I will never forget my first big win while a green AE at Leo Burnett. I could hardly keep myself from jumping in the air to high-five my boss after our client approved what would become one of the first LB client websites. While on the way to the elevator, my wise mentor leaned in and said “Nicely done, do not breathe a word until we are in the rental car, doors locked – windows up!”

On the way to the airport she shared several horror stories - some likely exaggerated and others urban advertising myths - of new business wins that soured thanks to bravado on elevators and airplanes. Some things never change. But back then we only had to worry about ear shot; today the whole world is in e-shot.

By now, this e-shot heard round the world is likely old news. While many bloggers are taunting the seemingly innocent yet likely deal breaker post below as “foolish” and “crazy stupid”, I think we owe the poster a big THANK YOU for reminding us all of some common-sense lessons learned. The short-and-sweet Tweet simply reads:

theconnor:  Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.

Common Sense Lesson 1
Cisco Systems being a global technology company and all - may have a few Tweeters and maybe, just maybe, someone is following you. One of those Tweeters is now getting his nana-second of internet fame – Cisco employee, Tim Leved. His response:

timmylevad: Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.

Common Sense Lesson 2
The poster wisely since turned on their private settings. Not sure the poster intended to be funny with the ironic image that appears – which is a conflict for me: see Common Sense Lesson 3A and Common Sense Lesson 3B.

Common Sense Lesson 3A
Apologize, Resolve, Move On

Common Sense Lesson 3B
Use humor to deflate the situation.

Common Sense Lesson 4
Don’t you have anything else better to do?  In a mere two days this has gone from the Twitter community completely vilifying this person (riddle me this Bartman and crazy Cub fans) to a website entirely dedicated to this two sentence Tweet! The same can be said for the news media now picking this up.

Finally, of the tons of comments, blogs, Tweets out there, while I do not agree with all his points, Don Sears is on to something with smart advice for job seekers, human resource pros and recruiters like me.  Take a look at his March 19th posting, Big Brother - How Not to Get a Job Via Twitter.

My take away, Think before you Tweet.

As social media marketing continues to gain a foothold in a marketer’s arsenal of communication tools, consumers will see an exponential increase in corporate blogging. Thousands of corporations across the world such as GM, Accenture and Proctor & Gamble have embraced blogging as a way to establish a dialogue with customers instead of talking “at” them through traditional communication methods. However, despite their popularity, a recent study on the Forrester Blog “Groundswell” highlights the low credibility associated with corporate blogs.

According to this study, blogs are ranked below newspapers, direct mail, online classifieds, corporate emails, wikis and the yellow pages in terms of credibility. The fact is that consumers can often see through the veiled attempts of blog authors to push products or bolster the reputation of executives in major corporations.

So, as marketers, how do we distinguish ourselves in the minds of cynical consumers while still leveraging this invaluable communications tool?

Unless you are a marketer at Citigroup and have received billions in bailout money from the Federal Government:  you have a lot of work to do in 2009. There will be no corporate bailouts for most of us. Tightening your marketing budgets while still trying to drive new business and retain clients, in addition to creating customer evangelism isn’t going to be easy. BUT it could be getting cheaper.

There are a number of new social media weapons in our arsenal that enable us to communicate inexpensively with consumers on a one-on-one basis — and become evangelists for their brand. For instance, my view of Twitter (a new mobile phone social media platform) was forever changed recently when I “Twittered” my love of the AMC show Madmen. Moments after tweeting about the show I was pinged by “Betty Draper”, the lead character’s wife in the show. I clicked on her profile, and the link took me to a Twitter profile page for all of the main characters from the show who were Twittering about their lives circa early 1960’s Manhattan. I can’t imagine how cheap it was to do this. As a consumer, it was something I felt connected to on a very individual basis. This is just one example of the type of new media initiatives marketers can employ to create brand evangelists for their products.

One might say the Mad Men example is too different from the majority of CPG and services companies located in Chicago. Investigate the products people are talking about online. Check out this article on Facebook to see the level of interest that a paper towel can generate. The bottom line is that people are passionate about the smallest things and they ARE talking. No better time to engage them than now.

When you have stories like today’s Adage article concerning consumers being tired repetition in advertising, there seems to be a real opportunity for companies to step into this “ad vortex” and engage people more easily. It’s a whole lot cheaper than a million dollar ad campaign AND you don’t have to change your name to do it.

Becoming involved with social media requires a time investment on such variables as marketing, optimization and monitoring. This has opened a new job market for positions such as blogger, social media consultants, community manager, enterprise architect, social media strategist and director of social media. Since 2005 social media jobs have increased by 325%. For more information on this phenomenon visit Jobs in Social Media.