I’m a bourbon man and I’m proud to say it. And of all the bourbons, my favorite is Maker’s Mark. I know there might be more expensive, smaller batch producers out there, but I just love this stuff (not to excess, of course).

I was first introduced to the firewater when I worked at Golin Harris public relations in NYC, and did some work in promoting the Kentucky-based family business, nearly 20 years ago. Talk about a great account for a 20-something to work on.

So, when they introduced the first new batch of bourbon in 40 years, Maker’s 46, I had to try it. And you know what, I like it as much, if not more. Perhaps it’s the higher percentage of alcohol, or additional smoke from the charring of the barrel.

And, when I read on the bottle that I could email the president of the company, the affable Bill Samuels, Jr., I didn’t hesitate. To my surprise, he actually responded with a personal email directed just at me. Talk about smart public relations! This guy is good. And when I mentioned that I’d like to be part of their brand ambassador program, he jumped on it.

The company’s brand ambassador program has been hailed by many as a great way to influence people and involve their faithful. Why more companies don’t take the time to respond to their fans in this way (from the top no less), and involve them in the marketing process is beyond me. Maybe they should all be drinking Maker’s and they might see the light too.

Either way, I’m a fan for life and I will sing their praises to all in ear shot, which with Facebook, is about 500-million people. To Bill and Maker’s, I toast to your excellent American craftsmanship, outstanding customer outreach, and good old-fashion etiquette. Cheers. Why can’t more companies drink from the same cup as you?

My friend Scott Monty is certainly making a name for himself, and for Ford, in social media circles. He continues to be the driving force behind Ford’s social media presence. And, it’s translating into big time sales for Detroit. His approach of orchestrating off-line and social media elements in an integrated campaign is really helping to move the needle for Ford. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have deep pockets and the complete support of management. But, it’s paying off for the company, and he’s making quite a name for himself as a true social media tactician.

EConsultancy puts a nice spin on doing the most with your Facebook presence in less than a month - three weeks to be exact. Some good advice here, although I don’t think of Facebook marketing as a game one can win.

I think why this campaign has resonated so much because it stands at the cross roads of social networking and real-time advertising, throw in a little humor and wit and combine it all with social media star power and you can understand why Wieden + Kennedy has really found their viral groove with their Old Spice Man campaign.

Trey Pennington recaps ExactTarget and CoTweet’s analysis of online personas to help you understand customer expectations and behavior on social media. Know the personas in your community, segment, and craft a content plan that caters to each of their needs.

I’m a big fan of Involver. There business apps for Facebook Pages are an affordable way to add functionality to your Page and drive engagement. Now, they’re rolling out a dashboard to help marketers track and resond to comments across Twitter, Facebook and several other platforms. I’m all for dashboards to make it easier by centralizing all commenting activities. But, $1K per month is a bit high, don’t you think? Maybe if you’re Coke or Starbucks, you can justify the cost to your boss, but most clients I know would not want to underwrite the cost for agencies wishing to use it.

This is not the first dashboard suite of this type. HootSuite, ScoutLabs and others have similar offerings. But, if they integrate metrics from their own apps within the dashboard, which I’m sure they’ve done or are planning on doing, you’ve got a compelling suite here. With time, these all-in-one cockpits will be priced better for small biz and agencies wishing to leverage the social graph.

Making YouTube more like regular television, today Google announced a new LeanBack service that shows continuous streams of programs, as opposed to a pull-model, where the user is selecting programming. But, to make it not like television, the program choices are dictated, in part, by programs your Facebook friends have given it a thumbs-up “like.”

Visitors to www.youtube.com/leanback are immediately presented with a full-screen, HD video, and when each video ends, another begins. The stream is populated based on your activity within YouTube (likes, subscriptions, etc.) and, if you connect to Facebook, what your friends are sharing.

Don’t under-estimate the power of a chance to win a free vacation. Hyatt’s new The Best of All Worlds Challenge has participants posting pics of how they’d like to spend their vacation. However, there’s one catch, they must first become fan’s (rather, like) Hyatt’s Facebook Page. Not the first company to require people to become fans before participating in a contest, Hyatt is focused on growing its facebook fan base and is cross-promoting its contest across traditional media.

Facebook is gugu for Gaga.