Today, I checked my Twitter account to see who I was following and who was following me. I tweeted about an interesting article I read. I used Tweet Deck to scan tweets from across Twitter, and finally, the Twittlelator on my iPhone notified me of some new tweet material that was very interesting.
Conversations like this are becoming common place. But what value does all this Twitter noise mean for a consumer much less a small business owner? Let me share with a few ways I have found Twitter to be valuable.
First, Twitter has a great search function. I love the search function of Twitter. Unlike Google where search delivers you paid advertisements or the best built web pages through organic search, Twitter delivers you the conversations people are having. Since I am in the payroll business, I search on payroll and look what I get:
"I hate ADP, and so as i can change payroll companies, I am switching ugh" or "I hate the federal Gov't! My QB payroll service not working, had to manually find withholding tables on IRS site, it sucks!"
Like a conversation at a party, I get to listen in and if I choose, engage in the conversation. I am seeing more and more large and small companies inserting themselves into conversations like these to try and acquire customers. With Twitter, you can engage a potential customer at the most relevant moment and potentially acquire a new customer. If you find someone tweeting something you are not proud of about your brand, company, or product, you can instantly engage the person to address it and possibly save the customer from leaving and going to your competitor.
Twitter also enables you to create word of mouth with your customers. By getting many people to follow you, you are creating a group of followers for your company to message. Let your followers know about the latest product or feature you are selling. If you have a recent press release, post it and provide the link so people can read more about your company. Since many companies cannot afford to develop and post press releases, Twitter enables you to create your own and let people know about them.
At PayCycle we are fortunate to have great customers who are very satisfied with our service. If that ever changes, with Twitter, I may be the first know.
I think I will go post a Tweet via Tweet Deck about this blog.
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