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.

Several weeks ago I read about Twitter's latest addition that was about to be introduced, Twitter Lists. I thought...hmmm that is going to be a lot like blog rolls.

For those of you who are new to social media, blog rolls are links to other bloggers that the particular author(s) of the blog you are currently on reads and recommends. Through the years blog rolls have been hugely beneficial to me when I begin researching online conversations for my clients. My first step is to identify a few influentual and relevant blogs and from there I begin to follow the link trail of blog rolls and incoming links. I identify who is involved in the community, who is most active in the community, who is most influential in the community and overall what makes the networked community click.

So, I have been anxiously waiting to see what new insights Twitter Lists would bring me.

Last week Twitter Lists was rolled out to all Twitter users. Last week I read a report that claimed 6.5 Million lists have already been created. To me, this is a lot of market intelligence data to sort through.

I have been watching the dozen or so lists that my accounts have shown up on and I find it intriguing when I have been categorized as PR or SEO. This tells me not only what information people have been seeking from me, but in what bucket they put Social Media. It is also interesting to see who is in that bucket with me...what kind of company am I  keeping.

As I began to create my own Twitter lists I began to get a visual of who I am following and why I am following them, what are my expectations of the people I pay attention to?

On my Corporate Twitter Account (@concepthubinc) I decided to create lists of accounts that are related to the ways I would like people to categorize my brand (Gaming, Government 2.0, Enterprise 2.0...)

Today I read on Mashable how the NHL got their followers to create their lists for them by asking their fans which team lists they should be included on. That is absolutely BRILLIANT. They just enabled their fans to self segment themselves into categories where relevant information can be sent to them, deeper relationships can be developed, and true communities of like minds can form.

The best thing about Twitter Lists is that Twitter has given us a reason to examine and question our Twitter habits and to identify ways to make Twitter a valuable and insightful resource that community members can resonably manage for the good of all.