Frankly, I’m not sure how it’s working for TWICE because tracking Twitter visits is not easy, but what I do know is people seem to like it. About one month ago TWICE kicked off its Facebook and Twitter efforts. TWICE’s Lisa Johnston and I put the sites together and then sent out the news of their birth via an email alert. We were instantly deluged with Facebook and Twitter action. After the first few hours we had more than 250 Facebook fans and about 100 Twitter followers. Those numbers have now almost doubled. Even as I write this blog item two more people signed up to follow TWICE.
I’ve noticed that Best Buy, CompUSA, OfficeMax and Office Depot, among others, are Twittering, as well. Most are posting sale items in much the same way TWICE posts news headlines — a few words and a link. I know Twitter is driving a small, but growing, percentage of people to TWICE.com and I have to think it’s doing the same for these retailers.
Now the question is how does one take advantage of what these sites offer? Their inherent value is obvious. They give the most direct, and open-ended, contact possible to the customer.
Will Twitter play a large roll in retail? Will people get sick of receiving 43 updates per day on what is for sale? Will an app be developed for printable coupons?
The possibilities are as endless as the tweets that appear all day long on Twitter.
