A Touch of Gray and a touch of class, courtesy of Twitter
If you need a case study as to how Twitter can serve business purposes, allow me to provide not one, but two. (Just so you know, it takes a little while to tell this story.)
A Touch of Gray
I was setting up some segments on Blog Talk Radio for the Bizzuka Buzz radio show we do every Friday when an ad banner caught my attention. It said something like, "Listen to Jack Nicholson's last words in A Few Good Men." (I apologize for not grabbing a screenshot when I saw it.)
Being a Nicholson fan to begin with and in the mood to hear him say, "The truth. You can't handle the truth," I clicked the ad which took me to a landing page for Just for Men's Touch of Gray product which included the clip as well as a call-to-action to get a free box of the stuff.
While I don't have a lot of hair left to color most of it is gray, so I clicked the button. That's when things went awry and where Twitter enters the story.
I assumed that, when clicking the free offer button, I would be taken to an online form I could complete and be done with it. Nope! That wasn't the case. Instead a PDF form was served up that I'd have to download, print, complete (using a writing instrument no less!) and put in the mail. Whaaat!?! Find an envelope and a stamp?! Are you kidding?!
That just seemed stupid. Of course, I didn't follow through. Instead I went to Twitter and .
I got it off my chest and really wasn't expecting to hear from anyone. How wrong I was. Not only did I hear from someone, I was contacted via both Twitter and email from Tom Cunniff, VP Director of Interactive Communications, Combe Incorporated, the company that makes Touch of Gray!
In the email, which Tom gave me permission to publish, he asked, "Would you mind if I share your email at the company? It would be good for people to hear your POV." Can you believe that?!
"Very cool that Twitter let me hear what you thought, and that it helped me get in touch. We live in exciting times," he added.
When all was said and done, Tom is sending me not one but two free boxes to try. (I couldn't decide if I want to be a blond or brunette! :->) BTW, did you hear what I said, "Tom is sending..." The VP for interactive is taking time to make sure that my needs are served. That's what I call customer service, and a touch of class!
Omniture SiteCatalyst
I have one more anecdote that testifies to Twitter's usefulness as a listening post. It regards Omniture.
We use Omniture SiteCatalyst for our own and client sites here at Bizzuka, but are having implementation issues. We've been waiting quite awhile for Omniture to get back to us with some verifications before we complete the implementation. So, what did I do? I went to Twitter and asked my fellow tweets whether they knew anyone within SiteCatalyst who could help expedite matters.
Not only did I receive responses from two different individuals who shared contact information, I also heard via Twitter from , an Omniture consultant inquiring about the problem.
In fact, the timing of his reply was interesting because it followed the one I received from Tom regarding Touch of Gray as you can see below.
What do these two examples tell us?
Companies are listening to the groundswell.
A practice that started with Dell is extending itself across a much wider range of companies and industries. I mean, given that Omniture is a technology company, you might expect them to be listening. But a company that makes hair color for middle-aged men? Yet, there they are.
Companies are taking the groundswell seriously.
Why would a major corporation like Combe care what I think about their advertising? It's because they understand that the tools of social media have truly empowered the consumer and amplified their voice exponentially. Word of mouth has always been a driving force in purchasing decisions, but at no time is that more true than now.Kudos to any company who listens and responds quickly and proactively.
Twitter is proving to have business relevance.
Twitter is the new virtual water cooler around which people carry on all kinds of conversations about brands, products, services, industries... you name it. As a result, companies are using it as a listening post. Who'd have thunk it.
I have to agree with Tom. These are exciting times indeed. Do you agree?
