Viewpoint Was Too Hasty to Twit Twitter?

Reader says the social networking site is cost-effective to reach consumers.

Kenneth Cosgrove, marketing and operations manager for Piedmont Petroleum in Greenville, S.C., disagreed with my recent Viewpoint column in the August 10, 2009 issue of Convenience Store News, "The Postman Always Rings Twice, or More," http://www.csnews.com/csn/print/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003998123.

Reacting to an email from a reader who deemed Twitter a "waste of time," I wrote that while I thought some social networks, like Facebook, can be used effectively by business, my feeling is that the so-called "Twitter Revolution" is being fueled by an overeager media.

Ken disagreed:

"Don - I just read your "viewpoint" on why you think twitter is "blown way out of proportion" and that "facebook has more commercial uses."

"Well we have both twitter and facebook. I use our corporate twitter account much more than our facebook. Here's the thing, facebook is a personal social site which makes it harder for companies to effectively market within those social parameters. People who tweet are much more receptive to media messages. However, back to the point: I don't think they are useless and pointless. You see, unlike sheetz and wawa et al, I don't have a huge marketing budget; my marketing budget covers my monthly pump toppers and maybe a few posters in the window. We don't do, nor can we afford big time stuff like billboards and radio. That's just not our business model. So if I have two unique, fun ways to reach my consumers - even if they aren't my primary demo - then cool - let's do it! The ancillary benefit is that no one else in my market is doing this. So I've got a neat little point of differentiation for us and most importantly it costs me nothing. 

"In the midst of this economic slowdown the last thing I'm going to do is abandon a cost-free method of reaching my consumers.

"I enjoy your column and your magazine. See you at NACS."

Ken makes a great point about Twitter being a fun, unqiue way to reach consumers -- as well as providing a unique bit of differentiation. Was I hasty in my slam of Twitter? What do you think?

-- Don Longo

Comments

[Kim Mickelsen]

Out of the thousands of Twitter tips and strategies, we have identified three ways that companies are effectively using a micro-blog service today that have resulted in real benefits:

1. Micro Customer Service:
These companies give customers a way to receive help on a real-time basis.
Benefit: Better customer service ranking.
Check them out: @Comcastcares, @Firefox, and @Pandora_Radio

2. Microburst Sales:
These companies offer real-time, short-term sales as well as deep-discount product offerings.
Benefit: Increased sales.
Check them out: @PunchPizza, @NameCheap and @DellOutlet

3. Crowd-Sourced Research:
This includes polling of information as well as finding the correct contacts.
Benefit: Finding information.
Check them out: @skydiver (HARO) and @Threadless (Twitter Tees)

If your company cannot benefit from one of these three tools, it is probably not essential to have a micro-blog or Twitter presence. Typically, a good micro-blog account requires constant updates and time, especially to get them up and running. If the time investment doesn’t create profit worth more than the cost of time to build and manage a micro-blog, it isn’t worthwhile.

[TL]

Twitter is a fad. I think it will die a "pet rock" death. At best, it's a playful distraction -- but it will collapse once people get bored or overwhelmed with hearing what others are doing or thinking every 5 minutes of their day. Personally, I'm busy enough keeping up with the must-dos.

[Ryan K.]

Social networks are all about opening a dialogue with people in the method they prefer. They make that clear by following you where they are most receptive to your messages. It's about understanding how your customers want to engage with you: be that email, RSS, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.. Offering a wide variety of choices is the best way to connect with them.

I agree with Ken that it's a great low cost way to get your message out there and create unique content for the customer.