Why Twitter? To Provide “Killer Support and Customer Delight”

Why should you spend your valuable time writing and reading Twitter posts made up of 140 characters or less? For busy people who run businesses, foundations, educational institutions, newspapers, and other organizations, it’s a good question. The prospect of getting pulled into the maw of the seemingly voracious social media monster can be daunting. Most of us feel like we spend too much time as it is in front of the computer screen, why add one more thing to your list?

An article in the Small Business section of the New York Times gives several good reasons. The article quotes Paul Dunay, the global managing director of services and social marketing at Avaya, a New Jersey-based global communications provider. His company follows thousands of Twitter postings, using automated alerts for their own products and competitors. If they see a posting from a client who is having a problem with a technical issue, they are all over it.

“If we see those, we’re on them in 15 or 20 minutes,” Mr. Dunay said. “That’s providing killer support and customer delight.” Avaya also looks for sales leads and opportunities to replace competitors. One day, a company posted about its quest for a new phone system. Mr. Dunay replied, introduced himself and offered to put this person in touch with an Avaya strategic consultant. “Within 13 days, we were able to convert that one tweet into a $250,000 sale,” he said.

The article, which you can read here, provides other great examples of productive Twitter use. And it’s accompanied by a list of resources to help you get started.

The first step? Become familiar with the basics of Twitter, perhaps starting with Twitter 101, a special guide for businesses. Then, ask yourself, what kind of conversations do you have now with constituents and customers? How do you respond to inquiries, questions, concerns, leads for new business? What kind of information about your organization, or your area of expertise, would you like others to know? From there, the next step is to sign up a Twitter account and just lurk for a little while. Do some searches relating to your organization, or your interests, and see what others have to say and how they are saying it. Then think about what you want to say, how you want to say it, and start talking with your customers and other constituents, 140 characters at a time.