I’ve been thinking a lot about Ragu and the “crisis” they created by tweeting their video to social dads in a very offensive, and spammy, way.

Having read what C.C. Chapman (here, here, and here) and Adam Singer and Arik Hanson and Michael Schechter (on this very blog yesterday) wrote, I think everyone is missing the biggest lesson of all: Twitter is not a promotion and publicity tool. It’s not a sales tool. It is a social tool.

Granted, I’m not sitting in the room with Ragu and their agency while they decide their strategy, but based on experience, I can make an educated guess that they likely used Klout to determine who to target with their tweets.

And what do we all know about Klout? It’s a great FIRST step in determining influencers if you don’t already know who they are (and if you’re in PR and you don’t know who your client’s or company’s influencers are, shame on you!). But it’s NOT the way you develop your list and begin sending links to those perceived influencers.

Let me show you what I mean. (more…)