Minneapolis Online Marketing Blog

Twitter Yes! Twitter No!

Posted June 24th, 2008 by Mike Rynchek

Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Guest: Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh

Well we made it to the final Twitterfied Series post with all Twitter questions answered and we all agree: Twitter is the greatest Social Media tool out there. Ok, not quite. But we definitely raised some interesting discussion points and hopefully provided some insight into new and innovative uses for Twitter and Social Media in general. Without a doubt, Twitter is a growing medium that deserves some attention. Granted this is not a perfect medium but, if performed correctly, it can serve as a valuable and at times innovative business purpose. As is with Social Media, there is no right or wrong answer. Only trial and error and making educated decisions/risks.

I would like to conclude with an interview with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. Tony has become very well known as an industry thought leader in the areas of customer service and Twitter business applications. Zappos has adopted and currently uses Twitter as a means of customer service, customer relations and product feedback.

Special thanks to Tony Hsieh of Zappos for taking the time to answer our questions.

Q: What inspired you/Zappos to begin using Twitter as a means for connecting with customers?

A: I had been using Twitter myself personally for just myself and 20-30 friends for about a year and found it was a great way to stay connected with my friends. So we decided to try rolling it out as a way to develop more personal connections with our employees and our customers. So far, it’s been great! We now have over 400 employees using Twitter: http://twitter.zappos.com/employees

Q: How has Twitter changed the way you interact with customers?

A: Yes, it’s been great getting real-time feedback from customers about anything and everything we’re doing or are thinking of doing at Zappos.

It’s also been great for me to get to know some customers more personally and vice versa.

Q: Have you been able to monetize the use of Twitter in any way? If

so, what have been the implications?

A: We aren’t really looking at Twitter as a marketing channel. It’s just about developing deeper, more personal relationships.

Q: Any advice to other companies thinking about using Twitter within

their own business model?

A: Make sure that you’re personally passionate about Twitter and you actually do want to connect with people. If you’re not passionate about Twitter and only want to use it as a marketing channel, people can sense that and you won’t be successful.

Q: What are the pros and cons of using Twitter instead of another

application?

A: I think at the end of the day it comes down to which application or service you’re personally most passionate about, and that will be the one you’ll be most successful doing.

Q: Is there any functionality that Twitter lacks that you wish it had?

A: Currently the IM function in Twitter is down and I wish it were back up.

Q: Any additional thoughts or comments about Twitter?

A: For those interested in getting started on Twitter, here’s a beginner’s guide I wrote: http://twitter.zappos.com/start

Tags: Minneapolis Online Marketing, Social Media, Twitter