A recent question in USA Today by Steve Strauss in the \”Ask the Expert\” column asked the question, \”Should Entrepreneur\’s Twitter?\” Mr. Strauss answered the question with a definitive \”No\” and gave several reasons. One must wonder how someone who so clearly does not understand Twitter was able to speak as an \”expert.\” As a true expert on the subject, I wish to set the record straight and dissuade entrepreneurs from acting on Mr. Strauss\’ uninformed and faulty conclusions.
1) Mr Strauss says \”You are in business\”
It is true that businesses exist to sell products or offer services that people want at prices they are willing to pay. However, many businesses have forgotten a key element of building their business, one which is facilitated by using Twitter. That key element is \”relationship.\” The reason mom and pop shops succeeded or failed in the past was largely due to the relationships they formed with the people in their neighborhood. In an era when big business has alienated the customer by demonstrating lack of caring and only seeking a bigger bottom line, it is those businesses who get back to the basics and place value on relationship who will reap the results. Twitter offers opportunity to quickly and easily build relationship in a forum where social proof has great meaning.
2) Mr Strauss says \”It offers just too much information\”
While it is true that there are those who use Twitter for more mundane aspects of their lives, Mr. Strauss and others fail to realize that this so-called \”minutiae\” is often what leads customers to see a human face behind the business. Case in point is Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, whose Twitter account is ripe with personal tweets detailing the minutiae of his day. With nearly 400,000 followers, people are delighted to get close to Tony via his more mundane tweets. It helps them to identify with him as a human being, not just as CEO of a billion-dollar ecommerce site. In doing so, Zappos is building more raving fans. Mr. Strauss also misses a key point in assuming that individuals are the ones who should be paying attention to company tweets. On the contrary, it is the companies who should be paying attention to the tweets of their customers and prospects.
3) Mr Strauss says \”It requires too much time\”
Twitter takes very little time to learn. If people are stumped by the site, it\’s because they haven\’t grasped the simplicity of answering a simple question, \”What are you doing?\” in 140 characters or less. The fact is that social media is here to stay, and it is where people are gathering. I liken it to the water cooler of our time. Any savvy marketer would agree that wherever people are gathered there is opportunity. Just ask Frank Eliason of Comcast. Not known in the past as the poster child for customer service, Comcast has placed Mr. Eliason in charge of managing the company\’s Twitter account. Frank places a great deal of value on his interactions with customers and prospects, gladly answering customer support issues in a very public forum. Remember, whenever a customer is helped on Twitter, the entire membership has an opportunity to see how helpful the company has been. Due to Mr. Eliason\’s clear understanding of social media and proper use of Twitter, Comcast is slowly making headway as a company that actually cares about their customers.
4) Mr Strauss says \”What can you say in 140 characters?\”
It\’s said that \”brevity is the soul of wit\”, something that Mr. Strauss was unable to grasp in his article that went on way to long to illustrate points that were not supportable. When one understands the concept of interacting with customers in a way that seeks to build relationship, its easy to see that it doesn\’t take many words to recognize that a customer inquiry is important. When he makes the assumption that a business tweet would need to be longer than 140 characters, he demonstrates that he totally misses the point of social media. Perhaps he should practice his elevator speech some more.
In rebuttal to Mr. Strauss, and with all due respect, I will provide the correct answer once more.
Should entrepreneurs use Twitter? Not only should they use it, but they should dive headfirst into social media in order to build relationship with their customers and prospects, enhance their brand by customizing a profile picture and background, and watch sales increase as proper use of this revolutionary tool that gets back to basics will draw people to their products and services like never before.