[UPDATE] – we had a marathon seven-hour Virtual Launch Party today (May 3). Here’s a wee video greeting I recorded for my Facebook wall on my iPhone:

First, Chris Treadaway and I co-hosted a three-hour presentation via TinyChat where we discussed many of the chapters in our book, along with the recent changes announced at Facebook’s f8 conference, and the implications for marketers. The replay of this part will be available shortly! (I recorded my desktop with TinyChat via ScreenFlow and will give it a slight edit).

Then, I went on to lead a four-hour webinar meeting and greeting many of my peeps, and where I continued on to give Facebook marketing ideas, tips, tricks, Ninja secrets, dive deeper into the Facebook changes, do fan page critiques and more. You can view the replay of this part here.

[ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS]

I’m super excited for a project that’s been a long time coming: my first published book! I’m honored to team up with the talented Chris Treadaway to coauthor Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day, published by Sybex (a division of John Wiley & Sons).

Our book officially comes out on Monday, May 3, 2010. Copies are already shipping and we are climbing the charts on Amazon.com!

Virtual Launch Party – You’re Invited!

On Monday, May 3, we’re hosting a VIRTUAL LAUNCH PARTY from 10:00am PST / 1:00pm EST onwards! Come meet Chris and me and a few surprise guests – we’ll be LIVE virtually!

Drop in any time during the day for Facebook marketing Q&A, book excerpts, interviews, prize drawings, lots of fun - you name it! We’ll even have virtual champagne!

Let us know you’re coming via the Facebook Event page – RSVP here.

An Hour A Day series

You may already be familiar with Sybex’s popular “An Hour A Day” series, which include:

• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day – by Dave Evans
• Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day – by Hollis Thomases
• YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day – by Greg Jarboe (Greg is a fellow presenter at the upcoming Social Media Success Summit!)
• Web Analytics: An Hour a Day – by Avinash Kaushik

Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day is the ideal comprehensive guide for marketers, business owners and practitioners alike. I’m sure this book will end up flagged, scribbled on and dogeared as you study it! Chris and I outline all the ways businesses can maximize everything Facebook has to offer, from simple quick techniques to full-on campaigns.

Table of Contents:

Screenshots taken from my iPad on the Amazon Kindle app for the iPad! Yes, our book is available on Kindle (and eBook / Nook).

Expert Contributors to “The Future of Facebook” Appendix:

Chris and I are truly honored by and grateful to the following six professionals, all of whom contributed valuable expertise to our book:

Dave Kerpen	Jesse Stay	Nick O’Neill
Lauren Cooney	Scott McCaskill	Kevin Tate

Free Facebook Marketing Online Class!

With Facebook’s product changing so frequently, Chris and I wanted to offer special follow up support for our readers. You can join us in a special series of online trainings, designed to help you get the absolute most out of this book and from your own Facebook marketing efforts!

In our three-part online webinar series, we’ll walk you through exactly how to:

• Integrate the new Facebook Social Plugins
• Assess the power of the new Like button for your site
• Create a compelling Facebook Fan Page
• Source consistent, relevant content to keep your fans coming back for more
• Build your raving fan base using creative ways to drive targeted traffic
• Increase your brand awareness and brand sentiment
• Easily drive traffic back to your website and blog
• Engage your fans and turn them into paying customers
• Rapidly build your opt-in email list
• Place effective Facebook ads that make people take action
• And much more.

This workshop series stars on June 3, 2010 and is entirely virtual, so you can attend via your computer from the comfort of your home/office. Each session will be recorded and replays will be available with unlimited access.

Chris and I will share screenshots and our desktop as we guide you through the exact steps you need to build a vibrant, profitable presence on Facebook.

Here’s how to register:

It’s super easy to secure your place in the free 3-part Facebook Marketing online class:

	STEP 1: Purchase your copy of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day at any of the online retailers listed below.
	STEP 2: Fill out the Facebook Marketing survey here.

Order Facebook Marketing Now At These Online Retailers:

Amazon.com	Barnes & Noble	Borders
BooksAMillion	BestBookBuys	800ceoread

Also available in Amazon Kindle version for your Kindle and/or iPad! Plus, ebook version for your eReader.

Advance praise for Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day

Chris and I are truly grateful to the following professionals for their support and encouragement:

“This is the ultimate Facebook marketing guide. It provides the most important strategies to take full advantage of Facebook’s best features, make your Facebook presence pop, and generate profits. A must-read!”

-Guy Kawasaki – Co-founder of Alltop and former Apple chief evangelist

“The best marketing engages buyers with valuable information at the precise moment they are receptive. That’s why my chiropractor shares video exercises with me on Facebook! And it’s darned effective, too. If you want to learn how to tap the communications tool of choice for hundreds of millions of people around the world, study Facebook Marketing. The real-world examples from organizations of all kinds are especially valuable for those who still need to be convinced (like your boss).”

-David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR, now published in 24 languages

“Facebook is a powerful new marketing platform and thanks to this book it just got a whole lot easier to understand and tap.”

-John Jantsch author of The Referral Engine

“The social media world is full of people saying they know this tool or that tool. But there’s a reason the first name a lot of people think of when they think of Facebook marketing is Mari Smith. This book shows you how the world’s largest social network can be leveraged for your business. And it’s written by one of few people out there who actually has shown companies how to succeed on Facebook. If you’re trying to leverage Facebook to reach your customers, this book should be on your shelf. It’s on mine.”

-Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer, Social media educator, speaker and consultant

“This is the only book that walks you through every step of creating, implementing, measuring, and optimizing a successful strategy for engaging on Facebook. Featuring proven strategies and techniques, this approachable guide walks the walk. It shows marketers at all levels how to roll up their sleeves, jump in, and get winning results quickly.”

-Brian Goldfarb, Director, Microsoft

“Mari Smith quickly became THE go-to expert before the crowds flocked to Facebook, realizing how powerful this channel is for business. Mari, teamed up with Facebook analytics expert, Chris Treadaway, have created an absolute masterpiece! Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day is long overdue, and every reader is lucky to have this book at their fingertips so they can tap into the mind of these pioneers and accelerate their success on Facebook by applying these tips.”

