Twitter Helps Business Owners Out of Jams

Forget the old 1-800 number. Twitter is becoming the tool of choice for some small business owners who find themselves in a customer-service or public-relations jam, according to this Wall Street Journal article.
The social media and micro-blogging service—where users send "tweets" to followers who have signed up to receive the messages—proved to be a lifeline for Innovative Beverage Group Holdings, Inc., after its Web site crashed due to a surge in online traffic. "Twitter gave us an up-to-the-minute ability to take what would normally be a crisis situation and make it just another event," said Peter Bianchi, who notified customers via Twitter that the company was working to resolve the problem. Twitter also came in handy when a Bartlesville, Okla.-based business, United Linen & Uniform Services, was hit by an ice storm. Instead of e-mailing customers about the status of their orders, the business notified them through tweets.
But Twitter can only help you communicate with customers if you use (and update) it regularly, author Shel Isreal, of Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods, told the WSJ. Using Twitter only in a crisis will give you no credibility, he noted. The key is using it to "build trust with people who are relevant to your business."