I’m finding that more and more small businesses are looking to Twitter and Facebook to lead their local marketing efforts. It’s less expensive than traditional advertising, it’s relatively easy to manage and it’s quick to implement. Of course, this isn’t news to anyone paying attention, and it must be widespread if the NYTimes is picking up on it,

Small businesses typically get more than half of their customers through word of mouth, he said, and Twitter is the digital manifestation of that.

Read the full article,  Marketing Small Businesses With Twitter on NYTimes.com.

I love my Moleskine. I use it daily to keep track of lots of randomness that I seldom refer to again, but are nonetheless things I want to pluck from my brain and save.

If you don’t know what Moleskine notebooks are, they’re those little black books (now available in multiple styles and sizes, because Americans like choices) that you’ll see artists, writers, tech geeks and other crafty folk carrying around to coffee shops. Or, more likely, you’ll see folks like me using them – not so famous or interesting artists, writers or tech geeks. Dare I say, wannabes.

As hailed in the brochure included with the thing when you buy it – tucked away in the neat little pocket in back (a pocket that’s perfect for storing your used Europass ticket stubs or other proofs of your worldly travels) – Hemingway and other artsy types sat scribbling in them at every cafe in post-WWI Europe, recording the great works of our generation while still unknown and untouched by fame. Exactly what modern-day Moleskiners want to do – when they have time between trips to Target and Starbucks.

I thought that my treasured Moleskine and my chosen profession of interwebs interlocutor were relatively unconnectable, exactly the way I liked it. Our world is so filled with technology advancing every pursuit at breakneck speed that a bit of real-world interaction keeps you grounded (old cars, bikes, fly-fishing, Moleskines are the ying to my techno-yang).

But alas, Moleskine (the company, not my notebook) is asking me to go beyond paper. It’s clear that Moleskine is no longer a tiny, niche product; but rather, it’s a big brand with venture capital behind them and a “circle R” behind every usage of the name. Those marketers have recruited a social media posse to reach out and take its community online, creating all kinds of “synergies” and “positive brand experiences” for Moleskine lovers.

I usually dig these efforts – because that’s what I do. But this one seems at odds with the brand, ironically asking users to you join the community so that they can upload and share scans of cool things recorded in their private Moleskines. It’s also a bit narcissistic to take all this time to journal away in your book, with the intention of posting it publicly. That may just tap into the dirty little truth that the unstated intention of the modern Moleskinista is to create something that just might give them fame when their scribblings are found years from now – whereas current readers might just see them as…well, doodles.

Would Hemingway do this? Of course not. But then again, he probably wouldn’t have a Facebook or a computer for that matter.

In any case, give it a shot. Share your Moleskine scribbles by creating a “MyMoleskine” account.

Ok, I’ve read lot of commentary and quotes about Zappos and their CEO’s use of Twitter. I’ve seen video’s of Tony, but I had somehow missed actually reading his sporadic blog posts about Twitter, branding and building the right kind of company culture.

If you’re the same, go now and read this now:

Zappos Blogs: CEO and COO Blog: How Twitter Can Make You A Better and Happier Person.

This article is not only explains how Twitter works in building a brand and opening lines of communication, it’s great outline of how a company should treat its customers and, on a more basic level, how people should treat each other.

Be-a-magpie.com is the first full-fledged (fletched?) attempt I’ve seen to bring a 3rd party ad network model to Twitter. It’s looking like Twitter will be monetizing search much in the way Google Adsense program works, but Magpie operates outside of Twitter itself, signing up and rating “key-influencers” to pimp the goods of advertisers.

Reading their marketing info, the theory seems sound, but it’s as complicated as a Parisian roundabout (see the multi-diagram explanation here). The final calculation for costs to the advertiser also seems arbitrary, dividing the CPM rate by 1,000 then multiplying by the number of “friends” (I assume they mean followers) that a Magpie-Twitterer has. My guess, this will get some buzz (and Tweets), but the the it’s not the solution to making money on Twitter.

Everyone is searching for strategies to use Twitter as a tool for business. Here’s an article on Copyblogger that has a few good examples from marketing folks and bloggers.

One of the best ways I’ve seen is to take advantage of Twitter’s search function to follow updates about your business or field. You can then reply back to Tweets in your area of business. Those replies are seeds that not only build good will, but also to grow business relationships.