In our last post, we highlighted a study that revealed a correlation between social media and financial success. Some of these companies deemed as social media “mavens” in the report included huge companies such as Starbucks and Nike. With a global presence, enormous budget and millions of brand ambassadors, it’s not too shocking that these companies are successful at social media.
That doesn’t mean that small businesses don’t have the potential or resources to be social media wonders themselves. Small businesses typically earn their customers through traditional word of mouth. Twitter, which allows users to exchange quick 140 character messages, is a perfect model of digital word of mouth. And small business owners across the U.S. are beginning to recognize its WOM power.
Curtis Kimball, who opened a crème brûlée cart in San Francisco, knows how powerful Twitter can be for word-of-mouth marketing. With more than 6,000 followers, Kimball can Tweet where his cart is, and customers can easily locate him and purchase crème brûlée. According to this New York Times article, the crème brûlée became so popular that Kimball had to quit his day job to manage the demand.
Restaurants are among small businesses that are taking advantage of the digital word-of-mouth opportunities that Twitter provides. There are tons of ways that a restaurant can use Twitter, from Tweeting specials, posting pictures and even getting feedback from customers. Myers and Chang, a restaurant in Boston, talks to its customers on Twitter, as you’ll see below.
Feedback is valuable, and it is among the many ways that businesses can use social media to work for them. Think of it this way, if one person with 200 followers posts to Twitter that they had a good experience dealing with your company or brand, it’s likely that 100 people were exposed to that message. So, one Tweet is equivalent to 100 (or way more) word-of-mouth recommendations.
The worst thing to do is to sit back and let the global companies get all the attention. Jump in now, even if you are a small business. Remember, we’ve done this a time or two, so we’re here to help!
