Like many Twitter users, I follow my favorite brands on Twitter.  I like to read up on all of the great things they are doing in their communities and I LOVE receiving special promotional 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 its 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, 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?