-Deborah Cole Micek, aka: @CoachDeb, Founder of QuanSite.com and Author of Twitter Revolution and Secrets of Online Persuasion

“Even though (or perhaps because) it’s transforming the way businesses interact with customers and prospects, Facebook is often confusing, and counter-intuitive. Not any more. Chris and Mari have created the Holy Grail, a book where nearly every page is worthy of an underline, highlight, or dog ear. With some companies posting to Facebook twice a month, and others posting banalities four times daily, the content strategy guidelines alone make this book indispensable. Buy two copies – keep one for yourself, and mail one to a company whose unfocused Facebook approach drives you crazy.”

-Jay Baer – Convince & Convert

“Mari and Chris have a very unique gift in that they can’t take the very complex and sophisticated paradigm of marketing on of the world’s largest social networks and present it in a way that anyone can understand and more importantly, put into practice.”

-Brian Solis, author of Engage, the complete guide for businesses to build and measure success on the new web

“I love books that start with strategic planning. Just about every Facebook title I’ve seen is obsessed with secret tips and tricks, without ever encouraging the reader to identify what they’re trying to accomplish in the first place. Chris and Mari have done a splendid job putting those tips and tricks into a meaningful context and I know I’ll be studying my copy to improve my own Facebook presence. If you’re looking for the full picture, the “why” along with “what” and “how”, then this is your book.”

-Dave Taylor, online entrepreneur. AskDaveTaylor.com

“Every marketer knows they need to be on Facebook and other social networks, but few know how to do it right. Chris and Mari have created what is essentially a user’s manual for anyone managing a brand or advertising a business on Facebook. Whether you’re new to social networking or a savvy user, this book provides the tools every marketing professional needs, from getting setup the right way to managing successful, targeted advertising campaigns. The book’s step-by-step format makes what many consider a daunting undertaking seem like a more manageable process for even the busiest marketers by helping you prioritize your time online.”

-Peter VanRysdam, Chief Marketing Officer, 352 Media Group

“Not only does FBMHD provide a practical framework for Facebook marketing, but it also offers a 360-degree perspective on how social media connects with a cross-section of marketing disciplines. By reading and using FBMHD, social savvy marketers gain the strategies, tactics and tools to cross the chasm from a hope-it-works community to a well-performing channel for marketing and communications.”

-Adam Weinroth, VP of Strategic Marketing, Demand Media [See Adam's Twitter page. Yes, his pic is sideways. ]

Additional Recommended Facebook Marketing Reading

And, just to whet your appetite while you’re waiting for your book to arrive (unless you’re anything like me and get the Kindle/iPad version right now!), here are several tutorial blog posts that you may find helpful too:

• How To Add A Custom Landing Tab To Your Facebook Fan Page
• How To Attract and Engage Quality Customers With Social Media
• 13 Ways to Move Your Facebook Fans to Action
• How to Better Engage Facebook Fan Page ‘Fans’
• 21 Creative Ways To Increase Your Facebook Fanbase
• How to Better Engage Facebook Fan Page ‘Fans’
• How to Create a Facebook Fan Page Editorial Guide
• How to Add Google Analytics to Your Facebook Fan Page
• 10 Tips for Creating Buzz With Facebook Events

If you have any comments, questions, concerns, challenges, (rave reviews!) – anything to do with Facebook Marketing, please do share in the Comments below:

[UPATE: Thank you for your interest in ISMA – this organization is in process of being dissolved. You may read about the transition below. If you were a member of ISMA, you will continue to receive access to all materials via my website on a special platform – please keep an eye on your email Inbox for information.]

This is not an easy post to write, but here goes — after much deliberation, my partner in ISMA and I have decided to dissolve the International Social Media Association. There are many reasons behind this decision and it was certainly a tough one to make.

Mark and I have enjoyed this journey together since September 2009 and are most grateful to our more than 3,000 members. Between the tw

o of us – along with Mark’s entire family – much effort has gone into building ISMA to this point.

However, like I say, for a number of reasons we have chosen to wind up our partnership and ISMA.

All our members received a special, heartfelt email message this morning with details of our announcement.

Live Q&A Broadcast

In order to communicate the transition of ISMA in person and answer any questions our members and other industry professionals may have, I will be LIVE on Ustream TODAY, Friday, April 30th at 1:00pm PST / 4:00pm EST.

Do drop in any time if you can at http://marismith.tv

I will broadcast live for approximately 90 minutes. The show will be recorded and the replay will be available at the same link if you’re unable to join me live.

UPDATE: I have embedded below the replay of the live Ustream broadcast:

What Went Right?

Rather than dig in and analyze what went “wrong,” I’d rather focus on what went right. [Props to Ian Newby-Clark, psychologist at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada for this great reframe in Psychology Today.]

Facebook beginnings

By way of background, I began my journey in the social media industry back in early summer of 2007. For the previous seven years, I was a relationship marketing specialist – focusing on internet marketing, information product creation, copywriting and email marketing. I would travel, speak, consult and lead online trainings – similar to what I do now, sans social media!

When I was introduced to Facebook, I was convinced that I didn’t need yet another online social network to help me network. I’m already a natural networker. However, I dove deep into this  magical world on a team of beta testers for a Facebook app.

Social media = paradigm shift

Of course, what we had begun to experience as a society and beyond was a complete paradigm shift in how we function, communicate and do business on the planet. Suddenly, it was ALL about the relationships. Not what you know, but who you know. And – often more importantly – who knows you.

Words like “authentic” and “transparent” were all abuzz. As consumers, we began to expect that individuals and companies would be more open, more sharing, more inclusive. Social media became “word of mouth on steroids,” as my friend Gary Vaynerchuk calls it.

Towards the end of 2007, I was creating Facebook training products, leading seminars and traveling to speak about Facebook marketing.

Best practices

But, I felt uneasy about what was beginning to look like a giant free-for-all: a new industry without best practices. There were so many unspoken rules of etiquette. With all due respect to the well-intentioned marketers who push the envelope and try new ways of using these new technologies, I just felt strongly about leading by example… and, I envisioned creating an organization grounded in best practices. I had a vision to create Certification Programs and an international community of like-minded, supportive professionals.

Fast forward more than two years on, and last fall – after leading my six-month “Mentor With Mari” program – I co-founded the International Social Media Association with Mark Eldridge, co-author of The Obvious Expert.

Gratitude

What went right is that I followed my heart and took action. What went right is I surrounded myself with a solid, supportive team. What went right is we attracted over 3,000 wonderful members and each week we were able to bring them wonderful industry experts who generously shared their knowledge and expertise.

