Using Twitter and Websites in a Crisis

Perhaps the most important point of the entire article is:

All the examples of companies that are identified in the article deal with physical products! That’s right. Companies with order problems or delivery problems or customer-service inquiries for physical products or services that used Twitter to help get out the word in a crisis.

Here is just one example from the article:

“When an ice storm struck the Bartlesville, Okla., area last winter, United Linen & Uniform Services notified customers about the status of their orders through Twitter in addition to its Web site. Scott Townsend, marketing director for the laundry service, says many consumers today will find information about a business on Twitter before anywhere else because it's where they hang out online. ‘You fish where the fish are,’ he says.”

(Having the ability now to interact with customers on Twitter in case there is a crisis down the road is like drinking orange juice now to help prevent getting a cold later.)

Note that United Linen & Uniform Services used Twitter “in addition to its Web site.” And this brings me to the point I want to make here:

Brick-and-mortar businesses wherever they are need websites that the business owners can update instantly to let consumers know what’s happening in a crisis (or in a special one-hour sale). In other words, businesses must have a website AND it should be a website that does NOT require getting hold of your programmer to make an announcement that needs to be made RIGHT NOW.

Thanks to ever-improving software options, businesses can now have WordPress (this is different from WordPress.com) sites built for them that they can then manage themselves. Plus this software provides for both static web pages for the traditional website as well as a blogging option for the site.

As more and more consumers let their fingers do the walking on their computer keys (rather than the Yellow Pages of old), it will become more and more imperative that your local customers can find you on the web.

If you do not get onboard and get a website now – and one that you can update instantly, you may be left out in the cold. And that’s not where you want to be!

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller
http://www.CalltoActionWebsites.com