Why Your Business Must Be Monitoring and Engaging Consumers on Twitter

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In today's eMarketer there is a study about the type of tweets on Twitter. Researchers at the College of Information and Technology at Pennsylvania State University studied nearly 150,000 tweets that named brands.

Here is my interpretation of their results:

1. When consumers mention a brand on Twitter, over 50% of these tweets are opportunities for a company to engage a consumer in a one-on-one conversation.

These tweets include those brand messages that provide a sentiment (good or bad), seek information, or provide information. These are prime opportunities for a business to get involved on Twitter and to engage the consumer. You may be able to sell your product, provide customer support, and simply improve the customer experience by replying.


2. People who have opinions about brands and are willing to share them on Twitter, are potential advocates for your business.

Over 22% of the tweets are about opinions. Engage those consumers on Twitter and determine if there is an opportunity to build a relationship. These relationships can turn these consumers into your brand advocates on Twitter and elsewhere. At the very least, send a "thank you" tweet to those consumers who have a positive opinion about your business or brand.

3. Even the negative tweets are an opportunity for a business to turn this opinion around, and in the process, show other Twitter users how you are providing service and value on Twitter.

Over 6% of the tweets in this study are categorized as as "bad" or "wretched" brand opinions. While this sounds like a small number, it translates to 9,000 negative brand tweets and expands to the Twitter universe of followers.

Frankly, having just one negative tweet about your brand is too many. But don't look at a negative tweet as a reason to get angry at the consumer (like Horizon Realty Group who is suing a woman who tweeted about the room she rented).

A great first step in turning around a user's opinion is using Twitter to engage that user in a friendly, authentic and open way. You may be able to mollify or solve that consumer's problem.

In addition, you will be getting positive Twitter karma from your followers, who will read how professionally you are handling an unhappy consumer and your willingness to do so on a public, social site.

My suggestion:

Companies should not just monitor the tweets about Twitter, but also actively engage consumers when they mention your business or brand. In fact, you should also monitor your competitors and engage these consumers as well.

Studies reveal that more than two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies tweet about customer service or direct marketing responses. Isn't it time you took advantage of Twitter for your business?