TORONTO – Medium and small businesses in Canada are increasingly turning to social media to market themselves — and the savviest are learning the secret of conversation.
Take Toronto-area car dealer Greg Carrasco, for example – realizing that marketing on Twitter has become a discussion about a brand rather than simple advertising, the owner of a Nissan Infiniti dealership in Newmarket, Ont. turned his personal Twitter account into an open platform to communicate with his customers.
“People don’t really like to follow brands unless they are a big brand – people like to follow people. They are looking for exciting content and entertainment,” said Carrasco who bluntly noted, “There is nothing exciting about a car dealership.”
Carrasco decided to promote his business through his personal account. Not only does he answer direct customer compliments or complaints via his account, but he offers advice to any prospective car buyer, free of charge.
He has given away everything from iPads to brand-new cars to new followers through monthly contests, all while continuing to tweet his opinions on current issues – including the recent Toronto mayor Rob Ford drug scandal.
People are responding to the personality behind the brand.
Carrasco, who has over 8,000 Twitter followers, has garnered more followers than Nissan Canada and Infiniti Canada’s accounts combined.
“That’s amazing – that people think my account is more relevant than the brands I’m representing,” said Carrasco.
Business is booming too. Sales at the dealership are up 25 per cent year over year, due in part, to his social media use, according to Carrasco.
He has even seen customers come from as far away as Montreal to shop at his dealerships, located just north of Toronto.
Though Twitter has many branded programs that large brands take advantage of – think promoted tweets and sponsored content – small businesses like Carrasco’s are learning how to use the Twitterverse to their advantage.
“I think it’s important to remember that Twitter is an open platform and there is still an opportunity for small businesses to have conversations on Twitter without necessarily going through our branded programs,” said Kirstine Stewart, head of Twitter Canada, in an interview with Global News.
“The openness of it is so great, because it doesn’t exclude anybody.”
Twitter opened its first office on Canadian soil Thursday, creating an opportunity for brands to have better access to branded Twitter content.
During Twitter Canada’s launch event a panel of “VIT’s” – very important tweeters – including “Dragons’ Den” judge Arlene Dickinson and Montreal Canadiens defenceman PK Subban, touched on how the traditional method of customer service has gone the way of the dinosaur.
Consumers have increasingly taken to tweeting at brands to thank them or chastise them for customer service issues.
Brands have had to develop strategies to help deal with addressing customers on Twitter.
“Any instance that occurs we do get on and engage with the customer right away and see what we can do to solve their problem. Hopefully there is the opportunity where we can win back the business if there is a loss of trust.”
Hunter said Home Depot has had very positive reaction from customers, estimating that 99 per cent of interactions the brand has on Twitter result in a good outcome for both parties.
But this changing dynamic affects retailers of all size.
“If you are not going to answer the good and the bad then you ought to get out of the twitter game – it’s a harsh world,” said Carrasco, who makes a point of answering any customer tweets as soon as he sees them.
“If you are going to exploit yourself in that perspective then you have to be prepared for it.”
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