Are you all aboard on the Twitter train?

At first social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were dominated by individuals just looking to share some photos or thoughts with other individuals. In the past few years there has been a heavy stream of businesses jumping aboard the social media bandwagon. There are still a lot of skeptics out there that don’t think having Twitter handle or Facebook page is going to make much of a difference to their company, or it’s not right for their type of company -- and I couldn’t disagree more.

Social media is here to stay. It might be constantly changing, but this way of engaging with people from all walks of life, from all over the world, isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Twitter recently reported that they had 125 million registered users. Imagine if you could tap into just a tiny percentage of those users? You really can if you go about it the right way!

You should definitely use the social media outlets to tell your customers about exciting company news, new products and any promotions you are running. But the key to a successful social media presence it to get down to a personal level with the customers or potential customers you engage with on these sites.

At InkHouse we have clients who do an outstanding job of this. They take the time to answer every question tweeted their way, thank those who gave their product or company praise, and do their best to make sure problems and concerns are addressed. It’s almost like another customer service channel at times, and customers are constantly turning to tweeting to a company rather than calling some robotic 800 number that usually ends up in punching the # sign over and over until your finger is numb.

These satisfied customers you just engaged with online often then take to their Twitter handles or Facebook walls and tell hundreds and even thousands of their followers how wonderful of a company yours was and that they made them feel like they mattered as a customer. Then those followers retweet it to their followers or share it with their Facebook friends, and over and over it gets retweeted and shared. Before you know it, those simple acts of customer engagements have made positive impressions on a countless number of people. Word of mouth has a whole different effect in the social media world.

Don’t even think for a second that your company’s line of business wouldn’t benefit from having a social media presence or isn’t the type of company to be tweeting. There is such a broad spectrum of companies using social media it would surprise you. I recently read an article about the growing number of plumbers using social media. They’ve been using Twitter to get advice from other plumbers, share knowledge and look for parts, as well as engage with their customers.

Still aren’t convinced you need social media? Don’t forget, consumers aren’t the only ones using Facebook and Twitter. There are countless decision makers who have a presence on social media sites. Having tools like Twitter and Facebook in your toolbox gives your company another way to start a conversation with these decision makers that some of your competitors may not have tried yet.