Ad age reported today that Kraft/Digiorno Pizza and Weber Shandwick PR have teamed on the launch of Digiorno's new Flatbread Pizzas. Digiorno will deliver free pizzas to tweetups in LA, New York and Chicago. The Twitter component is part of a national launch involving print and television. The announcement highlights the brand's plans to reach out to "influential" tweeters.

Okay - I think this is a GREAT idea. Tweeters are vocal, fiercely loyal and when you get us together, it's even better. Get a great idea out - make us love your product and we'll push the good news up the flagpole. We love brands that love us, and nothing says love like schwag, food and conversation! Yay!

The thing is, there seem to be quite a few challenges with execution here that are worth highlighting. To ensure success, here's some Live Path advice for any brand planning a campaign with a Twitter-driven social media component like DiGiorno:

1. Define "influence" in advance. The Digiorno There's no definition of what "influence" is. I find it hard to believe they'll be launching this without that definition in place. The article eludes to number of followers - but any veteran on twitter will attest to the sheisters out there who have numbers but LITTLE dialog or influence. Brands should look at followers against the backdrop of other elements, like overall voice (on Twitter and other social networks), reach (comments, re-tweets, links in), affiliations (e.g. social media club, DMA, others) and activity (travel, conferences, speaking where word may be spread).
   
2. Establish Your Angle(s). Beyond influence and geography, it's important to think about specialization/demographic. Social Media makes it easy to target individuals with specific areas of influence. Walmart and 800-FLOWERS are just two brands that have actively targeted Mommy Bloggers. I'm friends with a few of the Walmart 11 moms - and a few have frugal living columns. SXSW featured a panel with Chris Brogan and others called "Dad is the New Mom." I have a fun cadre of foodies in my Tweetdeck group. It's important to define the angle you're going to "shoot from" for "focused tweets." For example, for Digiorno, I would ask the following: Is your angle economics, making mom or dad's life easier, or great tasting pizza... or all of the above. Choose a mix that matters most to generate the best word-of-mouth!
   
3. Challenge Geographical Constraints. Don't assume you'll find the best and most influential tweeters for your brand will be found in LA, New York and Chicago - there are plenty of active, chatty hubs in other areas of the country, as well. If your product is aces for middle-american housewives - go get 'em! Targeting is not dead -- in fact it's even easier with social media.
4. Make it Easy to Get Involved. The article on Ad Age provides no way for people to engage with Digiorno. There's no page on the website - no available URL that details the new program. What happens if an influential tweeter reads this and says "I have an influential tweetup this week! I want Pizza!!" How do they make their case to Kraft? At a minimum, brands should offer a web page with details and criteria. Better yet -they're wise to add some comment functionality to the announcement page, allowing people to nominate themselves or their events in a visible way to others.
   
5. Tweet Unto Others. There's not one Twitter profile listed in the Kraft/Weber article on Ad Age. Furthermore, after some searching on Twitter, it seems Kraft is relatively unprepared to meet people from a brand perspective on Twitter. (Administering slap to PR agency hand!) This should have been handled before the release is sent out. When I looked on Twitter @kraft pulled up a person's profile with a link to an article about dead man's sperm. Nice! When I looked up @digiorno two accounts were listed -- without any followers, branded icons OR tweets. That's a shame because it's not hard to lay this groundwork. Put up a clever, branded icon. Seed your accounts with some tweets and information- engage some people in dialog on Twitter to create a tweet history in advance of any press releases. Oh - and while I'm on the subject - follow Twitter best practices. Do not use Twitter to BROADCAST your brand message. Simply tell people about the promotion, ask them what they think and create an open line of communication with the twitterverse. Finally, remember that once you are finished with your campaign - you're not finished on Twitter. Develop a plan for how your brand will continue on Twitter after your campaign is over.
   
6. Consolidate #Results. Do you want to demonstrate participation and make it easier to track word of mouth and discussion regarding your campaign? Why not create a hashtag to track buzz and centralize dialog about your promotion? It would be relatively easy to give something away for free with a simple request like this: "Participants will merely be asked to include "#digiorno in their tweet updates during the event".
7. Focus Beyond Tweets. Just because the campaign component is Twitter focused, your scope should not be limited to Twitter alone. You'll want to look at follow-up posts (like this one) and articles on popular sites and blogs - and you should be sure to comment on posts, and respond to tweets, as well. Recognize that everything starts the minute the press release goes out ... and promotion continues as campaigns ensue. "Shout out" the quick wins and results on the fly (e.g. Announced yesterday and 1000 people signed up!) to encourage follow up posts and mentions. Reward the people who volunteer but don't get selected with consolation prizes, like coupons or schwag. Take a page from Dell or Zappos and celebrate success publicly. Publish a post or rich media case study to highlight lessons learned and celebrate success. You don't have to tell all -- just tell enough to communicate success or how you have learned.
8. Immerse Yourself. Brands that want to foster dialog through campaigns like this should be careful not to miss the boat by acting like an old school marketer in a new media culture. The old models are dead on new media. Social Media Marketing is about , authenticity, relationship and dialog. It's not enough to just send free food or schwag! You must be present. While you can't be everywhere, you can target a few larger events and send a "brand agent"to listen and engage with your influentials. Make sure they fit in with the culture/bias of the group that is meeting. Make sure the agent asks attendees about themselves and what they think. Listen and respond positively. Be authentic, reflect the social media culture (and be sure to tweet remarks from the event yourself!)

