DailyBlogr - How can businesses benefit from Twitter – The Comcast example

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Those of you disagreeing that Twitter is not for business, there’s news for ya ! Twitter is (could be) for business and there are companies that have successfully integrated Twitter to their business models, and gained from it with probably a quarter of their traditional PR budgets (or even lesser). The biggest example is Comcast.

Comcast embraced Twitter in 2008 and since then have managed to successfully talk, listen and engage with their customers online via Twitter, converting them to happy customers. Well, what does that term signify ? Speculative yet, we have results.

The Comcast advantages

Comcast’s ( and Frank Eliason’s) is sure an extra ordinary social media story, but its unique. There many not be enough stuff to copy from them for companies aspiring to hop on to Twitter. Heck, there may be more loop holes, that you expect. Its an interesting case study however.

1 – Comcast needs no introduction, it had a whole bunch of unhappy customers to deal with.

And there were ONLY used to customer care on phone. What do you do on the phone, speak to someone who doesn’t really care about your problem, may be cry or even swear at him, and hope things will get right. It was a little too personal. And even though face to face, it was unidirectional in reality. Twitter was different. Every time there’s a complaint raised, Comcast would listen, talk back and engage in a conversation. The feedback mechanism is consoling in itself. And Comcast would never run out of Beta testers.

2 – Being there to listen wins you half the respect.

What many companies don’t understand and what Comcast did is that being there ready to take whatever comes your way, understanding that you’re responsible for it is the mightiest wisdom you understood. Comcast chose to be there and listen to all of that. Score 1.

3 – Having a lot of unhappy customers is the best thing to have.

Especially for a company whose nature of business always keeps an unhappy bunch of customers. One unhappy customer is worth one thousand happy ones. The reason ? You can get maximum mileage out of converting an unhappy customer to a happy customer, that nothing else gives you, not even your Ads. What did comcast have ? An endless sea of mileage. http://www.dailybloggr.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

4 – There is a first mover advantage to everything.

Comcast is today a popular case study among social media experts, and the reason is that they are the only company they’ve heard and read about doing this thing. So even if they sucked at it, people would still talk about it. Any press is good press. Doesn’t hurt.

5 – One on one conversations are better than mob-talk.

Don’t get the point. Had comcast encouraged mob-talk, they would’ve had a facebook page or a community. They don’t want you to share your problems with someone else and create a mob, and leave the problem un-solved. They want the problem solved, and only by dealing with it in person. So what do you have ? Bingo. Twitter.

What did Twitter do to Comcast ?

Dramatic things. Comcast CEO, Brian Roberts says that Twitter managed to transform their work culture and the way they talk to customers. And I think he has a point.

Related posts:

1. How much traffic can Twitter give ?
2. How to convert traffic to buyers/clients
3. 10 Reasons why brands fail on Twitter / Social Media

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