Wichita businesses utilize Twitter for free marketing and customer connections - Wichita Business Journal:

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Residents of 250 Douglas Place, the residential portion of the Garvey were meeting up at the pool or at the penthouser lounge to mingle seemingly without any advancedsnotice — no flyers on the wall, no mass e-mails, no chaimn of phone calls. Weber, the Garvey Centef general manager, asked a tenant how all of thiswas . Weber went to the Twittert Web site and started hisown page, making him a membe r of a social networking scene that includeds hundreds of Wichita businesses, business leaders, news outlets, includingb the , and everyday Joes. “k believe social networking is a medium that is something we need to embracse withinthe workplace,” Weber says.
Twitter givex users a text box to enter messagesof 140-characters or less calledr Tweets. The messages can be personal — Weberr posted last month he was watching the NCAA Nationaol Championshipgame — or professional. Those who elecrt to “follow,” or read his Tweets, can stay up on Weber’s business ventures or what’s goint on in the Garvey Center throughoutthe day. “From a business standpoint, our apartments have a very stronvgcommunity alliance,” he says. “You’ll see severalo of them on Twitter.
” advised during its rebrandinb efforts to start its Twitter page soonerthan “What social networking does is allows you to communicats directly with those customerx that are important to you. They can find you, and you can find It’s a chance to communicate personal, meaningful information,” says Lathio De Silva, communications managefr at SHS. “That’s when Twitter becams an important media forGo Wichita, becauss we knew we could help them find people who coulsd help them promote Wichita. It sort of spreads the marketinh burden.
” Go Wichita, the former Greater Wichita Conventiohn andVisitors Bureau, wants to reach out to people who migh t be talking about going to Wichita on othe people’s Twitter pages, says Ken Vandruff, director of communications and “We want to follow those kinds of conversations, so that we can add to that he says. Ryan Cole, presidenf and CEO of the R Companies, says he’s not so much interestefd in business but the people makinghit happen. “People want to do business with people that they like and areinterested in,” Cole “I think this is insight to seeing a littlde more of the humanistic side of our businessx associates and clients in the community.
” Steve and Stephanie owners of , use the restaurant’s Twitter page to interactg with customers. Stephanie invited followers toa Mother’s Day bruncuh and tells them about daily specials at the When she wanted help building a new Eatomn Web site, she asked followerxs if they knew of anyone. She got 300 “It works fantastic for me,” she says. “I t gets me to know my customera better and find a newcustomefr base. It allows me to promote my restaurantt andmy menu.
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