I"m sure there's more to say on this topic, but I'm attempting to be brief here. Feel free to add your comments about how to create success with programs like these. Thanks for listening!

Twitter has become a highly valuable network for me, both professionally and personally. I believe it's one of many game changers out there - which is why I am excited to show my clients the tool, help them understand it, and determine whether it is right for their business. The service is growing by leaps and bounds and, as it does, a whole new genre of etiquette is developing related to the use of the tool emerges. However, with the good, comes the bad...

I was talking to Allen Weiss on Saturday about a disturbing trend I've noticed. Individuals who:

• Follow Me
• Wait for me to follow back
• Send me a DM thanking me for the follow (using a bot)
• Immediately unfollow me.

These folks are playing an age old game with a new Twitter name I decided to call "Bait and Twitch," and this behavior ALWAYS results in an immediate unfollow from me.

"Twitchers" (the name I gave them Saturday) follow people only to build up a large follower base. They use follow bots to send Direct messages thanking people for following them, but the reality is this: Once they are "followed back" their primary course of action is to unfollow the people who reciprocate. This frees them up to go lure more unsuspecting Tweeters into the "follow me" game. They'll follow anyone, but especially folks with a high number of followers and/or a high Twitter grade...in an attempt to get a free ride on the "influence" of others (Don't get me started on what influence is...that's another topic entirely).

What then? Well, I'm assuming they then brag about how many people are following them and how great they are.

Basically, Twitchers are a huge waste of time and fall into league with other people I find "Twepulsive" (I am addicted to twitter naming things), including:

• Porn Spammers
• Junk-Clicky Sales people
• Anyone bragging about being a "Guru", "Expert" or "Maven"
• Mediums, Psychics and Intuitives
• SEO, Social Media Snake Oil Salespeople
• Overzealous “life” coaches
• Anyone aggressively pushing an MLM Business
• Anyone touting "Get Rich Now" or "Make Big Money" schemes
• People who claim to "Know the SECRET to..." anything
  
• Tweeters who use Magpie to broadcast ads

I also tend to steer clear of people with:

• No avatar or avatars with sleazy pictures
• No bio or link information on their profile page
• Cheesy/poorly done twitter backgrounds trying to sell something/someone
• People who HABITUALLY TYPE IN ALL CAPS
• Pushy or radical extremists of about any ilk

And I am also shy about folks whose tweet streams seem:

• Too new
• Too shallow
• Overly self-promotional
• Reminiscent of a one-way broadcast (no dialog)
• Full of repeat tweets or repeated promotions for the same link/site

To be fair, I don't follow back everyone who follows me. Sometimes I wait to see what people have to say and follow back later. Sometimes, I don't follow at all (see above). When I do find someone I find interesting, it's nice to follow each other reciprocally... However, I understand that not everyone I follow will follow in turn. Some of the folks I follow (@dooce for example, who has 44,000+ followers!) just can't keep up with little old me. That's fine. For the most part, however, the folks I follow on Twitter typically follow me in return...

So, as I attempt to build this network of interesting, stimulating, funny and thought provoking tweeps... I will shun the Twitchers. I may even call them out, as some repeat offenders emerge! I thought about starting a hashtag for #twitchers, but I can’t help but feel that would just take up MORE time and energy I don't have to expend.

For those of you thinking of unfollowing me, you've gotta do what you've gotta do. For the record, I do attempt to tweet about meaningful and relevant issues... However, I confess that I sometimes engage in some goofy dialog with @marketingprofs, @ambercadabra, @bethharte @acclimedia @kelleycrane @paisano @conniereece and others. I also tweet infrequently about working at home in my PJ's, whine over my need for coffee, my 16 month old son who still doesn't sleep at night, our 18 year old teen, and once or twice about my dog's horrid farting problem (but I'm sorry about that last one).

To better keep up on your network, consider the tips above, and using the many apps and services available for Twitter today. I have found FriendorFollow, MrTweet and TwitterGrader useful. I also use Tweet Deck (although it's a RAM hog) to manage my groups and streams. Got something to share? Post your favorite tools and Twitter peeves below!