We built community. We built a special place for loyal professionals to support each other. We spawned new businesses, new collaborations, new relationships.

I will always be deeply grateful for this profound opportunity to go for my dreams and birth an amazing social media association. I couldn’t have done it without the relentless support of Mark Eldridge and his family. And, we couldn’t have come this far without our members.

Closing a door is never easy. Yet, as you well know, another door always opens. This isn’t an ending – it’s a beginning. I won’t rule out other associations in my future. And, I’m certainly open to joining forces with other social media industry leaders… but not before I free up a wee bit more time in my hectic schedule!

My major focuses right now are:

• The launch of my first published book - Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day (Sybex, May 3) co-authored with Chris Treadaway. Do come join us at our virtual launch party on Monday, May 3! Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day is a comprehensive guide for marketers, business owners and practitioners alike. Discover all the ways your business can maximize everything Facebook has to offer, from simple quick techniques to full-on campaigns. Order your copy today and get a free series of online classes!

• My favorite event of the year: the extraordinary online Social Media Success Summit – brainchild of my dear friend, Mike Stelzner – which begins on May 4 and runs for four weeks. (It’s entirely virtual!) The Summit features twenty-four of the world’s leading social media experts, practitioners and leading brand representatives. See my post here for additional details. And, take a look at my video on YouTube: Ten Reasons to Attend the Social Media Success Summit.

• My own two-day live training programs: Social Marketing Mastery Immersion coming up on June 11-12 and again September 3-4 in San Diego. Attend live at a great San Diego hotel, or virtually via webinar!
• A long-awaited collaboration with my dear spiritual mentor, Esperanza, called Conscious Social Media. VERY excited about this – I can share details in just another few days!

• Plus, continuing my travels to speak around the globe on social media success and lead training programs on Facebook marketing.
• Plus, continuing to lead private trainings and provide social media strategy consulting for my dear clients.

I look forward to evolving and growing with you, my peeps!

Do feel free to add your comments, questions, concerns, ideas and feedback below! I’d love to hear from you.

Are you satisfied with the results you’re currently getting from all your social media efforts? Would you say there is room for improvement?

Though we’re clearly reaching critical mass point with social media market penetration, there’s still a morass of confusing information as to what works, and what doesn’t.

There are social media policies, and which sites to use, and the right content and engagement strategies. And whether to automate, delegate, ghostwrite. or not. It can all be very overwhelming and many people are stuck in a place of sheer inertia for lack of proper knowledge, training and experience.

When it comes to social media marketing, most businesses begin with no clear objectives or strategy. They jump in with the technology piece first: they set up a Twitter account, usually due to peer and media pressure. But they don’t really know how to listen or engage effectively.

Then they throw together a Facebook fan page and it sits there gathering virtual dust. Next comes the blog, YouTube channel, LinkedIn account, Ning site, live video with Ustream, and whatever new-fangled tool comes along.

But, in order to be effective in attracting and engaging quality customers using social media, you must have the following components:

1. Clarity on your exact target market and which social networks they prefer to use most often
2. Knowledge of what online and mobile tools are available to you (apps, widgets, plugins, clients, etc.)
3. Knowledge of the cultures, best practices and etiquette of the various social networks (there are vast schools of thought on the right and wrong way to use social media)
4. Clear objectives (such as: drive traffic to your blog, enhance customer service, grow your email list, sell more widgets, gain targeted media attention, crowdsource new products, etc.)
5. A strategy to achieve those objectives
6. A social media implementation plan
7. Resources to pay for training and ongoing social media management, whether third party or in-house
8. A company social media policy
9. An ongoing engagement plan
10. Systems to track and measure results
11. Strategies for reputation management, and
12. A scalability plan.

Whew, is it any wonder business people feel overwhelmed and stuck. I hope this list is of value to you. However, if you’d like some help – if you’re ready to ramp up your social media marketing and gain tremendous measurable results – I have good news for you: it’s almost time for my favorite online event of the year.

The Social Media Success Summit 2010 is the brains of my dear friend, Mike Stelzner.

Mike gathered together twenty-four of the world’s leading social media experts, practitioners and leading brand representatives to be Summit instructors.

Each session is a LIVE webinar with visuals; no fluff, just deep useful content that you’ll be able to apply to your business right away and see results.

Some of the Social Media Success Summit 2010 sessions include:

• Effective ways to market your company with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, social bookmarking sites, mobile marketing and more
• How to track and measure the return on investment for social media programs
• A step-by-step method for creating a smart social media marketing plan 
• How to build a loyal social media following 
• How to bring more customers into your local business with social media techniques
  See all the sessions here.

Just check out this incredible lineup, each of whom will share their proven social media tactics, strategies, techniques and tools. (Names hyperlinked to each presenter’s Twitter page so you can go follow them! Links open in a new window.)

Guy Kawasaki	Chris Brogan	Steve Rubel	John Bernier (Best Buy)
Marla Erwin (Whole Foods)	Sarah Molinari (Home Depot)	Andrew Mason (Groupon)	Tristan Walker (Foursquare)
Darren Rowse	Rick Calvert	Ann Handley	Brian Clark
Jason Falls	Rob Birgfield	Ramon DeLeon	Mike Stelzner
Jay Baer	Kim Dushinski	Denise Wakeman	Muhammad Saleem
Greg Jarboe	Chris Garrett	Lewis Howes	Mari Smith

This entirely VIRTUAL event starts May 5 and sessions run during the month of May. SAVE 34% on your ticket through April 20th!

Last year, nearly 1000 marketers and small business owners from around the world attended the Social Media Success Summit.  It was a huge hit.  Businesses were transformed.  In fact, 97% of attendees said they’d attend again!

This year’s focus is to empower attendees to build social media marketing plans, track your social media results and learn from other successful businesses. This is more than just an event. It’s also a way for people just like you to come together, share their experiences, meet the experts and network.

Remember, the Social Media Success Summit is a live ONLINE conference that you can attend from your home or office. PLUS, *all* sessions are recorded and you get access to every single replay, just in case you can’t attend a session live or wish to go back and review!

(By the way, whether you get a ticket or not, you can access a free online training session called "How to Grow and Engage an Audience).

