I’m feeling a tad guilty about this blog already. This is not a blog about a large company failing to use social media wisely, or me trying to to get some information to fulfil an order. That said however… there’s a valuable lesson to be had here. Last night I went to see the excellent Roddy Woomble (cheesy Scottish music according to Time Out. Clearly they’ve heard him) at The Borderline. I wasn’t getting a great reception on my phone so when the show ended I received a few messages that had obviously piled up over the night. Mostly standard stuff however one jumped out at me:

Now, I’m a busy guy. Visit to where? I’ve been pretty busy this past week and I’ve checked in at a few places, visited a few places, ate in a few restaurants and drank in a few bars. Was this referring to the gig I was at or to the restaurant that I had dinner in. Intrigue piqued, I did a little bit more digging, logging into Twitter itself to see if I could find out what this referred to.

Ah, so it’s in response to my check in at the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen on Wednesday. Had a lovely evening, sitting in Hyde Park with a pitcher of Pimms with a friend. A rather pleasant evening I have to say but if I’m honest, when I saw what the message was in response to, I struggled to remember what night we had been there. Now, as mentioned above, I don’t want to get on this guy’s back. It’s great that he responded. He can now work on developing a relationship with me and any others who have checked in over the past week or so.

But there are lessons here:

• Respond in a timely manner. I should have received a response on Wednesday night/ Thursday morning.
• Add a bit of context. Mention the venue in your message, e.g. ‘Did you enjoy your visit to the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen?’
• Encourage people to follow you. ‘Why not follow me to receive an offer on your next visit?’
• Spread the word. Ask for a Re-tweet and offer a prize of free pitcher of Pimms, drawn from the Re-tweets. The more RT’s, the better chance of winning.

Ultimately, when it comes down to it, just have a conversation with customers and prospects. They’ll appreciate it!

Boys and girls, this blog is going to take a holiday for the following week, mainly because the author is going to take a holiday for the following week. See you in June!