Get to know your customers in just 140 characters
Twitter, the online service that allows users to broadcast short messages from their laptop or mobile phone is fast becoming a Relationship Marketing tool to be reckoned with.
Unlike Facebook which can contain personal details and photographs and be limited to just your circle of friends, Twitter focuses on a single element and broadcasts it to a much wider audience. Just like your 'Joanna is...' Facebook status, Twitter simply asks: "What are you doing?"
In answering this question 'twitterers' can reveal much about themselves, their interests and views and because the content of their updates is public they will often want to give value to readers who are 'following' them. Whether you follow individual updates or use the tracking facility which notifies you when your subject of interest has been raised, you are likely to be gaining valuable insight into your customers, the marketplace and even your competitors.
Updates, or tweets as they are known, are a maximum of 140 characters long and content may range from the witty or philosophical, www.twitter.com/Stephenfry to the practical, www.twitter.com/JetBlue with website, music, stock market and product recommendations along the way. Users opt to follow individuals whereby they become part of a community of like minded people with atleast one common interest bonding them together.
To truly appreciate its Relationship Marketing potential its best to get involved and see for yourself. View www.twitter.com/downingstreet for a valiant effort then www.twitter.com/sonyeurope for an example of a big brand made personal. Use the search facility to enter appropriate key words for your business and witness who is talking about what.
But before you and your business dive in be sure you appreciate the culture such a new medium represents. One new media colleague advised "listen first, listen a lot and then contribute. Engage with your followers, be useful and offer help. Hard selling will not be tolerated by this community."
San Francisco-based Twitter says it currently has between 4 and 5m users. It has grown 600% in the past year and expects to grow to 10 times its current size in the next 12 months. So, in this calorie conscious New Year period perhaps your business should give Facebook-lite, sorry, Twitter a go. It worked for Obama and the website I was recommended this morning www.somoneoncetoldme.com where I'll definitely be spending my Christmas money from Grandma.