Will you be attending this exciting virtual event? If you already have your ticket, congrats!! Come on over to the Facebook Event page and begin your pre-networking. Feel free to add photos of you with any of the 24 speakers to the Event page – you’re welcome to create valuable visibility for yourself and, in turn, let others know about the Summit! I look forward to “seeing” you on the sessions and my hope for you is this too will fast become your favorite event of the year too!

Guy Kawasaki, one of my favorite peeps in the socialmediasphere, will be giving the opening keynote.

Any questions, just let me know in the Comments below:

I’m about to set off on a wee tour – which originally began as a private mastermind retreat in Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 12-17

Then, my friend, Peggy McColl, asked me to speak at her amazing Viral Explosions book launch extravaganza in Ottawa, Ontario, April 16 and 17. It’s such an amazing event, and my big sis lives near Ottawa so we get to meet up!

And, my friend, Joel Comm contacted me to let me know the Loveland Chamber of Commerce *really* wanted me to come speak at their next Social Media Social. We ended up selecting a date that worked for all of us, and I added on extra time on the front end of my trip! w00t!

So, if you’re in the Northern Colorado area, or Albuquerque or Ottawa – I’d love to meet you IRL (in real life!) at these upcoming events:

Northern Colorado Social Media Social – Loveland, CO 

WHEN: Thursday, April 8, 2010 from 5:30-7:30pm
WHERE: Embassy Suites Loveland, Clydesdale Parkway, Loveland, CO 80538
COST: Loveland Chamber investors: $8 to pre-reg; $10 at the door. Everyone else: $12 to pre-reg; $15 at the door
RSVP: CLICK HERE to register. [NOTE: I have 4 guest passes left. If you know for sure you can make it, DM me for a guest pass!!]

Mix, mingle and meet the people behind the avatars and Twitter handles! I’ll be giving a short presentation on social media marketing, especially a few of my Facebook and Twitter ninja tricks. PLUS, the Loveland Chamber are serving Aqua Mari’tinis in my honor – gotta love that!! Follow the @LovelandChamber and @NoCOSocialMedia on Twitter.

 
[Pic: @JoelComm & @MariSmith at the Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, Jan 2009]

Spring Tweetup – Denver, CO

WHEN: Friday, April 9, 2010 from 6:30-9:30pm
WHERE: The Lobby Denver, 2191 Arapahoe St, Denver, CO 80205
COST: No fee, but Happy Hour Specials & food available for purchase, of course!
RSVP: http://twtvite.com/springtweetupdenver [Please let us know you're coming asap so we know how many to expect!]

NOTE: It’s opening day for the ROCKIES, parking may be a wee bit tight. Carpool and take public transit if you can.

“To mark the beginning of Spring to see old friends and new, and to welcome Mari Smith to Denver.”

Thanks to my Twitter bud, Ashley Kingsley, for spearheading the organizing of this fun tweetup!! To see who’s attending, just go to the Twtvite page here.

Who’s going so far: 
 

New Mexico American Marketing Association, Albuquerque, NM

WHEN: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 from 7:30am-9:30am
[7:30-8:00am - Check-in & continental breakfast; 8:00-9:30 am - Mari Smith presentation]
WHERE: Hotel Albuquerque, 800 Rio Grande NW
COST: $25 NMAMA members / $40 non-members
RSVP: CLICK HERE to register.

JAVA TALK Workshop – Facebook Fortune & Twitter Treasure. How to grow your business using the top two social networks. 90-minute presentation for local business owners and entrepreneurs.

Huge shoutout to @KimGusta who happened to see me tweeting about my retreat at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya and she tweeted/DM’d me inviting me to speak to the AMA. Gotta LOVE Twitter, social media and the sheer power of networking!!

The Ultimate Success Event – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Presented by Peggy McColl. Includes mega book launch party extravaganza for VIRAL EXPLOSIONS

WHEN: Friday April 16, 2010 from 6:30pm-11:00pm (FREE book launch party)
Saturday, April 17, 2010 from 8:00am – 6:30pm (The ULTIMATE Success Event)
WHERE: Chateau Cartier Hotel (relatively close to downtown Ottawa, Ontario)
COST: Friday’s party is FREE! Saturday’s seminar is just $199!
RSVP: CLICK HERE to register.

To kick off the official launch of Peggy McColl’s 7th book, Viral Explosions, and ensure you have everything you need to make this your biggest and best year ever . in Life and Business!

LIVE entertainment by Diego the Humor Hypnotist! And Magician, Elliott Smith! And, Singers, Alison Comrie and Kristen Stephen!

Presenters at The ULTIMATE Success Event include Gay Hendricks, Joyce Bone, Scott Stratten, Mike Koenigs, Brian Proctor, David Riklan, Arielle Ford, Steve Shapiro, Ken Brown and more!

This will be one magical event – I look forward to seeing you there! Register now if you can attend.

Let me know in the comments below (and/or on Twitter) if you’re able to attend any of these fun four events!!

My favorite events on my calendar are giving social media talks to all sizes of audiences, across many industries and a variety of formats. Whether it’s an opening keynote on social media success in general, an in-depth Facebook and/or Twitter breakout session or a full day training.

My 2010 calendar is filling up nicely, and this year I’m intent on pacing myself a tad more, and also allow a bit of extra time in each city to a) sightsee and b) connect with Twitter peeps at local Tweetups. Yay!

My public calendar can be found here, which is always current. Meantime, I thought I’d put together this post with a smidge more detail of what I have booked for 2010 so far and I’ll update it as more events are added. and add some video content too!! [If you'd like to hire me to speak at your event, hop over here.]

2010 Events – Let’s Tweet Up!

Here are my travels for 2010 so far; as more are confirmed I’ll add to this post and also to my public Google calendar. Most all of these are speaking engagements; a few I’m attending as a participant.

If you live in any of these cities – or will be at these events – please do tweet/DM me!!

January – Hollywood CA

• January 28 – February 1: The GRAMMYS! Hollywood, CA. (I’ll be in a mastermind all day Jan 30 and at the GRAMMYS Jan 31; I’m going up a couple days early and staying an extra day for a mix of pampering plus business meetings!) Special mention of my dear friend, Amy Michelson, designer of my Grammy gown. pics coming!

