This post first appeared on the Oxstein Labs blog.

Isaiah, the new Old Spice pitch man, makes the men laugh and the ladies swoon.  His commercials generated so much heat that television could not contain him.  Now Isaiah and Old Spice are social media darlings spreading viral smiles across the globe.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Isaiah is now in the pantheon of commercial celebrities like the “What’s the Beef?” Wendy’s Lady and the Burger King King who most recently showed up on chat roulette giving away coupons in a smart social media play. While Isaiah is at his peak, and after the World Cup domination of Twitter has ended, Old Spice rolled out this campaign that everybody’s talking about.

In a brilliant PR move,  Isaiah has spent the last couple of days responding directly to bloggers, journalists, celebrities and random Twitter followers through well crafted, funny and sensual You Tube videos.  He even asked a woman to marry a man who requested that Isaiah deliver the proposal for him. The “Isaiah Talks to You” social media marketing campaign hits high notes few have seen.

The Old Spice You Tube channel is bursting at the seams with entertaining videos that you can’t help sharing with others.Though you won’t have enough time to watch them all at least check out the Alyssa Milano response above (which will surely get Isaiah a date) and the Justine Bateman response.

Rick Bakas gives a good overview of why this social media marketing campaign is so effective with some points that are worth repeating. The big takeaway for anyone interested in beefing up their social media marketing is to connect with influencers who care about your product or service.

Isaiah’s first videos responded to bloggers and journalists that had written about the Old Spice commercials.  They have huge audiences, and like all people, they like to hear their own name.  If Isaiah responded to you in a You Tube video how many people would you tell?

The main ingredients of the Old Spice social media marketing campaign come together to show how online and offline branding can work amazingly well together with good strategy.  What we can all learn from this, besides the fact that sex still sells (especially when the bare chested man speaks directly to the ladies by name), is that social media marketing has hit the mainstream.

Major corporations are building relationships with their audiences in more and more creative ways.  Social media has moved the needle to being a very powerful tool that any brand can use to generate awareness, interest and more sales.  So who is your Isaiah and when are you rolling out your next campaign?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Leave it to the government, this time in the U.K., but they’re all buried in bureaucracy, to take 20 pages to encourage civil servants to tweet.

I totally understand this because I’m still owed money by a county government for work I did with them from July through September. Six weeks after I submitted invoices for the work from early July, I asked what was up.

They responded by saying they had to confirm details like whether my name and the name of the course I taught were spelled properly. Apparently the invoices go through about 5 different divisions to get processed. How do you spell waste? That’s our tax dollars working as inefficiently as ever.  Maybe by January I’ll get paid for the work I did for them in July.

Anyway, back to the U.K. and their explanation of why it takes 20 pages to describe how to use a 140 character micro-blogging tool.

There are some very bright, digitally enabled civil servants who unfortunately have to write these documents for their bosses, the mandarins, who still get their secretaries to print off their e-mails so they can read them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why are John McCain mentality drones still controlling our governments with antiquated nonsensical hierarchical wasteful ways in a world of new community-oriented systems?  Sooner than later the community will prevail over those in control that shouldn’t even be controlling the remote to a TV.

Read the full story about the U.K. Twitter document here

We have definitely hit the age of participatory media.  Old mass media is very sick and broadcast methods of interruption marketing have gone from annoying to impotent, but I don’t agree with the idea that mass media will die.  It will be re-engineered like all industries must in this time of change.

According to the loud mouths in the media, the birth of TV was supposed to kill radio.  Then cable TV was supposed to kill standard TV.  Then VCR home recording was supposed to kill visits to movie theaters.  Now the internet and video games are supposed to kill TV.  It’s just more ‘look, the sky is falling’ hoo-hah.  (And any opportunity to use the word ‘hoo-hah’ is one I’ll take because it’s fun to say.)

Even newspapers will never die.  The industries of the past are crumbling and newspaper subscriptions will continue declining, but they’ll always be around in some fashion.

That said, the era of participatory media is in full force.  It was a babe when blogs and YouTube hit the scene, but  now it’s how young people get most of their news.

As generation Y is poised to dominate the population in a few years, all communication and business marketing methods are shifting to two-way or multi-channel platforms like blogs and Twitter.  Gone are the days where advertisers could win the day by shouting unwanted messages to an unsuspecting public or when you had to wait until TV told you what was happening in your world.

