Brand Damage: Answer Your Tweets

The Crowd is Watching

I wrote a post yesterday about how brands are damaging themselves by deploying social media without taking the time to understand even the very basics of this new media environment and its philosophies.

In particular, I took issue with the common practice of brands  jumping on the bandwagon of social media, and then letting their accounts be static, that is, using it to broadcast PR messages, or worse, letting their accounts sit idle. How many restaurants, for instance, signed up for Twitter or Facebook pages recently, sent out a few tweets, and then ignored it for months?

Wanna know what that tells me? It tells me you were chasing a fad. It tells me you thought using social media was going to be easy. It tells me, most of all, that you weren’t being original. You merely heard about Twitter and Facebook and social networking, and jumped in. Boo!

A Brand Misses An Opportunity

Two nights ago, I had some great news and decided to celebrate by dining at Keith McNally’s Minetta Tavern, a relatively new restaurant from one of NYC’s most gifted restauranteurs. Dinner was fantastic. My friend and I split the infamous Black Label burger, the Roast Chicken, a beet salad, pommes Anna and glazed carrots. We drank bourbon and vodka.

The Burger is the best in NYC and without getting into the debate about how expensive or elitist it is, or the fact that Shake Shack is simply a different kind of burger without the ambitions of the Black Label burger, I’ll simply say it is the “Burger to Beat” in NYC.

But this story isn’t about the burger or the dinner. This is about the cheese course. Fantastic cheeses. But it was late into the meal, and I already told you about the bourbon and the vodka.

I tweeted at the company who made and sourced the cheese. I saw they were pretty active in my stream and figured, oh, great, I am going to get a quick answer.

Nada, Nothing, Niente!

Ok, figured they were busy, and that I would get a reply later.

Nothing. Hours turned to days. And this is why it matters?

If I had gotten a quick answer I would have loudly proclaimed the quick reaction time. I would have saluted the company for their engagement and for making life easier. I may even have written a blog post on the occurrence. The fact that I didn’t get any answer turned a great opportunity into a liability. And I am not the only person watching. That’s the whole point. There is a crowd of watchers out there, the peanut gallery is alive and well. They see my tweet, maybe they become curious about the cheese that I am taking the trouble to search for. But if I don’t get an answer, they don’t get an answer. How many people might have considered buying that cheese next time they shopped had they seen an answer stream across? Would the name have stuck in their head?

Lessons Learned?

If you are going to be using social media, you’ve got to really be present. Answer your tweets, respond to blog comments, keep your Facebook page updated and in synch with the rest of your activities. The crowd is watching. It’s not about individual users. I am a nobody, a nothing. I am not an expert and I am not a guru. But taken in total, the crowd can make a difference. The crowd can drive sales. Keep them happy and your brand will benefit.

Now is that really so hard?