I’m all a-Twitter
Okay – so I am taking the plunge into Twitter. Those who know me well, know that I am not quick to embrace new technology! But I have been doing some research on Twitter and really like what I see. This is a powerful tool for building business. In his great article in Ad Age, Josh Bernoff outlines 5 things you can do with Twitter.
- Do research: Monitor what people are saying about your brand right now. Try it: go to search.twitter.com and type in “Swiffer.” As I write this @d33ann is bragging about how she tidied her apartment and @adtothebone suggests they should rebrand it for men as the “dusterminator.” Try it with your own brand. Locked in those tweets are sentiment, volume and insight about your brand, your competitors, and your category.
- Talk to people: Just get a Twitter account for your company and start twittering. You’ll get more followers if you offer something useful. For example, Dell has sold more than a million dollars worth of overstock computers through its @DellOutlet Twitter feed, which has 137,000 followers.
- Energize your brand advocates: Zappos has a page that shows who’s tweeting about it. Unlike Skittles, this isn’t a stunt; Zappos is engaged with its customers on Twitter and they’re responding. Do you know who loves your brand?
- Support your customers. Comcast is digging itself out from under a poor service reputation one customer at a time;@comcastcares will respond if you tweet about challenges with your Comcast service and will solve your problem in 140 characters or refer you to people who can help.
- Embrace customer feedback. H&R block asks its Twitter followers about potential product upgrades, for example. Twitter users love it, and now companies are learning to love it, too.
Yes, his examples are big companies, but even small business owners can tap into this marketing opportunity.
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What is your Twitter handle so we can follow you?
My twitter handle is http://twitter.com/fionawalsh