I’s all about community, transparency, trust agents, authenticity and tribes.  Although, for now the signal to noise ratio is still way off as old school people and companies still try to use new multi-channel platforms to broadcast obnoxious marketing messages no one wants without being genuine contributors to conversations people are looking to have.  If they aren’t helping, they’re hurting.  But they’ll learn, or they’ll die.

On another note, you probably remember the famous “Wassup” superbowl commercial in 2000.  What you may not know is that is was originally a short film done by a college student and then Budweiser hired him to remake it into a commercial with beer.

Watch the original ad below and the follow up to it in 2008 with the same actors.  Note how this user generated content (UGC) powerfully conveys information about how the world changed in eight years.  Then think about how much information you’ve learned in the last week or month from UGC videos, blog posts, Twitter tweets and other sources.  It’s a brave new world.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Twitter spam got you down?  Tired of being flooded with auto direct messages trying to sell you on things you don’t want?  Sick of getting direct messages thanking you for following people while they pimp their blogs, eBooks and products to you?

Then today is your lucky day.  Jon Bishop wrote a great simple blog post that will show you how to stop receiving auto DMs on Twitter.  Go there now and stop auto DMs forever.

There are two main websites responsible for the auto DM epidemic, SocialToo and TweetLater. Both are great sites that have just been abused by their users.

Thankfully, both sites recognize the auto DM problem and have provided ways to opt out from receiving further communications via automated direct messages from their sites.

For more information on stopping Twitter spam check out StopTwitterSpam.com.

So you finally got on Twitter and feel like you have nothing worthwhile to say.  You’re not alone.  I have clients asking me what to say on Twitter all the time.

First off, you really are more interesting than you think.  Just as you’re harder on your physical appearance than others are, you’re harder on what makes you cool too.

Secondly, tweeting (typing and broadcasting up to 140 characters) is like public speaking.  The #1 sin is to bore your audience.  Tweet what you find entertaining or informative and you’ll be adding value to the Twittersphere.

Here are the Top Ten ways to dive deeper into the Twitter conversation:

1.  Follow interesting people and do what they do. If the people you follow on Twitter aren’t educating and informing you then  search out the people who do.  I follow moms, CEO’s, entrepreneurs and high school kids that I learn from and share with.

See what types of conversations you respond to.  If something makes you smile or laugh, it will make other people feel good too.  Start or join those conversations.

2. Become a more conscious observer. Whenever you hear a funny response in your head to something you just saw or heard or felt tweet that.  Again, if it amuses or informs you it will have the same affect on others and they’ll appreciate your sharing it.

3. Comment on current events. If it’s in the news or your friends are talking about it that means people are interested in that topic right now.  Use Twitter Search to see the Top Ten trending topics people are tweeting about at any given moment.

You probably have a unique perspective on things that are happening.  Maybe not and you truly are the most boring person alive, but I doubt it.  Boring people aren’t interested in connecting on Twitter.

4. Write like you’re talking to your best friend after having 2 glasses of wine. This one is tricky.  Tweeting while intoxicated isn’t always a great idea since what’s funny while drunk isn’t always funny when you’re sober, but sharing authentic thoughts is a great way to attract interest.

5. Comment on other conversations. It’s much easier to join a conversation than to start one.  If you have insight or experience or an opionion (and who doesn’t?) then tweet it.

6. Ask questions. People on Twitter love to help.  If you’re having trouble with work, computers, parenting, your car, whatever, mention it.  I had a Time Machine backup problem and @bldngnerd even created a Camtasia video to help me out because it was easy for him.  Now I’m giving him props every time I teach people about Twitter.

7. If it makes you emotional tweet it.  When something makes you pissed off, laugh, cry, vent to your friends or causes celebration in your heart it’s going to connect with others.

8. Link to content you like. Always add a personal comment, but tweet links to blog posts, news articles, YouTube videos, TED talks, this blog post, or any other online content you browse and find value in.

9. Send appreciation to others. Everyone wants to be noticed, understood and acknowledged.  When you read a tweet that moves you reply publicly to that person.

10. Tweet what has your attention. Mention great books, films, TV shows, sporting events, concerts, theater shows, conferences and events that you like.

If you still can’t find ways to add value to the Twittersphere then let me know and I’ll consider starting an annual award for the World’s Most Boring Person and add you as the first nominee.

