Lately, a growing number of businesses are reaching their audiences via an exciting new method: microblogs. The growing presence of sites like Twitter and Yammer allow companies to disseminate information to their constituents and customers quickly. While some companies, like Whole Foods, take a nontraditional approach (their Twitter site is filled with everything from recipes to the texture of baked versus boiled potatoes). It all depends on who your audience is, how they tend to interact in the online world, and what they might see as beneficial.
Here are a few microblog strategies to achieve more traditional goals and examples from the companies that utilize them:
1. Customer Service:
As marketers we know the importance customer service plays on developing and retaining loyal customers, and the damaging power negative word-of-mouth can have. One of the best opportunities to provide great customer service is to communicate with your customer on their level, in their atmosphere, and in new and exciting ways. These days, one such location is Twitter.
If a customer needs assistance, allowing them to contact you via Twitter allows you to meet them on their level. Yet, the key is still follow-up, ensuring the issue or problem is solved and, above all, ensuring a satisfied customer. If this is the route you take, don’t forget to respond to the customer with a “Glad we helped you figure this out” or a “Happy it worked. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do.” Something short, to the point, and positive; Twitter makes it easy – they require you to be short and to the point!
One company utilizing Twitter for customer service is Comcast with @comcastcares. Everything is a response to someone else’s comment, question, or concern. And, once the account is contacted, the customer and representative connect via Twitters DM (direct message) option, allowing them to communicate privately and securely.
2. Promotions (Incentives, Coupons, etc.):
If your business regularly offers incentives, coupons or other enticements, supplement these with microblog posts. The key here is to include a little description of the promotion, such as “Large 2 Topping Pizza for $10” followed by a tiny URL – a compressed URL that allows your link to appear in a minimal number of characters. Subscribers to your microblog’s feed will see your posts and, if they’re so intrigued, they’ll visit the link to read more about the promotion, print off a JPG of the coupon and use it in the store. This, like everything else on the web, is measurable.
It’s important to show restraint. You don’t want to Tweet (the clever name of a single Twitter post) too many incentives and/or promotions, or you may disengage your “followers” (those who subscribe to your Twitter feed). The important thing to remember here is quality over quantity.
Dell Computers excels at this form of promotion. They have a Twitter account for pretty much everything, including two promotional-based ones. DellHomeOffers focuses on the consumer, while DellSmBizOffers does the same for small businesses.
3. Events:
Like promotions and incentives, this is an easy one to implement. If you hold regular events, Tweeting is a good way to update your followers on event happenings, invites, etc. In fact, it was an event that drew everyone’s attention to Twitter and microblogging to begin with – South by Southwest (SXSW), an annual music, film and interactive conference in Austin, TX. Thus, it’s not surprising that SXSW has their own Twitter account.
4. News and PR:
HP and Apple disseminate news to their followers through Twitter. It is also an excellent supplement to sending out press releases to papers, a PR Web account, and news-based email campaigns. Another clever example using Twitter is from a small net-based record label called Aaahh Records – they drop in Tiny URLs linking to reviews about their artists.
With the growing presence of microblogs and the increase of data phones (allowing users to access the web remotely via their phone), utilizing new ways to reach your audience is becoming more and more important. Did you know that you can even update your Twitter account via text messaging? The same goes with accessing Tweets from those you follow – it doesn’t necessarily require a data phone. Incorporating these elements into marketing strategies is what will make today’s company succeed tomorrow.