Twitter Success Stories
Ranked #1,680 in Internet, #104,628 overall
Business Is Discovering: Twitter = Profits!
The latest craze is, should you be tweeting on Twitter?
Well, in my experience, like anything in business, you're unlikely to succeed unless you know what you're doing and why you're doing it.
So, I've created this Squidoo lens for business owners, because there is growing evidence that for many businesses, Twitter = Profits!
Table of Contents
- What Is Twitter & How Does It Work?
- That's What's Great About Twitter - Tweets Reveal All
- How Are Businesses Are Using Twitter?
- Using Twitter As A Real-Time Mailing List
- Using Twitter For Market Research & Product Testing
- Using Twitter For Customer Service
- Using Twitter To Find New Customers
- Using Twitter To Build A Customer Base
- Using Twitter To Create A Buzz
- The Moonfruit / Twitter Marketing Success Story
- Tips On How Not To Run A Twitter Campaign
- Using Twitter To Advertise Jobs
- Using Twitter To Create A New Business
- Using Twitter To Find Success
- Tweeting By Your Employees
- A Selection Of Great Twitter Articles For Business
- My Twitter Services
- Twitter Humor
What Is Twitter & How Does It Work?
Twitter search explained
"...people news & trends...what's interesting and who's talking about it...[and]...news as it happens..."
This is precisely the sort of information - coming to you in real time - that businesses of all sizes want! The skill is in understanding the potential of Twitter, then drilling down and utilizing this precious, free marketing information.
That's What's Great About Twitter - Tweets Reveal All
So, if you are considering using Twitter for your business promotions, you should take a few minutes to acquaint yourself with how Twitter's users see the service, because it's only when you understand the mindset of the market that you can hope to pitch your products effectively.
How Are Businesses Are Using Twitter?
And so to the nitty gritty, how are businesses are using Twitter?
What are their results?
What sort of campaigns do they run?
The best way to answer those questions is to look at some individual campaigns and to do so, I've had to create a number of categories that, essentially, describe the campaign. However, when you drill down into the individual campaigns, I'm sure you'll also notice that some of them are actually in several of the other categories as well.
So, to the categories of how businesses are using Twitter:
- as a real-time mailing list
- as market research service for testing new products
- to improve customer service
- to poach customers
- to build a customer base
- to create a "buzz" and, in effect, build a mailing list (See: 1)
- to advertise jobs
- to use Twitter to actually create a completely new business
- for individuals to inadvertently find notoriety and then success
Using Twitter As A Real-Time Mailing List
Tweets from: The Treats Truck & Rickshaw Dumplings
In March 2010, Reuters News service reported that New York food trucks are turning to Twitter.It seems that New Yorkers thrive on their 3,000 food trucks. Many are based in one area but some are mobile and if the truck owners are having time or traffic problems, they can tweet their estimated time of arrival. The other side of the coin, is that they can advertise - perhaps, even hype - their specials.
The accompanying video report includes brief interviews with two twittering food truck owners, The Treats Truck & Rickshaw Dumplings, who feel that using Twitter like a real-time mailing list makes both good business sense and for great customer relations.
Using Twitter For Market Research & Product Testing
Tweets from Humphry Slocombe
"Since opening its doors in 2008, Humphry Slocombe has challenged ice cream conventions with its variety of unique and unusual flavors, including:
Secret Breakfast - bourbon ice cream with cornflakes
Prosciutto
Peanut Butter Curry &
Balsamic Caramel
[It] was recently named one of the 100 Best New Food and Drink Experiences by Food and Wine magazine."
Broadway World
...its results from Marketing using Twitter are still well worth investigating: Their exotic flavors change daily and having 300,000 Twitter followers enables them to product test flavors very quickly. Sean Vahey the co-owner, says:
"We started using Twitter just because we have zero money for any kind of advertising or promotions...As soon as we put it on Twitter, it moves - it's an insane response."
New York Times
A Selection Of Humphry Slocombe's Tweets
that line of customers outside Humphry Slocombe's means that either the ice cream is great or the tweets are fantastic!
Even a brief look at Humphry Slocombe on Twitter will indicate, quite clearly that their Twitter feed is very er...flamboyant! Try some excerpts from a sample month (October 2010) below, Do continue until the end because there is a v-e-r-y unusual conclusion:
We want to make you a star! Stop by the shop at 5pm if you would like to be on an episode of Unique Eats. Are you ready for your close up?
