Susan Wall, vice president of marketing at email and marketing services firm Bronto, gave the 100 or so people at the latest Entrepreneurs Series event on Monday something to tweet to their teams – or bosses.
If you aren’t watching what people are tweeting about your business on Twitter, then assign someone the job. Fast. Or suffer the consequences.
The consequences could be good. An angry customer on Twitter can drive away potential customers with a nasty tweet.
Or that same person can be turned into a happy customer if he or she receives a rapid response to that tweet with a way to resolve whatever the issue is.
Best of all, Wall told the crowd, other Twitter followers or your business might preempt your efforts with a solution of their own.
A lot of good or bad can be done in 140 or so characters.
After the event, which is put on by Southern Capitol Ventures, Walls aid the Durham-based company designates one full-time person as its Twitter patrol.
Wall, who participated in a panel discussions with representatives from SciQuest, DataFlux, WRAL.com and TechMedia, conceded that social media in general provides many opportunities – and risks – for marketers seeking to promote their brands and increase sales.
One quick realization is that marketers “didn’t control” Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all the other venues. She noted earlier that Bronto makes sure to “track every piece of creative, measure and test it.”
But social across the net is another matter.
To reap the benefits and help manage the risks, Wall stressed that marketers have to be “aware of the conversation” taking place about their businesses.
The best remedy a company can take if a complaint shows up is to be responsive, she added. At Bronto, Wall said: “We’re being responsive. You can’t wait.”
Having happy customers is a plus.
“Some customers respond even faster than we do,” Wall noted. “That’s even better.”
(Note: Capitol Broadcasting is an investor in Southern Capitol Ventures and is the parent company of WRAL Tech Wire.)