February – San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles CA | Nashville TN

• February 4: Keynoting the California Restaurant Association (CRA) San Diego meeting, San Diego, CA
• February 6 & 7: Social Marketing Mastery IMMERSION – retreat at Casa de Mari, San Diego, CA
• February 10: Guest lecture on Facebook marketing for UCSD at Becky Carroll’s class.
• February 11: An Evening With Seth Godin – Dana Point, CA
• February 12 to 14: NSA, National Speakers Association Winter Conference – Nashville, TN [Valentine's tweetup Feb 13!]
• February 19 – 20: Program Director Grad School, Los Angeles, CA
• February 19 – 21: David Finkel’s 2010 Business Owners Success Conference – San Diego, CA

March – Seattle WA | San Diego, Los Angeles CA

• March 5: Girls’ Night Out – Total Networking Event, Seattle, WA (I’m giving the main keynote)
• March 3: LIVE Conference – Social/Mobile Media at its Best by Qittle, San Diego, CA (I’ll be here as an attendee)
• March 8: Free WEBINAR – How Social Media is Changing the Face of Local Business Marketing featuring Mari Smith and Erik Qualman, hosted by @EgbertOostburg
• March 9: Free WEBINAR – Maximizing Facebook: How To Effectively Use The #1 Social Network To Explode Your Business! (for ISMA members – free membership)
• March 11: Private CLASS – Guest lecture on social media marketing for Grossmont College at Steve Eisenberg’s class.
• March 13 & 14: LIVE event – Women, Power & Purpose – The Live Experience, San Diego, CA [Also on this weekend: South by Southwest #SXSWi, Austin, TX; Yanik Silver's Ungerground6 in Washington DC with @garyvee keynoting; Mastering Your Life with Esperanza in San Diego, CA]
• March 19 – 21: LIVE event – Ken McArthur’s IMPACT Event, San Diego, CA
• March 24 – 27: LIVE event – T. Harv Eker’s Guerilla Business School, Garden Grove (LA), CA
• March 26 – 28: LIVE event – Christian Mickelsen’s JV Networking Mixer, San Diego, CA

April – Loveland CO | Albuquerque NM | Ottawa Canada | San Diego CA

• April 8: Spring Northern Colorado Social Media Social, Loveland Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center (details being firmed up)
• April 13: American Marketing Association New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (details being firmed up)
• April 13 – 16: Private Conference, Albuquerque, NM
• April 16 – 17: Ultimate Success Event with Peggy McColl, Ottawa, Canada
• April 23 – 24: Social Marketing Mastery IMMERSION – retreat at Casa de Mari, San Diego, CA
• April 30 & May 1: Wisdom 2.0 Summit – Sillicon Valley, CA

May – San Diego, Los Angeles CA

• May 3: Mari’s Book Launch Celebration! Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day published today!
• May 4 – 26: Social Media Success Summit 2010 (virtual event with TOP speakers!).
• May 20 – 23: Clients, Cash & Contribution with Christian Mickelsen. San Diego, CA
• May 22 – 23: The You Conference with GaryVee and Dave Lakhani. Los Angeles, CA

June – Los Angeles, CA

• June 21-23: SANG IV, Los Angeles, CA (invite-only mastermind).

July – Dallas TX

• July 15 – 18: eWomenNetwork 10th Annual Conference, Dallas, TX

Ali Brown, JJ Virgin, Mari Smith, Baeth Davis, Tamara Gold at Richard Branson & Eve Branson’s Rock the Kasbah fundraiser in Hollywood.

Review of Speaking in 2009

I was most fortunate to have an extremely full speaking schedule throughout last year. Among my 2009 highlights were speaking at all these incredible events and getting to share the stage with other amazing speakers, leaders and luminaries including:

SANG – Speakers & Authors Networking Group

Larry Benet’s SANGII and SANGIII in Las Vegas and Hollywood, with Tony Robbins, Paula Abdul, Brian Tracy, Jay Abraham and Jeffrey Hayzlett (CMO of Kodak);

Engage Today

Engage Today in Calgary, Canada with Sir Richard Branson (pic!) His Holiness The Dalai Lama, President F W deKlerk, Stephen R Covey and Wyland.

Underground Seminar

Yanik Silver’s Underground5 in Washington DC, with GoDaddy CEO & Founder Bob Parsons and former James Bond George Lazenby. (See you at Underground6 in March with Gary Vaynerchuk keynoting!)

eWomenNetwork

eWomenNetwork in Dallas TX, with Judge Glenda Hatchett, Lisa Nichols, Roxanne Emmerich, Loral Langemeier, Debbie Meyer and many more fine speakers and leaders. and 3500 attendees!

Blog World Expo 

Blog World Expo 2009 in Las Vegas, NV with Matt Goss, Scott Monty, Jeremiah Owyang, Brian Solis, Frank Eliason, Laura Fitton, Sarah Evans, Wendy Piersall and many, many more fine professionals! (Check out Blog World Expo’s home page with fab video widgets from my fave Yubby!)

MarketingProfs

Marketing Profs Digital Marketing Mixer in Chicago, IL with Dr. BJ Fogg, Ann Handley, Amber Nusland, Jay Baer, and many more top notch marketing pros!

Twitter Conference

140 | The Twitter Conference in Los Angeles with Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone, Dr. Drew, Tyrese Gibson, LaVar Burton, Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble and many more fine folks!

PLUS.!

Other awesome highlights included: speaking for Fabienne Fredrickson, Arielle Ford and Mike Koenigs, Adam Urbanski, John Assaraf, Jack Canfield, James Malinchak, Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer, Jim Bunch, Christian Mickelsen, and Craig Duswalt.

.and a few fave pics!

Mari with Sir Richard Branson, Frank Kern, Dan Kennedy, Scott Monty, Wyland and Robert Scoble.

Group pic: L-R: Ellie Drake, founder of BraveHeartWomen; Karina Smirnoff from Dancing With the Stars; me; actress Tava Smiley from TLC’s Cleansweep; talk show host Rolonda Watts.

Feel free to leave your comments/questions below about any of these events, my travels/whereabouts, and your own events. I look forward to connecting soon! And, to book me as a speaker at your next event, please check out this page.

I just attended and spoke at the Glazer-Kennedy Inner Circle Info-SUMMIT^SM 2009 in Atlanta, GA. It was a packed event with over 800 attendees and an incredible speaker lineup, including George Foreman, Frank Kern, Master Lloyd Irvin, Mike Koenigs, James Malinchak, Sonia Simone, Chris Cardell, Ron Seaver, and Michael Cage.