5:33 AM Oct 2nd
Strawberry Margarita Pops! Fresh strawberries, Sea Salt & Sauza Tequila combined to quiet that screaming in your head...for a little while.
10:26 AM Oct 5th
Are you lonesome tonight? Elvis (the fat years) is here - Banana ice cream w/Bacon Peanut Brittle. Curl up with the pint that loves you back.
8:27 AM Oct 7th
[Here's where it gets interesting: A journalist receives Humphry Slocombe's Tweet, is excited enough to pop down to the store, tries the new ice cream and then writes about it.]
Ginger Pineapple Kombucha Sorbet going fast but getting ready to spin more just for you!
9:58 AM Oct 7th
Retweet Ex: SFoodie Humphry Slocombe introduces kombucha sorbet, sells out in hours: http://bit.ly/a5vFpK
12:26 PM Oct 7th
N.B.: This link above goes to the prestigious S.F. Weekly.com. Their correspondent, Tamara Palmer, opens her article with:
"We hurried to Humphry Slocombe today as soon as we saw a tweet announcing the debut of ginger pineapple kombucha sorbet..."
Pumpkin Ale ice cream! Roasted Sugar Pie Pumpkin & toasted pumpkin seeds - just kicked the ass of all other pumpkin ales, muwahah
6:15 AM Oct 20th
O.K., it's San Francisco - they're gay - but from a marketing perspective, Humphry Slocombe are speaking the language of their market. Through Twitter, they can test new products within the hour and - if the line outside their shop is anything to go by - probably also get very detailed and enthusiastic market research from their long-time customers.
Through Twitter, Humphry Slocombe have cleverly managed to turn
product testing and market research
- a cost for most businesses -
into another source of income!
Using Twitter For Customer Service
Tweets from Avaya
Avaya uses third-party applications to:
- track any mentions of its brand name in Twitter
- receive automated alerts for dozens of keywords for [its] products & also
- receive automated alerts for the products and the related keywords of its competitors
"The company follows up to 2,500 Twitter postings a week, often from clients with technical issues. [Paul Dunay, Avaya's Global Managing Director of Services and Social Marketing]. said:
'If we see those, we're on them in 15 or 20 minutes - that's providing killer support and customer delight.'"
On a much more mundane level, here is the story of the first known usage of Twitter for taking commercial orders, Coffeegroundz. It actually makes good reading because it's a genuine piece of Social Media history.
Using Twitter To Find New Customers
Tweets from Avaya
Avaya (see module directly above) also use Twitter to look for potential sales leads and opportunities to 'replace' competitors.One day, a company posted on Twitter about its quest for a new phone system. Mr. Dunay replied, introduced himself and offered to put this person in touch with an Avaya strategic consultant.
"Within 13 days, we were able to convert that one tweet into a $250,000 sale."
Using Twitter To Build A Customer Base
Tweets from Whole Foods
Whole Foods, based in Austin, Texas, USA but with stores across the USA (and now in Canada and the U.K.), uses a completely different Twitter marketing strategy.They now have approaching 2 million followers and use their Twitter account to answer general questions about:
- healthy foods
- specific questions about products in their stores
- queries about why a certain product wasn't in a particular store e.g. "@doggylove86 Sorry to hear we didn't have your favorite soup today; our selection does vary daily to ensure everyone sees their faves! 7:27 AM Oct 23rd" etc
- as well as more personal comments like "@crobin That sounds like it's going to be a mighty fine pot of beef stew! (And we're sure the cost per serving is pretty reasonable)" 10:09 AM Oct 23rd
Denis B. Hancock looks at the Whole Foods Twitter strategy in fascinating detail., including Whole Foods' creation of secondary Twitter accounts for smaller niches.
N.B.: If you're interested in seeing how major retailers are using Twitter, Tom Sullivan has aggregated an interesting collection of Retail Tweets (including Dunkin Donuts, Home Depot, J C Penney etc.)
Using Twitter To Create A Buzz
That's the nature of "the buzz" - it something that captured the public's imagination at a particular moment in time.
Can "the buzz" be fabricated?
Well, in my mind, no!
However - as with all those artists listed above - their successes can be analyzed and there's every opportunity for you (unless you're a genius who has the talent to transcend them) to create a smaller buzz.
Twitter is no different but I'm going to present arguably the biggest Twitter Buzz success to date, Moonfruit Web Hosting with the idea that analysis of their wonderfully successful Twitter marketing campaign may be of assistance to you.
