The increasing prominence of the social web provides many ways to identify, target, and reach consumers. You're most likely already aware of the immense potential on the internet for your company and your brand, but it's likely that you aren't sure how to tap it. You hear buzzwords like viral marketing, social marketing, buzz marketing, viral videos, consumer engagement, and destination websites, but it's hard to climb the learning curve when the curve itself is always changing.

You're considering a social media element to help your business grow... but what form should that element take? Which of the following social sites are the best to target: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, StumbleUpon, Delicious, ect...? What content can simultaneously engage consumers and promote your product or message? These are some of the most significant questions facing you and your campaign.

The Mouse & Man creative team can help you in a few different ways. We provide full creative services for clients of all sizes. We can help you design and create a social media campaign from scratch, or help you nurture and refine an existing idea for maximum potential on the web. We can also collaborate with your existing advertising or marketing agency to consult on the social media elements of your larger integrated media campaign.

Whatever your needs, remember that "content is still king" and that a great idea with planning and execution is always the best way to ensure success.

Here are a couple ways to use Twitter for your business.

1. Breaking news
   Many times important, breaking news (potentially relevant to your company) is tweeted before it is even picked up by the News.

2. Following
   You can follow specific twitter account and see what they are up to. Some areas to start with would be your friends/colleagues, industry experts, and even your compeition. With your competition you can follow their specific names or just the company name.

3. Monitor Keywords
   One can use Twitter Search to find keywords and/or phrases that have been tweeted about. You can even setup RSS feeds for these keywords so your act instantly to any time pertinent tweets.
   
   
4. Trending
   To find out what's trending, you can easily use Twitter to research the most tweeted topics. Check out ReTweetist, Twit(url)y and Tweetmeme to name a few.
   
   
5. Public Relations
   Give the best possible customer service by repsonding to critical tweets against your name or company. Again, one can setup RSS feeds for specific keyword phrases.