Larger companies and older people are waking up to a world younger people have known for awhile.  It’s a world where you are a brand, like it or not.  It’s kinda like high school, with more inclusion and diversity, but it affects your life and your career more and more every day.

Your brand is a compilation of many things. You may be a mom, a wife, an author on how to use mobile media, a California resident, a 35 year old, a gardener, a movie fan, etc.  When you fly your flags on social media others connect to your interests and personality and then the magic begins to happen.

You, or your company, will be Googled by potential friends, partners and employers.  So, how are you managing your brand?  And by “manage,” I mean authentically communicating with your audience who is forming an opinion about you.

I am a self proclaimed evangelist for Twitter so it’s no surprise that my first recommendation to you is to get on Twitter, learn it’s value and be amazed at how it affects your life.

After only 4 months on Twitter I’ve made great business and personal contacts, connected to new tribes and been blown away by the power of crowd sourcing as I’ve built an online unofficial board of directors for my personal and professional lives.

I’ll write more posts later on how to be as effective as possible in utilizing Twitter in your personal and professional lives – which by now you’ve figured out blend together a lot more often then they used to.

So lets look at the Top Five reasons to be on Twitter as an individual.

Why should you become a person who tweets on Twitter?

1.  You are an influencer whether you know it or not.  There are things you know about and love to talk about that other people would love to learn about and vice versa.

2. Your life will be enhanced when you plug into tribes of people interested in your passions.  You’ll communicate regularly with people who are into your favorite past times.

You’ll turn each other on to cool books, movies, events and people that you’d otherwise have no clue about.  If you have a question about anything put it out on Twitter and you’ll get at least a few responses to help you out because people enjoy helping others.

3.  If you also blog and put yourself out as an influencer then you’ll get free stuff.

I’ll be seeing Cirque Du Soliel’s “O” for free next week because I tweeted @cirquelasvegas and offered to review the show on Twitter and in my blog.

Smart companies understand the value of communicating to customers through social media and having a regular Joe like me give them good press read by thousands of blog and Twitter followers.

Hey, look at that.  They’re already getting great press for being cool and knowing the benefit of being on Twitter and I haven’t even gone to the show yet.  …see how that works?

4.  You have access to powerful and cool people that you would never be able to contact outside of being on Twitter.  I’ve had public and private Twitter conversations with people like Guy Kawasaki (former Chief Evangelist for Apple, regular columnist for Entrepreneur magazine and founder of AllTop – which you have to check out now.)  Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Q Tip, MC Hammer and many other celebrities are on Twitter and may actually tweet you back.

4.5  You find powerful and non-powerful but fun people from around the world that become genuine acquaintance-friends or more.  And you’ll be amazed at how many of them you later meet in person.

I met a woman from Austrailia who was into books I like and in a Twitter conversation about her father who was in the hospital at the time we also discovered we have the same birthday.  There’s a lot of humanity in this technology.

During Hurricane Ike Twitter was buzzing with posts from people in Houston tweeting about what to do and where to go for shelter and help.  The earthquake in China before the Olympics was tweeted in real time on Twitter an hour before it hit CNN.

5.  Many of these online connections end up being people you meet at Tweet ups or other events and they become your offline friends too.

So pick up the free Twitter Handbook to get some more insight and start riding the Twitter wave today if you’re not already on.  If you’re already on Twitter, follow me (@sopan) and add comments to this post to help share the fun and value of it with others who read this.

More and more individuals and businesses are starting to catch on to the power of social media for brand building, customer relations, connecting with peers to learn and share with, etc.  One of the reasons that it can be more powerful than traditional media is that it facilitates a two way (or more) authentic conversation.  This is one of many benefits and values to building communities around your company.

When I’m asked to explain the value of Twitter I find it hard to do so in less than 15 minutes.  Newbies ask how it’s like Facebook and their minds automatically throw them in the same category while they are very different animals.  Twitter is a much faster and direct business tool than Facebook while operating on a very different platform.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth even more, I’ve added this video to the blog to help you learn how to get the most from this powerful tool. Yes, it’s even longer than 15 minutes, but it is well worth your time and will deepen your understanding of how you can benefit from using Twitter for your business.  Sarah Milstein of O’Reilly Media created this great presentation.

Click here to view the embedded video.