Hot Topic: Small Businesses Using Twitter
by Christina Lee on March 9th, 2009
Since its start two years ago, Twitter has certainly sparked a lot of conversation – both inside and out of its short messaging service. Starbucks, Zappos and Dell are just a few of the big companies that have figured out how to use it to their advantage. However, recently reported success stories actually come from small businesses.
For two local food businesses, Twitter has helped two local food businesses both raise and manage rising demand. One request for a breakfast wrap directed to Houston-based Coffee Groundz led to the first ever reported take-out order on Twitter, which are now taken on a regular basis. Meanwhile, the loyal following of the Kogi Korean BBQ-To-Go taco trucks in the Los Angeles area can see where they park next through the business’s Tweets.
And for the Queensboro Shirt Company in North Carolina, Twitter has become a way to reach out.
“Mainly we have been trying to work on finding the customers where they are, instead of trying to make them come to us,” said Kate Elzer-Peters, social media coordinator of the custom apparel company. In a phone interview, Elzer-Peters – who also updates the company’s blog, plus its Facebook and YouTube pages – explained to goWholesale how the work relationship with Twitter has developed since the account’s activation last October:
- First impressions: At first, Elzer-Peters did not know what to think. Though Twitter became a hot topic in a few marketing e-mails she received, she still had to wonder: why would you want to do that, honestly? But the more she read about the service, the more she saw the value in its conversations. “If you read the Tweets one at a time, they don’t always make a lot of sense,” she said. “But if you follow them for a while, you can start to see what their habits are like, what they like to do, what they are interested in – a more complete picture.”
- What it does: Elzer-Peters updates the Queensboro Twitter with sales promotions and responses to questions and feedback. She also regularly checks its feed, to get what she calls “a pulse of what people are thinking around the country.” With this, she can figure out which customers would crave fleece and which would want polos, in real time.
- How it helps: Since its operations are mostly online, Elzer-Peters has found that the company can develop customer relations via Twitter that it would not have been able to do otherwise. “Since we are an Internet business, we don’t interact a lot, especially face-to-face, with our customers,” she said. “But I’ve been Tweeting back and forth with some of them, and that can develop into more of a relationship.”
- Progress made: Elzer-Peters has garnered more than 450 followers, fielded a few hiring requests, and landed at least one purchase during a recent hat sale. (A Tweeted “thank you” serves as proof.) She hopes though to deliver more through Twitter in the near future and is encouraging use of her services in the meantime.” If we make a mistake with your order, we ALWAYS try to correct it, so make sure you let us know! Tweet at me for help!,” a recent update says.
Retailers: what are your thoughts on Twitter? What problems have you had or progress you made with the service?
I’m getting into it little, but don’t know how to use it on my phone. I don’t have time to be at a computer all the time.
Paula JDevore
March 11th, 2009
at 10:01 am
Paula – when logged in and on the Twitter home page, check on the Settings link on the top right corner. From there, you should only have to input your number, then send a text to Twitter for verification. (I only finished this task myself a few days ago, but it was easy enough.)
Christina Lee
March 11th, 2009
at 11:44 am
Hey Christina,
Thanks for including Queensboro in this great article! Since we talked, I have another confirmed customer from Twitter! (Yay!) and a reorder question from an existing customer. It takes a little while to hit your stride with Twitter and the Social Media marketing, but it does open a very productive channel for direct interaction with customers. Come follow us @queensboroshirt. Our blog is at http://queensboro.wordpress.com. It has links to all of our other social media pages.
Kate Elzer-Peters
March 11th, 2009
at 6:28 pm