Listen Up: Making the Most of Twitter Search
In my 2 years on Twitter, I've found it to be an incredible networking tool, resource and place to vent. And in the past months, it's become even better - brands are proactively reaching out to answer questions I have. How? A variety of ways, but many are using a tool called Twitter Search.
Now, some may call this an invasion of privacy. But, as I see it, I put the question out there in a public forum. Even if I wasn't asking the general public, it's still up to me as a user to know that whatever I say on Twitter (unless my tweets are protected [sometimes]) is there for the public to see, respond to and remember.
In the past few days, I've interacted with a couple of brands who are just getting it right. And it's refreshing:
Teleflora
I had a coworker ask me if I knew any florists in NYC. And, honestly, I had no idea. So I put it out to Twitter. Less than an hour later, I received an @ reply from Teleflora (and no, I wasn't following them prior to this - but I am now!)
Takeaway: Someone is listening, and listening well. I didn't ask about their brand, nor did I need to know about buying flowers online. But somewhere in Teleflora's social strategy, they built out a search and gave someone the task of watching it. And guess where I bought my mother's day flowers this year...
QuestCare Urgent Care
I'm very very clumsy. And so, some part of me is usually injured - right now, it's my foot. And like most people, I never know when to go to the doctor, so today, I asked. And quickly, I got a tweet from @QuestUrgentCare (and I wasn't following them either!), an urgent care office here in Dallas.
Takeaway: The text of my tweet didn't mention that I was in Dallas, but by using Twitter search's advance search functions, Quest Care was able to see my "injured" tweet that was sent from their area.
Travel Portland
Sometimes trip planning for unfamiliar cities can be a struggle. I'm headed to Portland at the end of this month, and I wanted to know where the best places were to go hiking. Luckily, Travel Portland, a visitor information site, was able to help. Their Twitter bio helpfully lets me know that I can include the hashtag #inPDX in a tweet to get an answer from them. I did just that, and they retweeted me moments later. Now I've got an entire to-do list of parks to visit.
Takeaway: Make it easy on yourself to find questions to answer. If you're a service that has a lot of information to offer, make that data readily available.
What companies have you seen listening and acting on social media?
