Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
Do you like my play of words? This article is about businesses being crappy on Twitter – but instead of saying “get your shit together” I said “get your twit together”.
I’m a freaking genius.
Okay so it’s 2014. Every business pretty much has a Twitter account or a Facebook page. Most businesses probably don’t know WHY they have these. But everyone else has, and it’s 2014 – so yeah, they MUST have them too.
Here’s why you should have a Twitter or Facebook account in 2014:
For people to contact you.
No-one likes using the phone anymore. It’s just the way of the world. Even for the most important things – more and more people are reaching out via Twitter or Facebook.
Recently – I was in Toronto airport sitting beside a gentleman who was stressing hard, as his flight was just canceled. This dude was freaking. And I sat there and I watched him as he used his phone to hop on Twitter, and send a tweet to Air Canada about it.
This was from the looks of it – an emergency situation. Dude needed to fly out. Yet rather than phone Air Canada, or walk 100 feet to the Air Canada information desk – he sent out a tweet. Then sat there frantically refreshing, waiting for a reply.
Dumb? Yes, but that’s the way of the world. And if you’re a business who offers up a Twitter account or Facebook page, you need to get on that. You need to realize that this is the way the world is going. This is where people will reach out to you.
A large reason for that is because it’s PUBLIC. They know if they reach out to you in a public environment, they’re going to get better customer service because the eyes of the world are watching. And I’ve experienced this multiple times – received poor customer service over the phone or e-mail, sent out a tweet or facebook message and boom – better customer service.
Now let’s get to the personal experience that led me to writing this article:
Boston vs Montreal: Game 2
I visit Edmonton twice per year. I was there during the Bruins vs Montreal series. I’m a Habs fan, so I was obviously going to be watching the games.
Game 2 was on at 10:30am local time on a Saturday morning – May 3rd. I was craving a full English breakfast. So I yelped or googled “full English breakfast Edmonton”. The result was O’Byrnes Irish Pub.
The only issue is that they were listed at opening at 11am on Saturday, and the game started at 10:30am. Now this was May 1st, 2 days before the game. On their website they listed both a Twitter account and a Facebook page.
So I sent them this tweet:
@OByrnesIrishPub hey will you guys be open at 1030 on Saturday morning for bruins vs Habs? Thanks
— Graeme McGaw (@DealerDan) May 1, 2014
Simple as that.
No Response.
Now you get a lot of businesses that sign up to Twitter with no idea how to use it. However these guys know how to use it. They’re not perfect – but they get the general idea. They send out tweets advertising events that they are showing(ie: the FA Cup Final), and offer special promotions that they are running.
That just makes it even worse that they didn’t send a response.
Sidenote: Nothing Against These Guys:
I’m not attacking this pub in any way and I just wanted to note that. I’m just using this as a general example of how important it is to monitor your social network accounts. I love Irish pubs and next time I’m in Edmonton I’ll be sure to check them out. Hell, if anyone from O’Byrnes is reading drop me an e-mail and I’ll give you some free tips on how to market your social accounts better.
However I just want to emphasize the importance of a missed response and there’s nothing better than a personal anecdote.
The fact is – this was a mistake, and hopefully they learn from it. Hopefully anyone running a Twitter account and reading this article learns from it. We all make mistakes.
Hell – I’m guilty of it too. A year ago, someone tweeted one of my casino accounts. It was a Q&A account that I ran at the time. They asked a simple question: “I’m wanting to deposit $1000 at a casino – what’s the best deal for an American?”.
I missed that tweet, and I only saw it a month later when looking through the archives for another tweet.
Crap.
I also potentially lost out on a lot of money there. That person could have deposited through my affiliate link, and usually if you’re dropping $1k then you’re going to keep doing that. Tens of thousands of dollars of potential income that I missed out on – all because I wasn’t monitoring my tweets well at the time, and missed out on that one.
It happens. You just have to learn from it and not make the same mistake in the future.
More Than A Missed Tweet:
One missed tweet – big deal, right?
As I said – I go to Edmonton twice per year. I’m also a creature of habit like many people. I generally go to the same bars and pubs every time. Hell go to any pub or bar more than once and you’ll no doubt see a group of locals who to the same place every time. When I go to Edmonton, there are a few places I frequent on a regular basis.
By missing that tweet, this pub potentially missed out on the following:
- The 3 of us going there for the game, where we would’ve spent easily over $200.
- The 3 of us potentially going back there later that night. Instead we went to another bar where we spent over $1000.
- Return visits from me when I go to Edmonton twice per year.
- My friends adding that bar to their rotation. Actually – one of my friend eats out practically every night. They could have list out on a lot of return business from him.
- Word of mouth marketing. If the place is great the 3 of us would tell others, and by just answering that one tweet there’s the potential for many, many people going there.
This place missed out on potentially thousands of dollars short-term and tens of thousands of dollars long-term all because of that one missed tweet.
To me – that’s a big deal.
This article was written on July 9, 2014 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
