Welcome, we are the micro-blogging group and we will be sharing a few key topics with you regarding the use of micro-blogging to find solutions to performance problems. We will be performing a short skit to introduce the concept of Crowd Sourcing. We will need your participation in order to make this happen. Ken is passing out index cards to everyone in the class. In a few moments, during the skit, you will be shown a question on the screen. We are asking that all of you write an answer to this question on the index card provided to you. However, we need you to write down your answers in the following manner. Write down your answer in one to two sentences. Write as quickly as possible but legibly. As soon as you are finished, hold up your index card for collection Don’t worry, these instructions will be on the screen along with the question
There were 111 microblogging sites counted in May 2007. Twitter is the most popular and well-known. Others may add geolocation, pictures, anonymity or other features Microblogging is part of social media websites where it is known as “status updates” Organizations can create their own b-t-f version --- private channels, permission management tools
12/01/09
12/01/09
Unless you’re in charge of a business that controls access to oxygen, you are always faced with the problem of how to attract more customers and, or how to keep the loyalty of the customers you have amongst the competition. We’re going to look at three companies… Naked Pizza, Teusner Wines, and JetBlue and their unique methods of marketing and promotions with the use of one of the most popular platforms of microblogging, Twitter.
Naked Pizza, based out of Now Orleans, Louisiana, performed a Twitter experiment with Twitter exclusive promotions. Twitter exclusive promotions are coupons or specials that are only advertised to those who follow Naked Pizza’s Twitter. They wanted to know how much business could Twitter exclusive promotions generate? They performed a single day test run on April 23rd, 2009 and were amazed to see that their Twitter exclusive promotion counted for 15% of that day’s business. On May 29th, 2009, they ran a second test. The Twitter promotion accounted for 68.6% of their total dollar sales that day and an in-store sales record was set as well.
Dave Brookes, is the sole employee of the sales and marketing department of Teusner Wines, in Australia. He started using Twitter to network with other wineries. Eventually, he came across Teusner Wines in conversations so he decided to chime in. Soon, he noticed a sense of loyalty to Teusner within his newly found Twitter friends, or actually, customers. He also began to look for conversations about Teusner to learn about the preferences of his customers. As a result, Teusner began receiving increases in inquiries regarding distribution and the availability of their wine in restaurants which led to half a dozen new retail accounts. On top of that, they also saw an increase in bookings for their winery tours.
This is a screenshot of recent activity on Teusner’s Twitter account. Notice that out of seven postings, two are correspondence with another winery, three are correspondence with people, one is an update posting about the weather, and only one is an actual promotion.
Jet Blue’s manager of corporate communications was saddened to find a lot of complaints and even untrue statements about Jet Blue between Jet Blue customers on Twitter. After receiving permission, he began to respond to customers as soon as a complaint was posted to help solve their issues with Jet Blue or clarify misconceptions. Customers were pleased with this immediate customer service. He discovered press releases were ignored but casual, chatty postings and customer service resolutions generated more followers. In turn, he decided to ask what people wanted from the Jet Blue Twitter account. They wanted him to ask for their opinions. Some even said they wanted the company to view them as a resource to help Jet Blue deliver a better product. Personalizing Jet Blue and providing immediate customer service resolutions helped them qualitatively build their customer base in a way they had never imagined.
This is a screenshot of recent activity on Jet Blue’s Twitter account. Three postings are about a promotion and a contest. Three are replies to customer inquiries.
These examples demonstrate some of the best practices when using a business account on Twitter for marketing and promotions such as building relationships. You can create good relationships with customers by regularly searching for your company’s name and addressing any concerns they may have. Ask for your customer’s opinions. This is a great resource to learn about their preferences. Keep the tweets relaxed and conversational. This will help your business to be seen as actual people that make up a business instead of an entity of some sort. Also, use the exclusivity of Twitter to your advantage. Offer Twitter exclusive coupons or deals they won’t find anywhere else. Tweet sneak peeks of projects or products before release and help your customers feel special for following your business.
Now for the bad practices that put you at risk. Don’t put yourself at risk of losing followers. You can avoid this by not sending direct messages unless asked to, especially if there is a promotion linked to the message. Twitter exclusive deals should only be sent as direct messages after the customer has read how your account works in your biography. Make sure to check that they have. Next, don’t risk losing the account by spamming. Post an update to an account once a day at most. Posting the same update to a Twitter account more than once a day is considered spamming. Furthermore, using multiple accounts to post the same update in one day is also considered spamming.