Why Use Twitter? Part III – Brand Use
May 6th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Wrapping up my series, “Why Use Twitter?” (See Part I and Part II), I’m presenting why brands should be and could be utilizing Twitter.
Here is a list of possible uses, or reasons, why companies & organizations may utilize Twitter:
1. Create/increase brand awareness/exposure – If not for any other reason, a brand should secure its social media presence to create or increase awareness of itself. Get involved in the Twitter community and interact with users. If anything, these people are now aware of your brand. Just be sure not to constantly be selling and promoting – that’s bad awareness and publicity for your company.
2. Interact with, and reach current and potential clients/customers – Tying in with #1, creating more awareness of your brand can also help create more business for your brand. A company doesn’t necessarily have to sell on Twitter. By simply engaging with people in a genuine way, over time, the company can become top-of-mind to the potential customer, and earn the business.
3. Customer service avenue – @Zappos, @Comcastcares, and @HRBlock, to name a few, all have Twitter accounts that serve as customer service avenues. Instead of having to call the company, Twitter can sometimes be used as another way to contact the company and ask questions, get problems resolved, and more.
4. Monitor reputation – See what people are tweeting about your company. If it’s good, reach out to them and thank them. Build goodwill and a rapport with customers. If it’s not so good, see how you can resolve the problem. A company showing they care about what their customers think and say, can go a long way. The same holds true for companies who ignore negative feedback and don’t try to resolve issues (i.e. ‘United Breaks Guitars‘ – do you see how many views this video has?!) The great thing about Twitter is that people are talking – whether your brand is on Twitter or not – it’s better to be able to talk back with the person than to have comments floating around, unaddressed.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how companies could be utilizing Twitter. Hopefully these uses can act as a starting point for companies thinking about deciding whether or not it’s something that would be beneficial to them. What are some ways your brand uses Twitter?
