Tweet if you want to increase customer traffic - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Twitter is a social networking tool that answers thequestioh “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. Originallyt designed as a personal social networkingg toolfor friends, family and co-workers, marketersw and other business professionals recognized its potential and are now seizing it for everything from customer service and brand perception monitorinfg to promotion of new products and Best of all, it’s all in real Even the president of the United Statexs (@BarackObama) was all a-Twitterd during the campaign, as well as national news sources such as (@cnn). Heck, even Oprah Winfrey (@oprah) “tweets.” So, should you start tweeting?
consider these statistics. According to , Twitter had 19.44 millio unique visitors in April, up from 1.5 million in April 2008. , recently reported that more than 60 percentof U.S. Twitter members abandon the site after one monthof use. But don’tt let that discourage you. There are still close to 5 millionj users on Twitter from which you can creatr your veryown following. And, once you do, you can reachu them with your message inreal time. So, how are companiesw using Twitter to promotetheir businesses?
Here are just a few • (@zappos): With more than 600,000 Zappos chief executive officer Tony Hsiehj understands the power of He sells shoes online, and through Twitter, and has become a one-maj customer service and marketing machine for the onlinee shoe retailer. Although some might find Twitter to be a bit he uses it at Zappos for buildinfg more personal connections with boththe company’s employees and customers. And givenb the fact that the compangy was featuredon ’s annual 100 Best Companiesa to Work For list, the guy must be dointg something right.
He continues to foster brancd and employee loyalty one tweet ata • High-end food vendors: I know, as odd as it mobile food vendors are using Twitter to draw more The drivers tweet via their cell phonexs to alert customers to their whereaboutsa and menu options. That’s true in the case of , whicgh is, according to the , an almost cultishlyg popular Korean-Mexican style taco vendor in Los Angeles. Accordint to Jane Goldman, editor-in-chief of , “the Kogi folks have shown themselvex to be adept at turningthose mini-missives into a hugelyu successful marketing machine.
” • Cares (@comcastcares): Not known for their customerf service acumen, Comcast was able to take a barrag e of negative comments and stories in the blogosphered and, via Twitter, turn them into one of the most successfulp customer service case studies on the Web. How migh t you use Twitter to promoteyour business? Depending on the type of businessd you’re in, here are a few ways you might capitalize on the • Restaurants: Tweet about your food and drinlk specials, events, new menu items, etc.
Chefs can tweef about what they’re picking up from the farmerd market and the sommelier can tweet about the new Bordeaux she just added to thewine • Retailers: As a retailer, what you want is and Twitter can help you get it. Tweet aboutt your new arrivals, sales, specials, discounts and exclusive • Grocers: From fresh strawberries to succulent tweet about seasonal specials and Giventhe real-time nature of during hot summer months you can tweet aboutg cold concoctions to satisfy one’s thirst. This list coulcd go on and on. • Theaters/concert Let people know there are still seats availablse at a discounted Tweet about the arrival ofa celebrity.
With greatt movies and music, the topics are endless. • Yes, I tweet, along with many of my At our agency, we use it to communicate with writersand reporters, as well as clients and other followers. To borroww a line from Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage. Isn’t it time you started tweetingfrom it? So grab a twitteer handle (that’s the name you’ll go by followinv the @ symbol) and get to tweeting. Feel free to folloq me at @DebiHammond or twitter.com/DebiHammond.