Social Media Boosts Business

When Erin Hague first heard of Twitter she dismissed it as quickly as it takes one to read one of its 140-character posts. She figured the social-networking site would never benefit her retail business, Bigwag Dog Bakery.

“What would I need to tweet about?” she recalled saying.

Then her husband read an article about a device that connects to an oven and automatically tweets about what’s baking at the time.

That’s when Hague, who bakes dozens of dog treats daily from her location in Rogers, realized she had something to say.

She didn’t expect much to come from her twittering but thought it would be fun to let people know when she was pulling a batch of peanut butter treats out of the oven or what the specials would be for the “Yappy Hour” each Tuesday afternoon.

Soon customers were coming in and mentioning her Twitter feed and people who had never heard of Bigwag were coming in for the first time.

“It’s an inexpensive way to interact with customers and other merchants,” Hague said.

By connecting with people through Twitter, Bigwag has not only gained customers, but also grabbed industry recognition with a recent article in “The Pet Elite” magazine.

Hague said Twitter is just one arm of the business’ social media network, which includes Facebook and the Bigwag blog.

Like many businesses, she uses all three and links them together.

Kenny Tomlin, founder and CEO of Rockfish Interactive, said every business should be utilizing social media tools such as Twitter.

“There’s never been a better time to market your business,” he said. “Today you have not only the opportunity to speak with customers in a very cost-efficient manner but to actually engage with them.”

It’s essentially a digital form of word-of-mouth advertising.

Twitter.com, which was created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, began as a platform for friends to stay connected and has quickly evolved into a marketing tool.

According to Nielson.com, unique visitors to Twitter increased from 472,000 in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009.

Facebook, founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerburg, claims more than 250 million users.

And while both sites are reportedly developing revenue streams, they have yet to report profits.

Building Relationships
Natalie Ghidotti, a public relations professional with Eric Rob & Issac in Little Rock, has helped I.O. Metro develop a presence on Twitter as part of the company’s social media campaign.

I.O. Metro, a home furniture and accessories store based in Bentonville, also uses Facebook and a Youtube channel to drive customers to its 14 locations. They also recently launched a blog on the Web site.

But nothing offers the kind of instant back-and-forth communication with customers quite like Twitter does.

“For us Twitter is about relationship-building with customers and prospective customers,” she said.

Ghidotti said the company not only uses Twitter to alert customers about sales and new products but as a customer service tool.

“Really it’s just about getting on there and talking to people,” she said.

The company might tweet about a 25 percent off sale on mirrors or it might alert customers in Dallas about an event featuring local artists.

Ghidotti said the company isn’t necessarily trying to sell furniture through Twitter but hopes that by putting good information out there, such as home design tips, the customer might be inclined to visit one of the company’s stores.

The impact hasn’t been immediate, she said, but that was expected.

“We’ve seen a little bit of an impact, and we’re about to do more things, such as give discounts to Twitter followers, so we can track who is seeing the tweets and using them,” she said. “We’re in such a beginning phase, we’re sort of mapping out our strategies as we go.”

One such strategy will be putting measures in place to track the return on investment.

“That’s the big gray area of social media: How do we track this?” Ghidotti said. “It’s easier to measure more traditional uses of advertising. This is such a new area for all of us, we’re still learning how to better measure it.”

Ryan Ouyoumjian, one of the owners of Emelia’s Kitchen in Fayetteville, tweets about the restaurant’s daily specials, upcoming events, and what’s happening on Dickson Street.

“Twitter allows us to in stantly communicate with customers,” he said.

“It also allows us to stay tapped in to what is going on in our area.”

Ouyoumjian said he uses the tool to interact with customers on an individual level.

He asks questions and the customers provide feedback.

For example, he recently sent out a tweet asking for recommendations for daily lunch specials and received ideas in return.

If he notices a particular customer in the restaurant one night, he sends a message the next day saying he hopes they enjoyed their meal.

He also provides information about Mediterranean food, including recipes and health benefits.

“The most important thing I try to focus on is providing value,” he said. “I try to provide a reason for people to follow us.”

For Ouyoumjian, that means staying on top of his messages and responding within a reasonable time period.

“That’s where the cost is, it takes time and effort to follow through,” he said.

Twitter Tricks
Tomlin said there is some effort involved in using Twitter and businesses should take the time to learn how best to utilize the social media tool.

The first step is to listen, he said.

The business owner should listen to what customers are saying about the industry or the brand and be aware of the conversations taking place online.

The next step is to engage.

That’s when the business owner can actually participate in those conversations and utilize that dialogue with customers to market their company.

A prime example, Tomlin said, is Kogi, a Korean barbecue taco truck in Los Angeles. When the company began tweeting its trucks’ intended locations for the day, people started lining up before the trucks even arrived.

A local example of a company successfully using social media tools is the Buffalo Outdoor Center, Tomlin said.

The business tweets as “buffaloriver” to let followers know about river levels, canoe specials and camping sites.

Twitter has recognized the value of the micro-blogging service for businesses and responded last month by developing a user guide.

Twitter 101 contains best practices and case studies along with a downloadable slide show for business users.

Co-founder Biz Stone recently announced plans to launch premium services in the near future that the site can sell to business users.

While there may be a charge for some additional services, Tomlin believes the site, as it is currently used will remain free.

“I don’t think they’ll create a revenue model that will change what’s already available today for free,” he said.

More Options
For the first time in several years, businesses have an option beyond the traditional advertising methods, such as television commercials, billboards and radio spots.

And it isn’t nearly as cost prohibitive, Tomlin said.

“I don’t think those types of advertising will go away but certainly they will become less significant as marketers have more options,” he said.

Christine Howard, creative director for I.O. Metro, said her company isn’t abandoning traditional marketing strategies but integrating Facebook and Twitter into its overall marketing plan.

“We believe utilizing social media portals such as Twitter and Facebook is just another way for us to better connect with our customers and potential customers,” she said. “You might see an ad from us and it asks you to follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

“All these strategies are working together to reach out to our customers.”

Twitter Talk

twitter: a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables users to post messages of up to 140 characters.

Tweet: refers to an individual message. Can also be used as a verb to describe the action of posting, messaging or updating.

Twittering: Another verb used to describe the action of posting, messaging or updating.

DM, or direct message: a private message sent between followers.

RT, or retweet: used when reposting a followers message.
Example: RT@Username: original message.

Trending topics: the most-mentioned terms on Twitter at the moment.

Tweetup: A face-to-face gathering organized via Twitter.

Source: Twitter.com