From INC. Magazine
Using Twitter to Find Customers
By Minda Zetlin
Most businesses think of Twitter as a promotional tool, but it can also be used to find sales leads. Here's how to use Twitter to find potential customers and how to convert those contacts into sales.
Boloco, a burrito restaurant chain with 16 locations often runs ads in a Boston newspaper. The ads contain coupons for the chain's popular burritos for a special price of $3. It makes sense to advertise in Boston, since 13 of the chain's 16 restaurants are there, but CEO and co-founder John Pepper wished the ads could also bring customers to Boloco restaurants in New Hampshire and Vermont. So, when he ran one recent ad, Pepper also posted a photo of the coupon on Twitter, inviting diners to bring in any image of the coupon -- a photocopy, printout, or even an image on a mobile phone -- to get the discount.
Here is a guide I just discovered today from an email I receive from a Google Group I belong to that focuses on Economic Gardening.
This might be both a useful tool for our internal use, and a good tool to intoduce our small business owners to the idea of using twitter for their enterprise.
"New York Times
The power of Twitter is in the people you follow. Let @nytimes lead you to the best of Twitter: follow our lists or build your own. Suggestions? twitterlists@nytimes.com
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