Comments on: 5 Reasons Businesses Should Consider Twitter

By: Leandro Sogabe

Leandro Sogabe — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:57:37 +0000

great list! basically, all that traditional marketers should know to start using twitter to promote their brands!

By: Anna Barcelos

Anna Barcelos — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:44:33 +0000

Hi Matt! I’m currently educating everyone at my current job on social media and basically feel like I have to start from square one. All your points are right on and a great roadmap for businesses. I’m currently working on “humanizing” my company more because ultimately whether B2B or B2C people see businesses as people!

By: Travis

Travis — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:36:16 +0000

Thanks Matt! We are working on getting a good photo taken. It will be up very soon.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:22:49 +0000

Travis, thanks for your personal experience operating as @1800GOTJUNK! I have a lot of respect for your brand before…and especially now that you are engaged in SM and Twitter. To your point about “human face” – have you considered putting your picture up on your profile instead of the picture of those clowns that is currently up…or are you one of those clowns;)?! – http://twitter.com/account/profile_image/1800GOTJUNK?hreflang=en

Also, great work with the background on Twitter…very informative!

By: Travis

Travis — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:05:34 +0000

This is a great list, but one thing that I would add is the human aspect of SM. Brands can seem very stark sometimes. Social media, and Twitter specifically, puts a human face on a specific brand (which is me @1800GOTJUNK). Past and potential clients really like this. Many are really surprised and really enjoy the fact that they can tell not only their followers about the experience with a particular brand or service, but they can also tell that brand what they think. It’s a very empowering tool.

By: Arik Hanson

Arik Hanson — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:56:25 +0000

#3 and #1 are the biggest reasons, if I owned a small to midsized business. And the time investment really isn’t that much either.

What I might add–and one way very few companies are taking advantage of Twitter–is using Twitter as a way to build/transform your culture. Just look at what Zappos is doing. Or Dell. It’s an interesting way to give your most ardent champions (your employees) a very public voice in the marketplace.

@arikhanson

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:51:06 +0000

Some great dialog/conversation taking place on this subject, I appreciate your participation! I think the overarching theme among the comments is the significance of businesses looking at Twitter (and SM as a whole) as a great customer experience opportunity.

Anxious to continue this conversation here and elsewhere! Thanks!

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:32:36 +0000

The biggest thing for companies is your first point, monitoring and listening to what people are saying about your company or industry. This industry has allowed companies to take a different approach at customer service, an approach that reaches out to customers at literally a one-on-one basis.

But what companies should understand is that they don’t have to communicate with every bad review or comment about their brand. Instead, take action to what was being said and DO for the customers and show them that you have. They’ll appreciate that even more that you took their words to heart and developed an action plan to better your brand and their experience.

By: amymengel

amymengel — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:51:10 +0000

Your point in #3 is absolutely correct. Twitter as a service is free, but it takes a lot of time to “do it right” and companies that don’t have the people resources to devote to it should think about whether they really want to jump in.

The most successful businesses on Twitter use it to monitor, respond and interact, and not merely tweet out feeds of press releases or company news. This means that you need to have a person or group of people who can spend time on Twitter throughout the day responding. It’s certainly an investment!

@amymengel

By: Heather Whaling

Heather Whaling — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:35:18 +0000

Matt, I think this is a great list of how social media can help supplement companies’ marketing efforts. While communication departments are the most logical place to start when trying to get companies to make the leap into the “unknown,” we shouldn’t get pigeonholed. I think Twitter specifically (and social media generally) can have benefits for companies beyond traditional marketing concepts. Customer service and product development are two areas that jump to mind, but I’m sure there are many others.

Just a thought …

Heather (@prtini)