[Pic: Frank Kern, Mari Smith, Dan Kennedy]

Main highlight – Frank Kern!

For me, one of the highlights of the Info-SUMMIT^SM was meeting legendary marketer, Frank Kern, whom I’d heard so much about for some time.

I love Frank’s highly entertaining style, having read his blog and watched his videos for awhile. I also recently got a copy of Mass Control at the Engage Today event.

But nothing beats live and in person. Frank blends his super smart marketing brain with a complete no-bull, in-your-face hilarious style. (Of course the no-bull part is Frank’s mentor, Dan Kennedy’s, specialty!)

One of the exercises Frank Kern did during his presentation was about getting super clear on what you want to achieve in life and then creating a foolproof system to pay for it all!

Frank brought up on stage the lovely Maritza Parra and proceeded to take her through this process which consisted of three simple columns: (1) Thing you want, (2) How much it costs per month, and (3) Why you want it.

Once you’ve listed a dozen or more things you want (from houses, cars and horses to travel, personal trainer and nanny!), tally up the monthly cost, multiply by 12 then divide by 365 and you have a daily amount you need to earn. Take that daily amount and divide by the dollar amount of the main product/service you sell and that’s how many sales you need to make per day.

Frank makes it all sound so easy! In fact, I created this downloadable form that you can fill out and it will calculate the numbers for you (once you fill in your three columns!): Your Ideal Lifestyle – Clarity Calculator.

Lessons from my social media presentation

Now, on to my own presentation: I spoke about social media success, particularly using Facebook and Twitter to grow your business. I was on a panel first thing on Day 1 as a quick preview of my presentation that evening and all went well.

However, my actual presentation wasn’t my best. In fact – in total transparency – I feel I let much of the audience down by not providing them sufficient content and value, which is the opposite of what I’ve done in all my other talks.

What happened is I chose to work with several speaking/sales coaches at short notice. The impact this had was I deviated from my own natural presentation style so much so that it was uncomfortable for me… and the audience.

My speaking schedule has been super-intense for most of 2009; I had the Info-SUMMIT^SM engagement booked for about six months, so ought to have given myself more time and practice for such coaching.

As my dear friend and personal trainer, Ashley Mahaffey, said to me, I was like a marathon runner who went out to race with a brand new pair of running shoes and ended up with sore feet and blisters! [Ok, I know this pic is high heels - but imagine running a race in these?!!]

Thing is, much of the Info-SUMMIT^SM audience provided positive feedback to me and I had a reasonable uptake of the training program I offered, which I’m delighted about. But I just know I could’ve done a whole lot better in hindsight.

As we say in the seminar business, “Correct and continue.”

I did watch the Twitter stream like a hawk and was able to connect with a couple of attendees who expressed their experience of my talk – I was grateful for their constructive feedback.

This is also a great lesson for other seminar attendees on the importance of monitoring what Jermiah Owyang calls the back channel.

[I have since put up a page of free social media resources for Info-SUMMIT^SM attendees to view/download here.]

Going forward, here are my key takeaways from this experience:

1. Be more selective about such intense travel and events in 2010 onwards – better to speak at fewer events and do a stellar job than pack in three a week and stress myself out!
2. Allow plenty room in my schedule for proper planning, rehearsal, coaching and logistics – particularly prior to major events.
3. Stay with my natural style and my propensity to over-deliver on content and value – even though some schools of thought differ.
4. Strive to attend the full events I speak at, so as to better compliment the other speakers and provide a more cohesive experience for the audience.
5. Integrate coaching input over time… and practice on smaller audiences!

If you attended the Info-SUMMIT^SM, do leave me your feedback below. I’m always open to constructive criticism. Whether you attended the Info-SUMMIT^SM or not, I’d love to hear your own tales from the trenches about public speaking and selling from the stage in the comments below:

At the recent 140 Twitter Conference, I sparked a bit of controversy on the branding panel that I participated on: I brought up a point that reminds me of the line in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross “ABC, always be closing” and I framed it as “ABM = always be marketing” and “always be me.”

I was fascinated to see the polarized responses from the audience, Twitterverse and one of my fellow panelists. (I’m a big fan of expressing opinions, but it’s not my style to polarize! Oh well!)

To me, Always Be Marketing means that I am extremely mindful and strategic about everything I do online and in public. For example, turquoise and bling is my signature branding color/look/feel – so that’s what I present in public. (Eight percent of my wardrobe is a shade of blue!) And, my persona is upbeat, open, caring, genuine and always helpful, always willing to answer questions particularly about Facebook. This is all part of my brand.

In fact, the greatest compliment I receive is when people meet me in person and say I’m exactly like they thought I would be from how I am online.

With social media so prevalent we are all EXTREMELY visible. Your prospective clients, your peers and your competition can drill as deep as they wish searching, reading and gathering information online about you and posted by you without you ever knowing who’s searching. Depending on what they find, your prospects may choose to do business with you or not.

Being mindful and in “ABM” mode helps with reputation management. To me, ABM means you’re never careless about what you put out there. You see the longevity of everything that’s published. (For the best book on reputation management see, Radically Transparent by Andy Beal and Judy Strauss).

To some folks, the word “marketing” has negative connotations. It’s a word often misinterpreted as meaning “hocking your wares,” “pushing” and being like a used car salesman. That’s unfortunate. There’s a big difference between ABP: always be pushing and ABM: always be marketing!

I unfollow the “ABP” types on Twitter and unfriend or even block them on Facebook. I’m all about connecting and building relationships… and yes, there’s strategy to all that too. What may seem as idle chit-chat on Twitter is 100% visible to the whole world on Twitter. It’s important to always do your best, because you just never know who is watching you.

Perhaps some folks have negative feelings associated with the movie, Glengarry Glen Ross – it’s an intense movie and the question of ethics and integrity in sales is a theme running throughout the film. I certainly would never recommend doing “whatever it takes” to market. It has to be genuine, positive and contribute to your community. Like I say, the ABM also means “always be me” (or, for me, “always be Mari!”

