Instead of advertisers setting up their brands on Twitter would they be more effective cluing in on the Twitterati who are passionate about what their brands stand for?  Product placement and shameless endorsements have long hit the film industry, music videos, gaming and blogosphere. Why not on Twitter? With proper assessment of your Twitter followers and the content you share brands can clue in on your value system. Should it match theirs and the audience they serve, which is most likely the audience you attract a brand endorsement match is possible. No more million dollar contracts for sports stars and celebrities hello Twitter stars! Of course the former is unlikely to happen, yet the latter highly possible. How much would a brand pay @KevinRose for a brand endorsement? How would such a move affect Twitterverse and the community that lives in it?

Have you been approached by a brand to tweet about their product and services?

Here’s my Why Are You Following abstraction which reflects an initial assessment of a Twitter member’s value system and their followers. Adding a science to this thought process could be a fun experiment. Anyone interested to participate?

Is your brand Authentic. Adaptive. Relevant. Transformative. Fresh. Immersive. Social?

Understand your brand’s DNA on Digital Darwinism a Razorfish study.

Shiv also touched on the issues surrounding social media and brands today. “There are too many vendors in the social media space. Social media is oversold without the support of proper metrics.” Not sure the room really liked to hear that. There is a big gap between the concept of social media and measurement of results. In my opinion, understanding the entry points of conversation with your audience is critical and assessing which message delivery channel will establish a connection and engagement is a requirement for any marketing effort. Shiv further shares that “brands are slimming down their ad budgets today, moving their spending to direct response and moving away from experimental marketing medium.” Oooh, I bet the room did not want to hear that either!

Bridging the gap for brands and the diverse channel of message delivery and measurement of results rests on our shoulders dear digital and social media mavens.

Other excellent speakers at #SMBNYC4 were Melanie Notkin, Founder of Savvy Auntie and Brad McCormick EVP,  Porter Novelli. Roger Smith Hotel and Crimson Hexagon were the sponsors for this event.