by Lisa Van Der Pool

Cross-posted from the Boston Business Journal

It was Hammertime at Harvard University today.

MC Hammer (real name: Stanley Burrell) — rapper, entrepreneur, social media maven and TV star on A&E’s “Hammertime” — gave the key note talk at today’s Gravity Summit social media marketing event for businesses.

Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Gravity Summit, which holds seminars across the U.S. to educate marketers about the uses of social media, held its all-day event at the Harvard Faculty Club.

The summit offered tips on how companies can take advantage of social media and featured a variety of speakers, from MC Hammer to executives from Boston-based Arnold Worldwide, the American Red Cross and CNN. (The event was also streamed live on CNN.com.)

With about 1.3 million followers on Twitter, MC Hammer, once known mainly for the hit “U Can’t Touch this” and puffy, parachute pants, wields a hefty amount of social media clout these days. Now he spends much of his time making the rounds to Harvard, Stanford University and organizations to dole out social media tidbits to help both businesses and musicians.

MC Hammer, who engages in all forms of social media, says it’s not a question any more of whether social media works. He whole-heartedly thinks that it does. He noted that for most businesses, it’s a good idea to find out where your audience is (i.e. Twitter, Facebook etc.) and engage with them.

“If you’re allowing someone else to control the perception of the brand, then you’re in trouble,” MC Hammer said at the event, which was attended by about 150 people.

MC Hammer also said that despite having tweeted over 6,000 times and counting, he’s never regreted a single tweet.

Other attendees of the event included Arnold Worldwide CEO Fran Kelly, Mullen chief creative officer Edward Boches and Shift Communications Principal Todd Defren.

Speaker Wendy Harman, social media manager at the American Red Cross, had some interesting points about how nonprofits use social media. The Red Cross, according to Harman, uses Twitter to “execute its mission” and update the public about disasters in real time.

Meanwhile, Todd Defren of Shift noted that people want to interact with brands that “humanize” themselves and have authentic things to say.

Or, as MC Hammer would say, brands just need to make sure their social media interactions are legit.