You Gotta Find Them

I was looking at some of the brands I follow on Twitter and discovered that most have a small number of followers compared to, well, me.

Just because you are a brand and you have a Twitter account, you are not going to automatically get followers.

Oh sure, there are some of your Real-Life fans that would like to be in contact with you, but they aren't going to always seek you out.

You Gotta Find Them.

Pat McGraw wrote about this recently:

The Importance of Clear Communications

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 09:15 AM PDT

I was reading Twitter Users Want Businesses to Answer Them, and the research is strongly indicating the importance of monitoring social media – especially Twitter. (And I think it also makes a really strong argument for clearly communicating to your audience the most effective ways for them to get the answers they need in a timely, accurate manner. In other words, never assume they will remember to call your toll-free hotline…)

According to May 2011 research from InboxQ, a service to feed businesses questions from Twitter, Twitter users—especially ones with more followers and thus, presumably, more experience—tend to ask questions with tweets directed at all followers rather than using @ replies or direct messages. This means questions are often not directed at a relevant brand, but many users want brands to answer them anyway.

I put that last sentence in bold because it’s the sentence that made me stop, reread, stop again and reread again.

So it would appear that, based on this research, experienced Twitter users will fire off specific questions for a brand, into the Twitterverse rather than go direct to the source! And if your company doesn’t happen to just stumble across that Tweet to Infinity and Beyond, you lose!

(For those of you thinking that every business should have resources dedicated to monitoring social media for ‘Mentions’, please turn to the left and the right so you can introduce yourself to representatives from companies that don’t invest in those resources because they haven’t been able to justify the expense.)

Users indicated that more responsive brands would benefit from greater loyalty and purchasing. Almost 60% of respondents said they would be more likely to follow a brand that answered them, and 64% said they would be more likely to make a purchase from that brand.

Those numbers shouldn’t be too surprising – responsiveness is good for business. But I include it as a reminder that your customer’s expectations might be a little out of whack (firing off tweets and expecting timely responses) but it impacts your business. So what are your going to do?

The solution? Don’t assume your customers know the best way to get accurate information from you. Be a lot more proactive in your own communications with the customer. Ask them if they have any questions whenever you get the opportunity. Remind them of the best, easiest, fastest way to get answers from you.

If you happen to have a large contingent of Twitterheads in your customer database, and you have dedicated the resources to monitor the Interwebs for ‘Mentions’, remind them of the importance of ‘@’ – and give them plenty of examples of how targeting their own communications makes it easier for you to help them quickly and efficiently.

And if you don’t have the resources – tell them. Let them know that you don’t monitor everything and if they need to talk to someone, the best way to get a fast, accurate answer is .

Yes, you still will have a handful of “Twit-iots” firing off tweets into the Twitterverse (did I get all the possible “Tweet” related words in?) But at that point, shouldn’t you be asking yourself if these are really you ‘best customers’?

Social Media is one of the many elements of Net-Centered Marketing that we provide for our clients at Cirrus ABS. Email me at : SHoward@CirrusABS.com or give me a call to see if we can help.

ScLoHo is Scott Howard, a Solutions Consultant with Cirrus ABS. You can contact him here: