Allen and I have been spending more and more time tuning into how different businesses are using Twitter.
Some are building relationships and brand loyalty (@WholeFoods).
Others are hyping current promotions (@Starbucks).
Some are fostering communities (@JetBlue).
Others are using it to demonstrate radical customer service, engagement, social media thought leadership, and insider passion for their product and corporate culture (@Zapp0s).
Some are dividing and conquering and going after their niche markets (@DellOutlet, @Direct2Dell, @DellSmallBiz, @DellSmBizOffers, and @DellOutletUK)
Still others are using it to fight negative corporate reputations re: customer service and inaccessibility (@ComcastCares).
Truth be told, the ways to use Twitter are ENDLESS.
This microblogging platform can be folded into editorial calendars, used to announce up-to-the-minute news alerts on a local, national, and global scale (CNN Breaking News – @cnnbrk has over 215,000 followers!), and to provide perceived accessibility to CEOs, best-selling authors, coaches, speakers, public figures, and celebrities (not surprisingly, @BritneySpears has a growing posse of peeps).
So when I just logged onto Weather.com to see if Allen is going to be able to catch his 6am flight to LA on Thursday or if we’re going to have to creatively Plan B it, I experienced a little “Yippee!” when I saw their last news alert was: “We’re on Twitter!”
I’m pasting their announcement below, because I feel like every business, no matter how big or small, should experience such public delight when they take the bold step and finally move into this fastest-growing, wonderfully-simple-yet-wildly-limitless social marketing platform.
We’re on Twitter!: weather.com and Today in Weather is on twitter. You can follow us at twitter.com/TWCi.
Twitter is a great way for us to communicate to our users the many things going on in the world of weather as well as bringing to light various features on weather.com and Today in Weather.
Over time, we imagine that it will also be a place where weather.com and twitter users alike can share with us impactful weather events in and around your neighborhood; giving us first-hand personal accounts.
So click on twitter.com/TWCi and start following us!
It’s no big deal, and yet a grand deal, all at once. So many businesses and biz owners are waiting to jump in because they want answers and numbers and ROI facts and strategy reports. Meanwhile, their competition is diving in, sharing tips, and having no-pressure conversations with current customers, past clients, and a whole world of new friends, fans, and prospects.
If you’re not tweeting yet, at the very least, secure your name, your biz name, your brand, and whatever else you need to do to protect what you’ve spent so much time building. Because you WILL be tweeting. If not this week (and why not, by the way?), then hopefully before 2009 draws to a close.
And congrats to Weather.com and the forward-thinking folks behind the scenes who made this happen, and who know innately that while rigid answers, how-tos, rules, and guidelines are nowhere near set in stone, opportunity, adventure, and viral visibility are theirs for the taking.
