Jeb Blatt, Director of Account Development, Jack Morton

Earlier this month, self-described technology anthropologist Jeff Pulver brought his 140 Character Conference to Boston, joining Twitter users from all around New England to discuss "the state of now." Bloggers, journalists, media professionals and Twitter enthusiasts with stories to tell gathered at the Back Bay Event Center for a day of brief presentations and both face-to-face and social networking.

Communications expert Doug Haslam, whose career spans more than two decades from radio to public relations, presented five voices that businesses can use as they navigate the Twitter-verse. To get a more in-depth handle on the situation, I e-mailed Mr. Haslam, who tweets as @DougH, for some additional insight on these different Twitter personas.

Behind every great company is a great marketing strategy. Lots of components must be put into place - and companies across the globe utilize tactics such as advertising and public relations to create a truly integrated marketing approach.

In addition to traditional approaches, two local companies recently ran campaigns seeking input from local residents. By thinking outside of the box, they engaged with the community, building brand awareness and increasing company exposure.

BoYo, a frozen yogurt shop in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood, turned to its loyal customers to help name the Flavor of the Week. I heard about this contest via their email newsletter (sent using Constant Contact). BoYo also used Facebook and Twitter to promote the contest, seeking entries from frozen yogurt lovers in the area.

My signature flavor, TOM-egranate (in honor of Patriots' superstar, Tom Brady), won this week's contest and features pomegranate yogurt, topped with blueberries and yogurt chips! The flavor was promoted via their Facebook and Twitter pages and also on shop signage. (Brady's been the talk of the town these past few weeks because of his car accident, he deserves some positive promotion as we kick into football season!)

And as a thanks from BoYo, I received a free TOM-egranate! (If free yogurt isn't enough to send you back for more, I don't know what is...!)

This happened by fate. I was having lunch with two of my friends, Yvonne Tran-Nguyen and Phil Kowalski. We interned together at Hill Holliday way back when, and still keep in touch. They are iPhone 4ers, I'm a Blackberrier. While waiting in line at Ball Square Café, they were both 'checking in' and teased me for my lack of knowledge. Phil went on to say that he believed SCVNGR was the best that location-based apps had to offer and would go far. The next day, I received a One Day, One Job newsletter and guess which company it highlighted?

SCVNGR! I wanted to learn more about the company and so, I contacted Nick Herbold, SCVNGR Guru. And here we are:

Thomas Menino. Michael Bloomberg. Liz Swenton.

These three people have one thing in common - mayorships. I'm confident you've heard of the first two - Mayors of Boston and New York City. But you probably have yet to hear of me, Emerson's newest IMC grad student and mayor of Boston Sports Clubs on location-based social media application, FourSquare.

Have you checked out any of the "checking in" tools yet like FourSquare, Gowalla or Facebook Places? I like FourSquare because it allows you to see nearby discounts and gives you the opportunity to "unlock" promotions at places you frequently visit.

But these GPS social media apps aren't just for individuals!

More and more companies are using tools like these as part of their marketing strategy. A recent AdAge article discusses how the University of Kentucky is using Facebook Places to boost their education profile. Kelley Bozeman, U of K's marketing director states, "We're encouraging students to check in, so when they do it, it'll show up in their news feeds and maybe their friends still in high school will see it over and over again." Students will know when to check in because of the big, blue Facebook Places logos positioned across campus, acting as a constant reminder. Brilliant addition to their ongoing undergraduate recruiting marketing campaign.

What are your views on location-based social media applications? Do you think they're an essential part of a company's marketing campaign?