The Shocking Absense

Last night was Tuesday night – a night which started out with a semi-healthy dinner, five minutes of pride afterwards, and a subsequent trip to our local Menchie’s: The mecca of frozen yogurt. Self-serve, chocolate raspberry swirl with cheesecake cubes and mochi on top. Mecca.

On the way home, after consuming three gallons of delicious, solidified, sugary paste, my darling and I stopped at the beautiful El Diablo Coffee shop. They make one killer mocha, and after the review I caught by Girl’s Guide to Seattle which was writter by a Twitter friend, I decided to indulge as it’s only a few blocks from my apartment. Also see: mocha.

I came home and wanted to enthusiastically brag spread the joy I felt with my newly acquired mocha in tow. I did a quick search in Tweetdeck for El Diablo’s twitter handle so I could tell them exactly what that 12oz. paper cup meant to me… Only to find that they were without handle!

They don’t have a Twitter account.

I know: level of emergency seems like -5, but I see this at least three times per day, and it makes me nervous! The businesses I love to frequent, I want them to win! I want to see them succeed. Because I am a social media/marketing junkie, I know that the chances of that happening is so much higher with a Twitter and/or Facebook account. Seriously.

First of all, free. Twitter, Facebook… They both totally free! 100%. Not only is that budget-friendly, but it crosses the border from “should do” to “would be silly not to do.”

Secondly, holy relationship opportunity. Who would you rather patronize (in a business sense, not the jerk one!) a business owned by a complete stranger, or a business whose employees you’ve talked to, or have access to?

Lastly (for this post), promotional opportunity abounds! Letting the people who are interested in your brand know every time you have a promotion, event, new product, or burst of personality only enriches the merchant-consumer relationship. Reputation boost, for sure!

I don’t mean to shame my beloved El Diablo – I just wish that more of my favorite businesses would get on the social media train already. My boyfriend said a co-worker scoffed at businesses with Facebook pages – oh my goodness! That co-worker clearly doesn’t do the marketing and conversion statistics!

Does your business have a Twitter account? If it does, can you imagine marketing without it?