In fact, here’s a couple of my fave nuggets from the #140tc:

What are your thoughts? What does ABM mean to you? Do you consider yourself to be in “marketing mode” at all times – or is it something you turn on and off? Do you apply a special formula to your tweeting style with x% personal and x% business? Is there a clear line between the two, or are you like me and completely blend your social media personal/professional style because you know ultimately people are buying YOU first?! I’d love to hear from you – add your thoughts in the comments below:

I’m often asked how I got started in social media and became so successful and well known. Well, first I like to think I’m humble and am just “one of the peeps” like everyone else, which is true. But I do recognize my business has really exploded in the past eighteen months, and so I thought I’d come up with a list of contributing factors that you might find of benefit too:

1. Get lucky!

My definition of luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Since ‘99, I had pursued a path of relationship marketing, internet marketing, and success coaching… all of which culminated in social media when I got invited to join an alpha team of a Facebook app in 2007. I joke about being an “overnight success ten years in the making” – perhaps you can relate?! But all these years were preparation for my passion and purpose to intersect. I’d been preparing for many years, then an opportunity presented itself and I took ACTION!

2. Self-knowledge.

I’m a raving fan of personality assessments. I’ve taken over fifteen assessments, including Myers Briggs, DISC, Reiss, Kolbe’s, iWAM, PIAV, the Enneagram… you may be familiar with some of these. I believe it’s not enough to just do one assessment. By understanding yourself – and ultimately others – at a deep level, you’re better able to design a lifestyle and career that motivates you and meets your needs.

3. FOCUS.

I love the acronym for the word “focus”: Follow One Course Until Successful. Every year I choose a one-word theme for my entire year. In 2008, my word was focus – I did not deviate from my path of predominantly Facebook education which lead to many, many doors opening.

4. Influence.

My one-word focus for 2009 is influence. I ask myself, “Who and what am I allowing to influence me?” In terms of social media, we all have equal opportunity to build up significant influence. Your “tribe” is made up of people who know, like and trust you. They may hang on your every word. That’s a responsible position to be in!

5. Be yourself

“Be yourself because everybody else is already taken.” I love this quote almost as much as I love this Dr. Seuss quote: “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” This goes along with my notion that there is no competition. Nobody can offer the exact same product or service in the way that you offer it with your personal touch. This goes for big brands too. Be yourself is also all about authenticity and transparency in social media.

6. Know what you want.

One of my mentors, T. Harv Eker, used to say the #1 reason people don’t get what they want in life is they don’t know what they want. Hmm. So, of course, the secret is to get super clear on exactly what it is you want. This goes for personal, life and business goals whether you’re a solopreneur or CEO of a big company. In social media, what are your objectives – more visibility? Increase in traffic, subscribers, fans, followers, friends? Then what? How will you convert them to paying clients?

7. Have a plan

The main reason people fail in social media is lack of a strategy. There’s so much confusing and conflicting advice out there, it’s easy to get lost in the social media jungle. By having a clear objective, developing a strategy to accomplish that objective, and measuring milestones along the way, you’re bound to have better results.

8. Stay on track.

This goes along with #3 above, FOCUS. It’s all too easy to get distracted and go down a million rabbit holes as I call them. Or to have “multiple-hat syndrome” where you have about six different businesses. Much as it’s fine to have multiple streams of income, I strongly recommend you stay on course with one primary business until that venture is at the level of success you want.

9. Add value.

R. Buckminster Fuller talked about the importance of adding value and that your financial wealth is a direct reflection of how much value you add to the world. Sometimes it’s easy to think you don’t want to give away the store. But I really think we cannot give it all away because every day new ideas, techniques and strategies come along… so give generously. And help promote and build others up.

10. Broadcast the postive.

I love to focus only on updates that are upbeat and positive. I’m a glass-half-full type of person anyway. What often gives Twitter a bad name is people think we just sit around and share about trivia… well, some people do! But I like to say nothing at all if I can’t think of something of value to say.  We have a position of responsibility to influence others in a positive way, to create positive ripples. At the end of the day, you want to be the voice that is remembered, not just heard. (Kudos to my friend, Nancy Marmolejo, where I first heard this awesome saying!)

11. Surround yourself with successful mentors.

In order to get to the next level in life and business, it’s important to seek the counsel of experienced mentors who are several levels above where you are now. The best investment you can make is in yourSELF. Not just business, professional and financial training. But in deep personal, spiritual and emotional growth too. Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world, so the more you grow yourself the more successful you’ll become.

12. Take imperfect action.

One of my mentors last year, Kevin Nations, has this great saying, “Winners take imperfect action while others are sitting around perfecting their plans.” Well, I’m a recovering perfectionist! I used to have to wait until every duck was in a row. Now, I make myself just GO for it. When I first announced my social media certification program earlier this year, I really wanted to wait awhile longer, but I went for it anyway because I’d already waited 18 months… and was simply astounded by the overwhelming response! (I’ll be announcing dates for the next program just as soon as possible!)

13. Correct and continue.

Did you know a rocketship is only on course 3% of the time? The remaining 97% it’s course-correcting. This is true for us. At every turn, we have an opportunity to put something out there, test it, make a correction, test again. But if you keep waiting for things to be perfect, you’ll never launch. So, for sure, due your due diligence, then take imperfect action, then correct and continue!! And, the faster your correct, the better… especially with social media being so prevalent because people notice your mistakes quicker!

14. Be willing to be a bit “out there.”

By this I mean, be a bit off the wall, a bit crazy. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Have fun. I love to goof around with my avatars on Twitter – I call it my avataritis and my favorite is my avatiara! Check out my avatar slideshow here and this great post What does your avatar say about you by Maureen Birdsall.

15. LIVE WITH PASSION!!

“Live with passion” is one of my favorite Tony Robbins sayings! Tony certainly embodies passion, as does my friend, Gary Vaynerchuk. If you ever get the chance to see Tony or Gary live on stage – GO! Both are hugely vibrant, larger-than-life, passionate peeps!!

I hope you found a few good nuggets in here for yourself. What are some of your secrets to success? Feel free to share below:

I created this five-part model – the ABC’s of Social Media – to simplify your social media efforts. Many folks come to social media and attempt to short-circuit the process by over-automating, over-broadcasting, over-delegating and miss out the vital component of connecting, engaging and building relationships.

Once you’ve confirmed your target market uses Facebook and Twitter, and you’re happy with your brand, messaging and systems for capturing leads, etc., here’s how the ABC system works:

Automate

First, set up systems to automate your broadcasts, feeds, updates, content. On Twitter, this could be using Twitterfeed to automatically post your blog feed as tweets. To pre-schedule tweets, use TweetLater and/or Hootsuite.

