Your Customer's Twitter Account Can Build or Kill Your Brand

Today, I read a tweet about yet another twitter user reaching out to a business because they had an issue with a service they paid to have.

There seems to be a growing number of disgruntled consumers that are appearing in my twitter feed complaining about something or another. I’ve even heard it stated in an office conversation. One employee upset about her auto insurance company after she had a wreck wasn’t making any progress on the phone. A fellow employee suggested, “taking it to twitter.” So, she did—hash tags aimed and firing away for all of the world to see.

I’ve heard it said, “every challenging situation is an opportunity.” In the case of managing a business’ social media marketing campaign, it is not just icing on the cake to quickly find a solution to the customer’s duress—it’s essential. It’s also an opportunity to build a relationship with them. Perhaps, after the business resolves the pending customer issue, they add them to an email list that offers perks of some sort. There are some really great companies out there that can help you create and manage email lists like the one I just mentioned- Exact Target, for example. Using them would be a nice way to keep that tweeting, trigger-finger pushing positive buttons.

In the case of the ATT U-Verse tweeting situation, the user ended up redeeming the previous angry posts he had written with a positive post. It was the twitter responders of that company that turned the situation around. And, the customer updated his followers about his satisfaction. I’m not sure if he’s on a “keep the tweep happy” email list, but he should be.

A customer’s twitter voice seems to mean something to a growing number of companies. Perhaps, it is because a customer isn’t merely measured as an individual, but a force of followers. And, because the consumer is realizing the power of their potential viral whirlwind that can be prompted by social media, those companies have engaged in the necessary social media marketing programs to prevent a conundrums, but are those businesses taking it a step further with email marketing?

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Today’s guest post was written by Kim Greuel (@kimberleyanne) is an SEO Consultant for Slingshot SEO. When she’s not consulting with clients about optimizing their websites to rank atop Search Engine Results Pages, Kim can be found sipping tea, knitting, traveling or hanging with her dog, Spoon.