The Moonfruit / Twitter Marketing Success Story
For its10th anniversary, Moonfruit, a UK web hosting company in the U.K. decided to hold a contest for some free publicity.The were 10 prizes, a MacBook Pro laptop computers, to be given away, one every day, for 10 days. To enter, all you had to do was send a tweet using the hash tag #moonfruit - and you could enter as many times as you liked - with the winners chosen at random via an algorithm. Cleverly, Moonfruit also encouraged contestants to be "creative".
[The idea was that #moonfruit would register as part of the Moonfruit global "conversation" and become a trend on Twitter. I'm guessing that they felt that the conversation would then become viral within Twitter and cross over into other social media - which is what actually happened.]
The offer of a free MacBook Pro laptop really hit a geek nerve, with all sorts of entries, including many user-content videos (featured in the module directly below) from competitors happy to proclaim what a great web host Moonfruit was (even if they hadn't ever used them).
- traffic from the UK increased by 200%
- traffic from the USA.increased by 1,000% &
- new customers increased by 350% - remember, web hosting is an on-going cost and many new customers would probably still be with Moonfruit
Kunal Kristian provides a very detailed analysis of the MoonfruitTwitter Campaign, including looking at the slight controversy that occurred, both with Twitter and some of Twitter's users.
The Moonfruit / Twitter Contest Videos
Tips On How Not To Run A Twitter Campaign
As with any successful marketing campaign, there will be others, perhaps competitors, keen to replicate its success.So, if you like the sound of what Moonfruit did and feel inspired enough to run your own Twitter competition, Twitip provides three simple tips about what not to do!
Using Twitter To Advertise Jobs
Many small business owners are unaware that major corporations such as those below are now using Twitter to advertise job vacancies, especially to the younger demographic groups:- K-mart - The Statesman, March 2010: 7,000 jobs to be advertised on Twitter
- Starbucks
- McDonald's
- Hewitt
- Sony
- SAP
- Petco
- Compass Group
- Union Pacific
- Intercontinental Hotels
Using Twitter To Create A New Business
While the most significant part of this category would have to be those companies that advise businesses on Social Marketing - of which one component would be Twitter - I consider them to be components of a company's SEO or Advertising budget.Instead, I'm focusing more on what I call "aggregators" - I'm unaware of any specific jargon to describe them yet - which take retail Twitter feeds and repackage them for consumers.
One such example is Tweet My Jobs, which takes Twitter feeds (or more precisely, Twitter "Jobs" feeds) from numerous retailers, including many corporate big players and - in real time - displays a POSITIONS VACANT feed in your particular area of expertise and/or location. CNN reports on Tweet My Jobs
Using Twitter To Find Success
Tweets from Shit My Dad says & Shh! Don't Tell Steve
I've already documented the meteoric success of the Shit My Dad Says Twitter feed, which went from Twitter to New York Times best seller to network TV sitcom premiere in the space of one year at Shit My Dad Says and now there may be another.In September 2010, CBS News reported that Ashton Kutcher is developing a Twitter-derived show for TV. The movie star and acclaimed TV producer, apparently wants to develop the shhdontellsteve feed, which "will chart the adventures of a man and the jobless, drunken roommate he secretly tweets about".
While it's very-much a long shot, David Grinner is publishing his great aunt's tweet-like diary entries from 1937 - 1941as Genny Spencer. I believe that exercises such as this could quite possibly lead to someone eventually landing a movie deal, simply because it presents archived information in an interesting way.
Tweeting By Your Employees
Leaving aside the Arduino Duemilanove micro-controller, which is the "brain" of the system - at the user end, there's a box on the wall with a dial and a when a batch of e.g. sourdough bread is fresh out of the oven, their workers can Tweet by twiddling the dial to the sourdough option and hitting the send button. Thus, craftsmen, laborers or even unskilled workers can tweet without the company fearing that they might ever be misrepresented.
N.B.: I would guess that, in time, you will be capable of programming in perhaps a dozen variations for each option to diminish the appearance of repetition but at the moment, that doesn't seem to be the case.
The Baker Tweet video has no narration (until a few seconds at the end) but it does show the device's capabilities well.
