I Just Solved a Problem – What to do With Twitter

For a while now I’ve been hearing lots of people discuss the business applications of twitter; basically what’s the best way to utilize it as a tool.  Most people who I stay in touch with say ‘Yeah twitter is fun and it’s a great way to manage your brand, but what else.  It’s not overly effective at generating new business.’  And it might never be.

Here’s the epiphomy I had today.  Twitter is a giant room that’s constantly got people comming and going, meeting each other, doing business, sharing ideas, and solving problems.  So here’s what you do… you listen and you create as much incentive for your existing customers to engage in twitter conversation as possible.  You put a sidebar on your website that says ‘got a question? ask us on twitter.’  You put the same thing on your blog.  You have a few of your key employees managing your brand’s account.

This strategy will inevitably generate followers, so here’s what you do.  Someone asks your company a twitter question.  Then you re-tweet it so that everyone on your follow list can see the question, and then you answer the question (if you can in 140 words).  The advantage is that this creates a soft conversion point for new business, while providing a valuable resource for existing customers.

Oh!  I’ve got a huge twitter related announcement.  It is very likely that a tweet that I received from @nickilaycoax will result in a gig for the Pissed-of Catfish.  If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is.