Courtesy Twitter Wiki

Twitter strategies are critical to successfully extracting as much value and information out of your efforts on Twitter as possible. Chief amongst these critical strategies, besides identifying your purpose for being there in the first place, is who you the entrepreneur or company should follow. If you are an aspiring social media marketer, looking to learn and leverage social networks, and interested in enriching your knowledge base the following are the best people and companies to follow on Twitter (in no particular order) :

• Mashable: incredibly rich source of social media information
• Jeremiah Owyang: Forrester analyst “fire” starter, conversational black belt
• Hubspot: creators of Twittergrader and tools for social media strategists; include Mike Volpe in your follow
• Pat Kitano: social media strategist, former Wall St. investment banker, thought leader behind Domus Breaking News Project
• Tim O’Reilly: true thought leader of Web 2.0 movement, social media maverick
• Peter Kim: Peter Kim’s blog is full of incredible resources and ideas. Besides who else can name their writing platform after a John Malkovich movie?
• David Henderson: former CBS corespondent and new social media strategist, David has created the Internet Newsroom to position company’s online presence
• Kevin Marks: Oxford educated Google’s expert in emerging technologies and their cultural impact
• Robert Scoble: unassuming, self deprecating blog pioneer and technology social media strategist
• Tech Crunch: I am not a Michael Arrington fan but I am a fan of his site’s relevance and breaking news power

What is your take? Did we miss anyone? Is there a less than worthy person on the list? Give us your feedback

Target , the low cost retailer, bills itself with the tag line “Expect More, Pay Less.” Target is taking this concept one step further in their bid to be the number one social media branded value retailer in the country. Target’s latest social media campaign utilizes Facebook to crowdsource, build their brand, create cause marketing exposure, engage with their audience, and mold their public perception one facebook fan at a time. Here is how they are doing it:

Target’s “Bullseye Gives” Campaign on Facebook

Target, currently allocates 5% of their revenue to charities,  is going to give $3 million per week for next few weeks to charities chosen by their fans on Facebook. Here is how it works:

• Target’s Facebook fans vote for any of 10 charities to receive donations on the Target Facebook page
• Target tallies up the votes and allocates funds on a percentage basis. The example used by Mashable’s Adam Ostrow fits best “if 10 percent of users vote for Salvation Army, that organization will receive 10 percent of the total donations.”

Target’s 10 Charities

• Breast Cancer Research Foundation
• Operation Gratitude
• Feeding America
• Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
• Hands On Network
• Red Cross
• Kids in Need
• Salvation Army
• National Park Foundation
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Benefits of “Bullseye Gives”

• Cause Marketing: provides Target with great perception as humanitarian, caring, and giving
• Branding: further strengthens the Target brand as family oriented product provider
• Audience: engages their audience by crowdsourcing, providing their audience a voice
• Publish: each time you vote  you are given the option to “publish” your vote back to your personal Facebook page or your corporate Facebook page.
• Viral Marketing: by publishing your choice of charity, the branded (logo) message on your wall places Target top of mind to your network of friends and it provides the potential for your friends to become fans of the Target Facebook page
• Tone: the tone is not a hard sell message. Instead it is a participatory campaign,  informative campaign, and a gentle message focused on the charities and NOT on Target’s actions