An appearance by Waste Management president and COO Lawrence O’Donnell on the CBS show “Undercover Boss” has generated significant interest in the company. Since the episode ran on February 7^th, hits to the trash hauler’s new customer and career Web links have skyrocketed. In the four days following the broadcast, Waste Management’s new customer link received more than triple the number of hits than the recent daily average and traffic to the company’s careers page almost doubled.

The publicity from “Undercover Boss”, which drew in 38.6 million people for the series premiere, has in turn secured media coverage for Waste Management via an appearance by O’Donnell on “The Joy Behar Show” and in an interview with network anchor Campbell Brown.

It is the emphatic way in which O’Donnell conducted himself on the show, for which he went undercover as an employee, that is largely responsible for the buzz. His heartbroken reaction to the workers’ tales of the indignities they had suffered as a result of their attempts to adhere to O’Donnell’s productivity policies elicited a warm response from the public. Viewers appreciated the fact that the COO of a company was genuinely trying to understand the plight of his employees.

Ironically, O’Donnell turned down the offer to be on “Undercover Boss” at first. His initial reaction to the idea is indicative of a relatively common consensus on reality television programming. However, the public’s feelings about this genre of television are slowly shifting, and as a result, reality TV is gradually becoming a valuable outlet for public relations efforts.

Take “America’s Next Top Model,” which began airing in 2003. Produced by former supermodel Tyra Banks, the show has been among network CW’s highest rated programming. In the early seasons (or cycles, as the producers have dubbed the seasons) of the show, the designers featured were by no means household names. Fashion industry bigwigs turned their noses up at the idea of promoting their designs on reality TV show. This element has changed drastically in recent cycles, with the fashion industry’s major players taking part in the show. Perhaps the culmination of this emerging trend was the Cycle 10 season finale, in which the two finalists walked in a Versace runway show held in fashion hot spot Rome, Italy.

The rules of promotion are changing across all venues of entertainment; the shift is not limited to social media’s increasing dominance over traditional media. Public relations, advertising, and marketing methods that were once considered taboo are now acceptable, and just about anything goes. Now is the time to take calculated risks when promoting your brand. Before ruling out an idea that seems “foolish” or “outrageous,” take a second look at the concept with an open mind. Smart risks can be very profitable for your brand – just ask Lawrence O’Donnell.

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The past decade has not been kind to the music industry. Lured by digital music products, the convenient and comparatively low cost alternative to compact discs, consumers have abandoned music stores in favor of purchasing music online and downloading it to ever shrinking gadgets like iPods. In the wake of the digital era, many musicians, even the artists whose songs receive a substantial amount of radio play, have discovered that their chosen career path is not as lucrative as it was in years past.

Enter Lady Gaga. The singer/songwriter has mastered the art of leveraging social media to drive sales of her albums and digital singles — $8 million in album sales and $20 million in digital single sales, to be exact. Lady Gaga’s latest venture, as a spokeswoman for her own shade of Mac Cosmetics’ Viva Glam lipstick, has been wildly successful as well; the shade has already outsold any launch in Viva Glam’s 16-year history. Now companies that have nothing at all to do with music or the music industry are tapping her to market their products – not as the “face” of the products, but rather, as the “brain” behind the marketing strategies.

What is Lady Gaga’s secret? It is quite simple, and very contemporary. She has taken the medium that has hounded many of her peers – that is, digital media – and used it to her advantage. Social media in particular has been crucial to her success. The premiere of her “Bad Romance” video on LadyGaga.com generated a Twitter trending topic that lasted a week and a cumulative 110 million views on YouTube to date.

This is because Lady Gaga stays in constant contact with her nearly 2.8 million Twitter followers and more than 5.2 million Facebook fans. Though Universal, Lady Gaga’s label, occasionally supplement’s the singer’s online efforts with marketing firm partnerships, the vast majority of the time the musician maintains a hands-on relationship with her fans and marketing empire.

The lesson: Do not be afraid of the negative impact social media could have on your brand. Take a page from Lady Gaga’s book, and utilize it as a powerful marketing tool. Social media can also be leveraged for crisis management. In the wake of a massive recall, Toyota is attempting to restore its tarnished image via online social networks such as Twitter.

