Like many Twitter users, I follow my favorite brands on Twitter. I like to read up on all of great things they are doing in their communities and I LOVE receiving special promotion offers via Twitter. I fall for any promotion that says, “special offer only for our Twitter followers”. When brands communicate this message it makes me feel like I am part of a special club – granted there are hundreds of thousands of people in the club but none the less it is special.
New Seasons Market, a Portland local family owned organic-friendly grocery store is an example of a business that is managing their online reputation. I follow @newseasons on Twitter. They do a great job of informing their followers about special events, promotions, and activities going on at all 7 of their stores. And they interact with their customers, they reply to followers posts and RT different events going on in the community.
An example of their customer service and online brand management can be seen in an interaction I had with them last week. @newseasons posted a tweet about a special Happy Hour Pizza promotion at their Happy Valley store last week, so being a good little consumer I decided I would try it out. I would get a pizza for dinner, support New Seasons and not have to cook, it was a win win all around. However, when I went to get my a pizza at the New Seasons in Happy Valley I came across a problem. None of the employees at the Happy Valley Store knew about the special Happy Hour Pizza offering. The employees looked at me like I was a crazy fool wanting my pizza at a special price… So, I ended up getting a pizza but not at the discounted price as advertised on Twitter.
The next day I replied to @newseasons notifying them of the mix up and the next thing I know they are apologizing for the misunderstanding and are sending me a gift card! I’m a happy customer because they responded to my inquiry and they offered me a small incentive to keep coming back to their store.
I applaud New Seasons Market for being on top of their brand and addressing customers needs in a timely manner. And I pose a question to other brands, how are you managing your online reputation?
As the former web manager and social media strategist for New Seasons Market I just wanted to say thank you for writing this. Social media is definitely an emerging form of communication and one that I believe is as significant as the invention of the telephone. Unfortunately I was told last week that New Seasons Market is opting for less of a social media presence; a point which was emphasized when they laid me off this past Friday. All that remains now is the occasional pre-scheduled ghost tweet.
Your post really lifted my spirits, so thank you. And If anyone out there is currently looking for a social media strategist please drop a line to jennie@sasquatcha.com
Hi Jennie,
Thank you for the comment! It’s too bad to hear that New Seasons is going to decrease their presence on social media when they are doing a great job communitcating to their audience and providing customer service outreach. I’ll let you know if I see any SoMe positions – Good Luck!
Cheers,
Heather
WOW. Share some of the people you follow, so we could also benefit from the offers.