Nan Gibbons is a licensed personal trainer and nutritionist. She owns her own business and also travels worldwide advising at sporting events. She is also the proud mother to her son, Reid, and blogs at http://www.eatbreatheblog.com. Nan and I initially connected through social media (proving the power of that medium for leveraging one’s message) and she offered the following guest blog which I hope you’ll find useful.

I’m sure you’ve seen the commercial: A senior stumbles at home, and no one is around as she cries out “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” The voiceover explains that this woman and other elderly people who live alone need a button they could press to call for help and. This is where the medical alarm comes in – it does just that.

The good news for you as a leader is that with all the challenges you face, there is more than one button to press for help. About 105 buttons, give or take a few: your computer keyboard. There is a powerful tool you can create positive change and become a thought leader in the online community and that is social media.

Whenever you use social media, the first step is to clarify your objectives. This enables you to gain followers who engage with you and assures that your voice is heard by the right people in the right places. Before you even create an account (or, if you already have an account, before you post that next update), do this: take out a sheet of paper and a pen. Write down what really, truly matters to you or your organization. Then pare that list down to five topics. It is important to filter out similar ideas as well as get down to the heart of what truly matters. You and your organization do many things, but what are those few things you are most passionate about? What describes the type of audience you truly wish to help? Not only will this exercise help you better focus your updates toward essential issues and topics, but it will also increase your reputation as a respected voice in these areas. Being viewed as credible by others on social media outlets as trustworthy or an expert will amplify your impact.

Interaction is always key in getting people involved in any sort of organization or movement offline. It is the same online. Don’t just interact with not only those following you but also target other organizations and people of note who share your interests and passion for your cause. Pay attention to any and all people who choose to help you champion your cause; helping them be heard will help you be heard as well.

Once you’ve clarified your message and targeted your audience, the most important key is to never give up. If you wish to emerge as a leader in your community and a voice to an important cause, you must remain consistent. Provide users and followers with information they may want or need, and always be open to suggestions and asking or answering questions. It is impossible to lead alone, so a great leader knows the power of a community over just one voice. Using social media for the greater good is much simpler than you think, and it can help you draw attention to your cause, therefore guaranteeing that you’ll find like-minded individuals to help make a difference.

Last week I drank a great many beers. I wasn’t on a bender and although I drank over 50 beers in a couple days, the amount was typically an ounce or less of each. I was attending the Great American Beer Fest and some related events.

I tried some extraordinary but esoteric beers that you’ve never heard of and would be hard pressed to find for purchase. They were beers brewed in small amounts and made available in limited release.

One of my favorites was from the Brooklyn Brewery and made by brew master Garret Oliver. Here’s a partial description:

“Brooklyn Reinschweinsgebot: This is a brown ale aged for nine months in Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels. This beer has then been “fat-washed” with fat rendered from Benton’s Country Smokehouse Bacon. Allan Benton also produced a smoked malt for this beer and a special strong ale was brewed from it. The fat-washed/barrel-aged beer was blended with the bacon-smoked beer and the blend was re-fermented in the bottle with Champagne yeast. Only 20 cases were ever made.”

It might sound odd but it tasted delicious.

So here’s the question: would you rather have the “best” product in your category or the bestselling?

Understandably, it is difficult to determine what of anything is truly best (there is no accounting for taste). I can tell you, however, that some of the bestselling brands aren’t best by a long shot. A liquor that I’m familiar with claims to be the world’s bestseller and many make the leap that it must therefore be the best. It isn’t. It scores well but not particularly high in its category.

More often than not–and this is based on observation rather than hard data–the most successful brands find a sweet spot between best and bestselling. These brands find a way to offer quality that is appreciated by a large enough group of buyers that the brand is profitable. If the product’s attributes are too specific and narrow, there isn’t a critical mass of buyers. If the attributes are too generic and broad, you may sell a large amount but it will be to a mass market.

Sure, there are bragging rights to being best, even if the claim is difficult to substantiate. But few of us want to have a terrific product that only a few buy and appreciate.

The challenge, therefore, isn’t whether to pursue best or bestselling. The challenge is to have a product deemed by many to be among the best; a product those people repeatedly buy and tell others about.

Why do some companies get written and talked about excessively while others get ignored?

Why do some companies become media darlings while others are media dogs?

The answer, I believe, is an adjective: interesting.

The essential adjective in branding is interesting. It may even trump quality as an attribute.

Marketing firm Euro RSCG created “the most interesting man in the world” to promote Dos Equis. They’ve also created The Most Interesting Academy. Interesting is sexy; interesting is hip. And drinking Dos Equis, it is suggested, makes you sexy and hip, too.

They’re on to something. We hate boring. In this over-stimulated world in which we live, boring is, well, BORING. While some may seek the truly stimulating, more people look for the interesting.

Want to be interesting? Consider these four aspects:

What you do.

As Cory Miller points out in his blog, duct tape could be t he most boring product in the world but has spawned duct tape fashion and even a club.

How you do it.

Fortune magazine just did a feature on Trader Joe’s (a client of mine some years ago). The article angle was the “secrecy” of the company and how they do business. Sometimes the less people know about a successful brand the more “interesting” it becomes. I’ve read that a sub-plot of William Gibson’s new book Zero History is about a brand that is wildly in demand because it is almost impossible to get.

Why you do it.

TOMS Shoes is based on a simple premise: for every pair of shoe you buy, they’ll give a pair of shoes to a needy child. Interesting. And very cool.

Who does it.

It is tough not to point to Steve Jobs who has the uncanny ability to make everything–even product flubs–look interesting. But despite the danger of the charismatic leader (that Jim Collins has warned about so well), paying attention to the people who speak for your product or service can make the difference between interesting and boring.

Old Spice has seen an enormous resurgence as a fragrance, not because the product changed but because the perception changed. “The man your man could smell like” Isaiah Mustafa has brought new life to an old brand by making it interesting.

An exceptional sales person can inject interesting into whatever he or she sells, and a great CEO can do that for an entire company.

How interesting is your company?

How interesting is your product or service?

How interesting are you?

This morning I saw a house painter at Starbucks. He wore the typcical paint splattered pants and white tee shirt. He looked like most house painters except for the snappy fedora. Combined with a pony tail and sun glasses, what set him apart was his style.

You might not think that is significant, but consider: I wouldn’t be blogging about him if he looked like everyone else. And I wouldn’t have made it a point to notice his truck and signage.

Style is important; not more important than substance, but still important. Done right it gets you noticed in the right way, differentiates you from your competitors and enhances your brand. (Do it wrong and you come across as strange.

In The Art of Living, Epectitus says, “Wherever you find yourself and in whatever circumstances, give an impeccable performance.” That is an underlying theme in my books The Fred Factor and The Encore Effect. Performance isn’t, however, just about what you do, but how you look while you’re doing it. Style differentiates.

Whatever you do, do it with style.