A Selection Of Great Twitter Articles For Business
- Darren Rowse - who produced the Why I Love Twitter video featured previously - provides an excellent introduction to Twitter for business users with 11 Ways To Help Your Site Go Viral
- Tracy Osborn provides some more detailed tips for Jump-Starting Your Company's Twitter Account
- Nathan Hangen gets down to the Twitter nitty-gritty with 3 Ways To Monitor Your Brand With Twitter &
- Hendry Lee's How To Track Twitter Clicks And Get Conversion Data looks at integrating Twitter with Google Analytics
- Engaging Social Media looks at 6 Varied Twitter Marketing Success Stories, from Skittles to Autism Day
- While Dennis B. Hancock's The 5 Phases Of Twitter's Evolution is not specifically relevant to Business, it is worth reading as a feasible prediction
My Twitter Services
If you would like me to help you design a Twitter campaign for your business before then, please feel free to drop me a line via the Contact at the top of the page.
“Don't miss the Twitter Humor section via the tab at the top of the page!”
Follow Me On Twitter - Just Click the Birdie!
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Tweet Me, Why Don't You?
or tell me about your Twitter successes in the guestbook
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ArtByLinda Feb 8, 2011 @ 11:48 pm | delete
- Excellent information on ways to utilize twitter to find success! I really learned a lot from this lens, thank you!
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JeremiahStanghini Jan 17, 2011 @ 8:58 pm | delete
- Pretty cool stuff. Don't yet use twitter, but it was good to learn all this information about it. :-)
With Love and Gratitude,
Jeremiah
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Pukeko
Oct 29, 2010 @ 3:12 am | delete
- Fantastic information and twitter success stories. I don't use twitter very effectively. I got some great ideas here. Blessed by a Squidoo angel and added to my angel lens for 2010
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the777group
Oct 29, 2010 @ 3:18 am | delete
- I think that Twitter will outstrip Facebook and become the most successful Social Media for small business this year.
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Reply
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Specialeetees
Oct 28, 2010 @ 4:12 pm | delete
- Very informative and well put together lens, adding to my favourites so I can check out all those useful links!
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- Load More
A Small Selection Of My Other Squidoo Lenses
so I'm eclectic!
What Blogs Areound The World Are Saying About Twitter Success Stories
- UWCCorp Reviews Google+ Success Stories, Unveils New Social Marketing Training ...
- Those who have read UWCCorp reviews know that the company has long offered tutorial services to small and home-based business owners seeking to maximize the impact of their Facebook and Twitter accounts. According to a company spokesperson, ...
- Twitter co-founder says there's more to life than tweets
- But Stone said if Twitter is a success, it's because of its users, not just technology. ?Humanity moves forward with a little help from technology but it's really people that are bringing about the change,? he said. ?The Berlin Wall didn't come down ...
- Lin, Knicks drub Hawks to get back to .500
- To get the latest sports news from USA TODAY, including game results, columns and features, follow us on Twitter at @USATODAYSports. Baron Davis and JR Smith will face the Heat for the first time as Knicks. "We have a great challenge tomorrow," said ...
- Social Media in CRE No Longer Just for Socializing
- Marketing uses LinkedIn and Twitter to communicate settled listings, ratified leases, available properties, changes to available properties, client success stories, CRE research trends, team updates and successes and carry on conversations regarding ...
Twitter Humor
However important Twitter may turn out to be, there's no doubt that it's rife for sending up as, almost certainly, more than 99% of tweets are inconsequential.So, here is a selection of the best Twitter Humor presently available.
Twitter Humor Videos
forgetting success with Twitter for a while!
Video # 2: Twitter In Real Life - Twatif - the creative folks from digital ad. agency, Zemoga, with their amusing take on Twitter
Video # 3: Twitter In The Office - more from Twatif, this time, how the 140 character count can get you into trouble! [Warning! Racy language]
N.B.: There is another Twatif video but its contents may not be to everyone's tastes, so it's not linked to, here
Video # 4: Twitter Whore 1 - Internet comedienne, Lisa Nova, portraying a Twitter Addict
Video # 5: Twitter Whore 2 - Lisa Nova
My Collections Of Commercials From Around The World
Twitter Humor Links
- Rapper 50 Cent's Bogus Twitter Feed
- X-rated street-talk translated into proper English
- The Four Stages Of Getting Twitter
- A clever graphic explains the Twitter phenomenon
- Michael Jackson -v- Ipads -v- Iphones -v- Twitter
- A wonderfully woeful parody of the iconic Beat It music video by comedy group, The Pantless Knights
The Top 10 Quotes About Twitter By Celebrities
who never really said them!
Vote for your favorite.
"The answer my friend, is twittering in the wind."
Songwriter, Bob Dylan0 points
"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating Twitter."
