January 2011
It’s More Than 140 Characters By Pete Mihalek

With social media taking the marketing world by storm, it’s easy to resist its methods, but don’t ignore its impact.

If my alarm clock radio woke me one morning with news that Twitter went “poof” and disappeared overnight, I’d be all right with that. For this editor, it’d be one less social media outlet to deal with.

At the risk of sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, I’ve never had any qualms letting people know about my love/hate relationship with social media, particularly Twitter. Naïve or not, I’ve always thought: If a message is limited to 140 characters, it can’t be that important, right? Well, yes and no.

Case Study

Enter my girlfriend Sara. She’s a hip twenty something who loves vegetable gardening. Sara’s also a smartphone user. More often than not she uses her smartphone (instead of her laptop) to check email, update Facebook or look up directions to wherever we might venture out in the Windy City.

Sara shared similar views of Twitter – “It’s dumb,” she’d say. Then, a little over a month ago, she started showing an interest in Twitter and at random times she would ask me questions about it. Over coffee she’d ask, “How does Twitter work?” Then a few days later on an evening walk home from the train stop “What’s a retweet?” Not to mention a “How do you use hash tags?” during a commercial break of Law & Order.

I was worried. Where was this coming from and, more importantly, where was this going?

Well, it wasn’t too long after her questions were answered that Sara started up a Twitter account of her own. Presently speaking, her Twitter numbers are still a little meager, but that’s because she’s selective. The crux of Sara’s association with Twitter is “following.”

She follows a few people – Jane Goodall, Kanye West, her friend Celia. She follows a few more organizations – Whole Foods, Lincoln Park Zoo, World Wildlife Federation and the RedEye (a Chicago free daily), to name a few.

Still not completely sold on all the Twitter hype, she does admit Twitter has allowed her to handpick the news, deals and updates she’s interested in – news, deals and updates she wouldn’t otherwise find opening up the Chicago Tribune or USA Today.

Something to Believe in

Another social media skeptic-turned-believer is Garden*Hood’s store manager Kacey Cloues. Garden*Hood is a young, two-year-old urban garden center in Atlanta, and thanks to Facebook, it became the talk of the town well before its doors ever opened to the public. Check out Tech Talk on page 14 to hear Kacey tell the tale.

Between you and me, it’s okay to think Twitter’s dumb, but don’t count it out. It’s important to know there are retailers out there using it to connect with and market to consumers like Sara and her hard-to-reach Generation Y that everyone’s talking about. And if they’re having some success with it, there’s no reason you can’t, too.