There are three local brands who have continuously impressed me with how they represnt themselves online. Before I found them, or they found me online, I had bever heard of them. After getting to know them online, however, I have decided to make an effort to support their business.

Last week I was thinking about what these brands did that was different and special? How did a brand develop a relationship with me? Let's explore what I have learned from them....

Which Wich in Norcross http://twitter.com/WhichWich_Forum

I had never heard of this restaurant, and when they started following me on Twitter I did not immediately follow back. I would not be interested in following a sandwhich shop. But when you visit their twitter profile you will notice that they are actively connecting with their community. They retweet often, but they also engage in sincere conversations, about sandwhiches. They first hit my radar when I saw them referring to me (@sherryheyl), then I saw other people within my network engaging with them (@whichwich_forum). I eventually began following them and receive updates on sandwhich specials and sandwhich ideas. It is like getting to know your local store owner who has a passion for his business. I then willingly became a fan on Facebook. I have since told people to check out their sandwhich shop when they are in the area as well as making sure I visit their shop as well.

Which Wich's story is really not a new idea. It is the story of a sandwhich shop owner developing personal relationships with members of the community. They only novelty is the tools that are now available to do so.

Another Norcross brand that caught my attention is http://twitter.com/NorcrossGAGhost

Whomever is behind these tweets has truly taken on the personality of a mischeivious ghost with a warped sense of humor. Like @whichwich_forum, @NorcrossGAGhost is actively engaged in conversations with community members. The ghost posts interesting information about the paranormal, seems to know the history of celebrity ghosts, and personally reaches out to community members to invite them on a ghost tour.

NorcrossGAGhost @sherryheyl Weather is great for a ghost tour!! Join me FRI & SAT 8PM www.norcrossghost.com Thks for RTs

When @NorcrossGAGhost hosted a tweepup, I made it my mission to attend, simply to meet the personality under the sheet. The experience was definitely paranormal. I will be going on my ghost tour next week.

Finally, the ultimate example of a great local brand is the Wren's Nest. Lain Shakespeare is not only an amazing story teller with a wonderful personality, he is also incredibly tech savvy. I find myself checking out what the Wren's Nest is doing online and taking notes of what can be done. Recently The Wren's Nest (http://twitter.com/thewrensnest) was featured in Atlanta Magazine, where it was pointed out that

what he lacked in financial know-how he made up for with a mastery of social media.

I do not know about Lain's financial know-how, but he definitely knows how to bring a house to life through the various online channels.

If you are struggling with how your brand can build meaningful online relationships, I highly recommend following these three brands and taking a few notes from them.

I had a great opportunity to speak at the Foundation Center today as their kick of session for Arts & Humanities month. The room was packed full of people interested in learning more about Social Media. The two main points I hope they walked away with is:

1. Your best assets are hidden, locked away in you heart, mind, and experience and social media is a place where you can set them free through your stories.

2. To go viral, you need to find ways to make your audience part of your show.

“Going Viral” refers to a phenomenon when a message is passed on from peer networks to peer networks until it has received widespread attention and popularity.

Long ago stories went viral when they were passed on from village to village, and from generation to generation. The printing press and the increase in people who were able to read and write enabled more stories and ideas to be spread virally at increasing speeds and with greater reach.

Broadcast television and radio allowed an even greater reach and speed of transmitting messages, and the Internet seems to have broken down all barriers of story telling.

However, the more ways that became available to share a story the more demand was put on people’s attention. For a message to resonate with the target audience it needs to be relevant, entertaining, informative and inspirational. For a message to go viral, it needs a little bit of magic.

Why do you want to reach a wider audience?

All the world is a stage and many people and brands would like to have the leading role. However, before trying to launch a viral campaign, it is best to step back and ask what the return would be of a viral campaign.

Are we trying to get feedback from the community (Crowdsourcing)? Promoting a campaign that encourages feedback from the community is a great way to create a buzz, but the person or organization needs to be prepared to demonstrate that they sincerely are interested and are listening to what the community is saying.

Are we trying to share something newsworthy? If so, why is it newsworthy? What is the story and how does it impact the lives of the people who would spread it throughout their networks? How does the news impact their lives? Is it entertaining or inspiring? Or is it just a promotional pitch?

If it is a promotional pitch again, what is the value for someone to pass the pitch along? Would it help them look like an expert? Will it help them solve a problem for a friend or peer? Does it appeal to their sense of humor or values? Is is simply entertaining?

Just like in ancient days when stories were passed on from village to village and from generation to generation, the story teller had some investment in the story, the story had meaning for the one telling the story and the one receiving the story, today’s messages have to offer something personal to the audience if it is to passed along.

For a message to go viral, it must entertain, educate and inspire.

According to the book Secrets of Social Media Marketing, the kind of creative that is likely to go viral includes;

• Knockout creative that's funny, shocking, intriguing or surprising.
• An idea customers can relate to and care about.
• A clearcut message so people are able to pass it on with one sentence.
• An easy way to pass it on - a link, embedding code, "share this" button, email to a friend, etc.
• A concept that builds relationships with customers by getting them to interact with others.

It is not enough just to get a message passed around, a viral message should serve a purpose, have a measure objective. When creating a viral campaign consider the following;

• What is the campaign's desired outcomes based on current organizational goals and  how  will the success of the campaigned be measured?
• When the campaign goes viral, what are some of the things we can capture and learn about the behaviors of our audience? What are the current assumptions and knowledge about the audience?
• How agile is the campaign? Can it adapt to new findings?
• What is the call to action for the campaign? Is it measurable?

A VERY successful holiday campaign was one that was sponsored by Office Max. More than 123 million “elves” were created in just six weeks.

According to Online Media Daily; The success of "Elf Yourself," created by EVB San Francisco and Toy NY, is in part due to three fundamentals, according to a spokesperson for the agencies:

1)Keep it simple,

2) Make it personal and

3) Give people a reason to pass it on.

Each Friday I will be sharing a campaign idea that I have thought of or discovered. To kick off I would like to share with you an idea that I introduced via twitter last week. In 48hours it was recognized as the hottest slideshow on twitter 3x and has been viewed over 300 times. We are hoping to launch a few pilot projects over the holiday season.

The goal is to promote an artist while also raising money for  nonprofits. Please review the slideshow by clicking here or reviewing the slides below, and let me know what you think.