Vice President, Al Gore0 points
"Ask not what Twitter can do for you, ask what you can do for Twitter."
President John F. Kennedy0 points
"Men's natures are alike - it is their tweets that separate them."
Philosopher, Confucius0 points
"140 characters ought to be enough for anybody."
Microsoft Founder, Bill Gates0 points
Follow Me On Twitter
Funny Twitter Feeds
vote for your favorite
USA: People Of Walmart
Pictures of Walmart shoppers0 points
USA: Awkward Family Photos
Pictures of families in awkward (emotional) poses0 points
USA: Bad Banana
Witty, urbane nonsense from Tom Seidell0 points
USA: Overheard Newsroom
Overheard comments from newsrooms0 points
U.K.: Average Batman
.Very English, low-brow wit0 points
USA: Fake Octo Mom
14 kids and not really counting0 points
Underwater: Fake Fish
A fish tweets on his owner's life0 points
Tattooine: Fake Darth Vader
The Sith Lord formerly known as Annakin0 points
My Squidoo Lenses On Religion
What Blogs Around The World Are Saying About Twitter Humor
- Rainn Wilson, '2 Broke Girls,' and the Rise of the Rape Joke
- Jokes about rape are suddenly everywhere, from the hit comedy 2 Broke Girls to Office actor Rainn Wilson's Twitter feed. Are they funny or an outrage? Tricia Romano reports. When Rainn Wilson tweeted earlier this week that he'd like to be date-raped to ...
- Jodie Marsh shows off her humorous side as she posts string of funny distorted ...
- Jodie Marsh looks unrecognisable in a series of humorous photos she's posted on Twitter using her iPad photobooth app to distort her features But instead of her usual vanity shots Jodie decided to instead poke fun at herself by distorting her looks.
- Twitter jabs on Saif's punch
- ... Ali Khan assaulting NRI businessman Iqbal Sharma at Taj Hotel in Mumbai broke out, Saif started trending on Twitter. The micro-blogging site was flooded with jokes on the incident. Check out some really funny tweets on Chotte Nawab's famous punch.
- Chris Brown Shakes Off WWE Wrestler Over Twitter Attack
- Since the video, Brown went on a Twitter rant, telling the wrestler, ?the video u just posted was cute! It's so funny how defensive u are. And the fact that I really don't know who you are and could give a shit is the funny part!
by the777group
Hi, I'm Andrew Goulding a ghost writer by trade and a goofball by nature. You can find out lots about me via my Get Follow Me Buttons
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Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice All In 140 Characters or Less
by Bud Bilanich, The Common Sense Guy - one of the most sought-after business speakers & executive coaches in the USA
Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice All In 140 Characters or Less
Amazon Price: $6.09 (as of 02/22/2012)
"I have all of Bud's books and they each provide great advice. Practical. Insightful. Relevant.
Success Tweets does it again."
Amazon reviewer Warren Mersereau
"The sayings are thoughtful and meaningful and powerful enough to remember, like #40: Dreams don't become Reality until you act on them!"
Amazon reviewer Madeline Escobar-Kanyatin
"Success Tweets is a quick and fun read that you should do many times. Each time will leave new wisdom from the no nonsense guy."
Amazon reviewer Sylvia Montero
Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day
by Chris Treadaway
Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day
Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 02/22/2012)
"Facebook is so hot right now that businesses are jumping in without a plan or clue. This book is the kind of tool you need to dig in and create a strategy and master the technical stuff that can create so much frustration for the business owner already strapped for time. "
Amazon reviewer John Jantsch
"Facebook Marketing An Hour a Day...teaches you how to use pages and groups... ads & advanced tactics, so it is great for...the small business person or [even] online marketing teams."
Amazon reviewer Ark Lady
"Facebook has quickly become a marketing power-kingdom. Continued learning will be part of your continued success."
Amazon reviewer Marylene Delbourg-Delphis
140 Characters: A Style Guide For The Short Form
written by Dom Sagolla, co-creator of Twitter
140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form
Amazon Price: $3.55 (as of 02/22/2012)
"Different mediums require different mindsets. This book will show you the mindset for the short form of writing on the web. "
Amazon reviewer George B. Primbs
"Written in a feverish, quick paced style, it propels you through how to write an effective and memorable tweet.
[It] makes the argument that forcing us to be brief makes for better thinking and writing and understanding."
Amazon reviewer Michael P. Maslanka
"You'll wish this had been a required course before anyone opened a Twitter account."
Amazon reviewer J. Greenough