To update multiple social media sites, including Twitter, your Facebook personal profile, multiple Facebook Fan Pages, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and many more, Ping.fm works extremely well. To pre-schedule updates to multiple social sites, the best choice is HootSuite > Ping.fm.

Import your blog post on Facebook using the Notes app and/or the Networked Blogs app.

Aggregate all your social feeds into FriendFeed and add the FriendFeed app to your Facebook Profile.

There are many more ways to automate; these are a great start. However, I do recommend not over-automating. Pre-scheduling and auto-broadcasting are great to ensure you at least have some content going out daily. But you’ll also want to generate real-time content/broadcasts too.

Broadcast

Broadcasts are what I call regular tweets (as opposed to @ replies), Facebook status updates, posts on Facebook, blog posts and more. In fact, any way of pushing your message “out there.” This could be seen as more traditional “push marketing” though you’re not being pushy, per se. It’s important to broadcast your content and, in fact, broadcast others’ content in the form of retweets, favorites, social bookmarks and the Links app on Facebook.

Now the challenge with many businesses using social media is they stop at “B” – in other words, they just repeat the cycle of automate and broadcast, automate and broadcast. It’s hard to know who’s behind the Twitter account or Facebook page. It’s all about pushing content and there’s hardly any engagement. So the third step is vital to your success in social media:

Connect

On Twitter, this is the art of joining, initiating and responding to conversations via @ replies. Using popular third party clients like Tweetdeck, or Twhirl , you can easily track and respond to @yourname mentions.

On Facebook, create Friend Lists with your key contacts, drag that friend list to the top of your News Feed and now that’s your default view [see screenshot to the right]. Then, even in just a few minutes a day on Facebook, you can easily connect by commenting appropriately.

Acknowledge your friends’ birthdays on both Facebook and Twitter. [On Facebook, all your friends' upcoming birthdays are listed on your Home Page on the right; you can also receive a weekly list of upcoming birthdays via regular email: click Settings > Account Settings > Notifications > under the first segment (Facebook) click Show More > make sure "Has a birthday coming up" is turned ON.]

Look for other occasions to celebrate and acknowledge. And, look for ways to introduce and promote others, compliment, add value.

Subscribe to a number of popular blogs and regularly post your comments. When writing your own blog posts, encourage your readers to comment by asking stimulating questions.

Delegate

If you’re serious about integrating social media into your marketing efforts, before long you simply cannot manage everything yourself. Depending on the size of your company, you may well have a member of staff who’s sole responsibility is to be the voice and face of the company, often called a “brandividual.”

Or, you may choose to hire a competent, trained VA (Virtual Assistant) or social networking assistant – at least to help set up and manage the basics. I usually recommend you do not delegate your voice, though most of us know some celebrities have “ghost tweeters!” [There are many sources to find good VAs, including on Twitter via the directory Twellow.com - that way you can find, follow and monitor their style before even contacting them.]

One major task you can delegate is to track and monitor your reputation by setting up Google alerts and tweet alerts (via TweetBeep and/or TweetLater which is a suite of helpful Twitter tools). Look for your evangelists who are always singing your praises so you can connect, empower and incentivize them more. And, also look for negative activity that needs to be responded to and ideally nipped in the bud. [The best book on reputation management is Radically Transparent by Andy Beal and Judy Strauss.]

Evaluate

As quickly as you set up your social media systems, something new comes along or the big sites introduce new features. Facebook are constantly adding a tweak here and there, sometimes minor but often major. It’s important you stay informed and regularly evaluate how your systems are working for you. Are you meeting your objectives? Are you getting a good ROI (return on investment) and ROT (return on time). Have you thoroughly researched where your target market hang out most and are you reaching them effectively? How can you think outside the box, get more creative and innovative to stay ahead of the curve?

Let me know your thoughts on my ABC’s of Social Media model – did I miss anything critical? Does it help you better understand how you can effectively use the giants like Facebook and Twitter? Please do retweet this post too, assuming you found it valuable!

I recently dealt with an unfortunate situation where one of my tweets was retweeted with the link replaced by the retweeter, thus implying I was endorsing his site (otherwise known as "retweet hijacking.") You may have read my post (which I have since taken down – read on to find out why.)

My first reaction was one of utter disbelief. How someone could so openly "hijack" a tweet and infer my endorsement without anyone noticing, I don’t know. Maybe it happens more often than I realized; this was my first experience – I’d never heard of it before.

I figured the best way to approach this situation was via DM (direct message), however – long story short – the matter seemed to get out of hand with a barrage of unpleasant DM’s and @ messages from the hijacker directed to me; I then chose to write a blog post about what happened.

I also chose to identify the tweet hijacker by name. This caused further controversy in the Twitterverse; over 60 comments were left on my post and though 90% of my community seemed to support the decision to out the hijacker, 10% didn’t. Fair enough.

My intent in highlighting this incident was to educate others as to some unethical practices going on in Twitter and to rally support in not allowing this kind of behavior.

Could I have achieved my objective without naming names? Yes. Would I have made different choices in retrospect? Possibly. The way I see it is this: Twitter is already an open system; we are all "out" whether we realize it or not.

It transpired that the person tweeting was a hired webmaster – to be the voice of a well-known, reputable company (I’ve since discovered).

A loyal customer got wind of the hijacking situation and alerted the company. The Assistant Vice President and President of the company contacted me directly. I ended up having a pleasant phone conversation with the President tonight. He was very apologetic, courteous and kind. I have a much better understanding for this company, their outreach and normal business practices.

As a gesture of goodwill, I assured the President I would edit my blog post to exclude his company’s name; however, I chose to take the entire post and all comments down instead. I’m grateful to all commenters who took the time to read my post and provide their valuable contribution.

What can we learn from this situation? Here’s what I believe:

1. One very important lesson from this scenario is how vital it is to properly assess who is the voice and face of your company.
2. Reputations need to be monitored rigorously by everyone from the solopreneur to Fortune 500 companies. (For the best book on managing – and repairing – reputations, see Radically Transparent by Andy Beal and Judy Strauss.)
3. When there is a situation to deal with, do so quickly, courteously and effectively.

What are your thoughts? How would you react to someone intentionally hijacking/misrepresenting your tweets… or any message, for that matter? Do you think business best practices transcend all mediums and, if so, how do we uphold those practices in new media?