Social media is here, and its presence in commerce is growing. Soon, it could very likely become a necessary part of conducting business. You can fear it, but you cannot outrun it. So why not use it to your advantage?

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Photograph by Michael Halsband for Vanity Fair

The six women are profiled in the January 2010 issue of Vanity Fair, glamorous in trench coats and stilettos, flashing their mobile devices as they would the hottest designer bag. Who are these women, and why are they – and their handheld PDA’s – worthy of editorial coverage in a national publication?

They are twilebrities, Twitter’s version of celebrity. A twilebrity is someone who devotes a vast amount of time, energy and skill to tweeting, and is rewarded with a massive flock of followers. It is not necessary to be a traditional celebrity before being assigned twilebrity status, but some celebrities have reached Twilebrity status.

Who is next in line to join the twilebrity ranks? Ideally, your company is. Now, before you protest that you simply do not possess the time or resources to tweet your days away, allow me to clarify: I refer to becoming a twilebrity in your industry. The goal, at least initially, is to build a thriving online community of b-to-b connections. Establish a strong presence on Twitter among those in your field, and word will get back to consumers.

You can start building your follower base by heeding the unspoken rules of twilebrities. The most sacred law? Give in order to receive. Twilebrities are generous to their followers. As referenced in the Vanity Fair article, the most popular twilebrities (of the non-celebrity origin) respond to the majority of those who send them tweets. They are also exceptionally good listeners, paying close attention to their followers and often recommending certain followers to their hefty audience. Though at first glance this may not appear to be the case, at its core, Twitter is all about conversations as opposed to isolated tweets. This is part of its allure.

Gaining twilebrity status for your company is about much more than glitz and glam. Twitter, more so than any other social media network, is in the process of taking over the world. Its army of members has grown at a frenetic pace over the past two years. Make no mistake: Adding a social media strategist to your staff or campaign to amp up your Twitter account is a worthwhile investment, one that has a high potential ROI.

However, poor customer service inevitably tarnishes the image of the company in the customer’s mind. Recently, I experienced both horrible customer service and exemplary customer service in the space of less than ten minutes, in the same department store. The impact was powerful – had it not been for the second experience, the first experience would have driven me from the store forever.

My intent for the shopping trip that day was to treat myself to something pretty and fun. First, I approached the jewelry counter. At first, the sales associate was mildly receptive. Then I told her I was looking for a simple gold ring instead of the pricey jewel encrusted bauble that I initially requested to try on, and her attitude changed drastically.

She snapped at me, “We do not carry plain gold pieces in the fine jewelry department,” and immediately turned her back to me. She also made a nasty comment under her breath to her fellow associate, which I overheard.

I had fully intended to make a purchase in the department. Had the sales associate treated me well, she would have had another sale for the day and for her commission check, but her abrasive demeanor and obvious disdain for the type of piece I was seeking changed my mind instantly.

Furious with the rude sales associate, I began to walk toward the exit, determined to boycott the department store from that day forward. I stopped only when I came across the counter that held my favorite brand of purses, with the intention to glance briefly at the new arrivals and then continue on my way.

It was Nancy who changed my mind. Yes, I remember her name; that was intentional on my part, because Nancy is the type of sales associate you want to encounter when you go shopping. She was the very epitome of top-notch, excellent customer service: kind, warm and helpful without being pushy or aggressive. Nancy truly made me feel like a valued customer, and solely because of Nancy, I bought a purse that day and have remained a customer of the department store.

Furthermore, I have spread the word about Nancy. First, I returned to the store the next day to rave about Nancy to the store manager and issue a complaint against the rude sales associate in the jewelry department. Secondly, I refer those people seeking that particular brand of purse to Nancy whenever possible.

Customer service may seem trivial compared to the melee of other issues that come with running a business, but in reality, it can have quite a powerful impact on the level of success you are able to achieve. With a glut of competing businesses out there, it is crucial to retain your customer base while constantly working to build it up. And with the advent of the digital age and social media, word of mouth is a major force these days. Therefore, you need to institute a strong foundation of return customers as well as establish a favorable reputation. For this reason, it is important to adopt the “Nancy Strategy” when dealing with your customers.