Twitter power for the little guys

2 CommentsThursday • June 3, 2010 • by Paul Letourneau

Twitter has taken the internet and ‘social community’ by storm over the past few years. Take a look at the Google Trends and you’ll see that its popularity started growing in late 2008 to where it now has 75 Million Twitter accounts.

All that aside, what’s the point and what’s in it for the little guys?

Taking a quick step back from Twitter I’d just like to say that the reason I love all the social media tools so much (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc) is because it puts everyone on a level playing field. Everyone from the large box stores like Best Buy to the independent local entrepreneur like Mack Male. Our city is littered with local talent and expertise that is currently using Twitter to grow their followings.

People like:

Jerry Aulenbach – The Edmonton based realtor that leverages #bacon for business while giving a personal approach to communicating with his followers. Twitter has allowed him to increase his yearly business by 13% in 2009 and an astonishing 33% in 2010. Keep in mind today is June 1 and there is seven months left of the year! Can’t wait to see the year end numbers!

Erica Viegas – A local music artist who started on Twitter without even knowing what it was and is now building a steady following of people that love her music. Erica has attributed being interviewed on Breakfast Television alongside several other media opportunities to Twitter.

Harvey Robot – A trained software programmer turned photographer has moved his 100 people project from an idea and passion to a solid business plan as he uses Twitter to find new #yeggers to photograph.

These are only a few of the local people that are helping change the way that we think about marketing ourselves and our businesses. In many cases, it’s starting to make larger companies with tangible products re-think the way they connect with their customer base. Tools like Twitter or Facebook force companies to have better customer management practices and actively listen to what their customers have to say.

It brings them back to the grass roots of business. That’s right, word of mouth marketing is still the best out there!

So when are the rest of the big companies going to get it? When are they going to realize that it’s about having a conversation with the people that shop in their stores and buy their products? When are they going to realize that the more they listen to what their audiences want, the better they can shape their business practices around us… the consumers, the people that pay their bills and keep the lights on?

I say it’s time they start following the little guys.

Posted in: Business Development, Consulting, Entrepreneurialism, Tools