Twitter is an excellent one to use, and not just because Twitter developed Tweetups. It’s also because there are several applications and two features in Twitter designed to help. (If you don’t have a Twitter account, here’s an instruction booklet to get you started.)

One feature in Twitter is geotagging. Just login to your Twitter account and go to Settings. Check the box for Geotagging under Locations. Here’s a screenshot to show you what it looks like:

For your own profile, turn geotagging on so other people can find you. For your network, spread the word about geotagging so it becomes easier for you to find other people.

The other feature in Twitter is its Search function. You can type a city and radius into the search field to find local Twitter users. For example, someone in Toronto could type:

Near:Toronto within:50mi

This is going to show you Twitter users living within 50 miles of Toronto.

You can see from the image above that a Twitter search gives you tweets along with who made them. That can be a lot of extra information to sort through. Fortunately, there are some great services out there that help you do the work. Two I particularly enjoy are Twellow and TwitterLocal.

Twellow is yellow pages for Twitter users. You can register for a free account, but you don’t have to be registered to use the service. Twellow is cool because it lets you search Twitter users in several ways. You can search by location, interest, name, and subject, to name a few.

It also has a neat feature called Twellowhood. It lets you zero in on any geographic location in the world. (Remember what I mentioned about geotagging?) You start by picking a continent, then a state or province. When you get to an area that’s small enough – say, Ontario, Canada – Twellowhood gives you a list of cities in that province.

The number beside each city is how many Twitter users are located there. Just click on a city and you’ll get a listing of every local Twitter user.

TwitterLocal is a little different. It’s an Adobe AIR application that you download to your computer.

Once installed, TwitterLocal allows you to filter tweets by location – similar to the Twitter search function I showed you. Obviously this is handy for watching the conversations happening in your area. It can be a great way to get ideas for which common interest to tap into for your next event.

In every case, your goal is to develop new relationships with people in your locale so they can attend your Tweetups.

Keep in mind that your own existing network can help you meet local people, too. Tell them what you are doing and ask your connections to help by introducing you to local people. I was surprised at the people I was introduced to through my own network.

Cooperating With Customers

Social media has become part of our cultural and marketing landscape. We’re also generally social creatures who enjoy meeting new people and making friends.

Hosting a Tweetup allows you to cooperate with your customers to give them three important benefits:

1. They’re learning more about the common interest.
2. Everyone gets to meet new people and be social.
3. Guests develop a deeper relationship with you and your business.

Take your first step today. Pick a common interest and use Twitter to organize a Tweetup with 10 friends. That gives you a doable project with a safe audience. You can build from there.

Have you participated in tweetups? Post your experiences and questions below. And, even more importantly, come back to write about the experiences you have. Let’s make a conversation here that helps everyone build success with social media.

With the constant stream (river!) of information rushing by on Twitter, here are five fun ways to capture your favorite tweets and have a way to archive/refer back to them.

First, let’s make sure you know how to favorite tweets, what types of tweets to favorite, and where to find your Favorites URL/RSS Feed:

How to Favorite a Tweet

From the regular Twitter web interface, favorite any tweet by mousing over the tweet then clicking the star. This works for anyone on Twitter, whether you follow them or not.

On third-party apps, the Favorite button might be a heart like Twhirl:

Or, on TweetDeck, it’s actually a three-step process.

On the iPhone app Tweetie, you can slide your finger over any tweet for options and tap the star, or tap the star at the bottom of the actual tweet:

What Types of Tweets to Favorite

It’s really a personal choice, but you might want to favorite a mix of great content tweets from people you follow, your own tweets and @ replies to you that are endorsements/testimonials (I usually take screenshots of the latter to keep them separate).

Where to Find Your Favorites URL/RSS Feed

Look for “Favorites” on the side panel of your Twitter page. If you right-click and select the link, you’ll get a simple URL like: http://twitter.com/MariSmith/favorites.

If you left-click the link to get to your page of Favorites, then scroll below the montage of your follower thumbnails, you’ll see “RSS feed of username’s favorites” with the recognizable orange RSS icon.

Okay, now you’re ready! Here are those five creative ways to make good use of your Twitter Favorites!

1. Publish to Facebook Via FriendFeed

FriendFeed.com is an excellent feed aggregator; literally anything with an RSS feed can be combined into one feed and then that feed can be added to your Facebook profile. Here’s how:

1. Register for your free account at FriendFeed.com if you haven’t already.
2. Click on Settings at the top right.
3. On the popup, look for the link that says ” add/edit” next to Services.
   
4. On the next screen, click on one of the orange RSS icons (it says “Blog,” but can be used for any RSS feed).
5. Paste in your Twitter Favorites URL. Mine works fine with the straight URL http://twitter.com/MariSmith/favorites, but you may find you need to put the actual RSS feed URL in. I’ve heard it can be a bit buggy for some folks.
6. Next, head over to Facebook and add the FriendFeed application.

Now, you should be able to favorite a tweet and go refresh your Facebook profile and see the new item on your Wall (and it goes out into the News Feed of all your friends).

I find this practice much more effective than automatically syncing all tweets with my Facebook updates. It gives me more control and means I can share more select content to my Facebook friends. Plus, with the ubiquitous Comment feature, your updates (Twitter favorites) can spark discussion.

Also, there’s always an abundance of great content to share on Twitter – if you’re away from your desk, for example, you can easily favorite a few tweets on your mobile device and that content goes over to your Facebook friends.

2. Favorite Content on Your Facebook Fan Page

I find the Facebook Fan Page to Twitter app very useful. You get a whopping 420 characters in the Publisher to create content. Then the app truncates around 120 characters and posts to Twitter with a bit.ly link back to your fan page. You can choose what content to post to Twitter; for example, your Status Updates, Photos, Links, Notes and Events:

Then when the post goes out as a tweet, when you favorite the tweet, you trigger the sequence in #1 above: posting to FriendFeed and to your Facebook profile, thus giving you additional visibility and control over what content goes where.

3. Add Your Favorites to Your Email Signature File

WiseStamp is a really nifty Firefox extension that gives you an HTML signature file for any webmail. You can insert any content, plus WiseStamp pulls in the icons for the social sites you wish to share as well:

Along with your social media icons, there’s an option to add an RSS feed of your choice. Click the RSS button and paste in your Twitter Favorites RSS Feed, enter your own Feed Title and voila!! As you select tweets to favorite, your email signature file now has dynamic content!

4. Create a Widget of Your Favorites for Your Blog

Among the various cool widgets Twitter offers (Goodies, they call them), they have a Faves Widget which you can easily customize and add to your blog/website:

This allows you to not only have your own tweets in a Twitter widget, but also to share dynamic, select content on your blog/site.

5. Make an Ebook Out of Your Favorites

Tweetbook.in is a little-known site that actually generates a PDF (plus XML backup) of your Tweets or your Favorites.

Tweetbook.in uses Oauth, so no need to enter your Twitter credentials. Once logged in, click the tab for Favorites, then click the “Generate PDF” button. If you have a ton of favorites, it may take a couple of minutes.

I first came across this nifty site some time ago and just recently remembered it! ” I’ve been adding to my Twitter Favorites since 2007 and have over 1500 favorites. The ebook I just created of my favorites is 104 pages! You’re welcome to download it here.

The cool thing is that any links in tweets are clickable in the PDF. The Twitter IDs are not, but @names and who authored the tweets are obvious.

Imagine the possibilities of creating your own PDF with your tweets/favorites!

These are just a few of the ways to use Twitter Favorites you may not have known. What other creative ways do you use Favorites? Add your comments below; we’d love to hear from you!