Haha, good one. Trust me, I'm a HUGE fan of businesses charging for stuff as I run two B2B apps myself.
Businesses are consisted of people, money doesn't really make the business go round, the people running it do. A business making just money is pretty "soulless." I understand that I might sound like a little weird when I say that, but when they only focus on making $$(which again, is good to a point) they really won't be remembered. A good product is one part of the pie, good support is another and money is the the the oven; That's the mantra I like to follow
Businesses have just twigged that there is greater and more sustainable profit in user experence. It is a product of modern times and social media for a business to act outwards and embrace staff and customer. But ultimetly they want your money or it's pointless.
I strongly recommend having a chat widget on your site. At IndexTank we use Olark, and if someone mentions an issue with us on Twitter and we're around we encourage them to come chat with us live. People love the instant response and the quick iteration.
Hey Diego. You know what's funny, I use IndexTank for PilarHQ.com(it's an app which really depends on search).
I can't tell you how much you having Olark on IndexTank has helped me implement IndexTank. I've had a few issues, and have spoken to two of your developers through Olark. Seriously, you have me on as a loyal customer tweeting(http://twitter.com/itsemil/status/34410618584825857) about how badass IndexTank is.
Saw your tweet, thank you! I'm a fan of the Zappos philosophy, and we have a ton of work ahead of us to have customer service that can be mentioned in the same sentence (especially now that we are a small bunch). Our dev guys are being great sports about it.
You should use twitter however you please. Yes you can take someone's advice with a pinch of salt, though I do not want to be dictated by "social media" tips. Unless they are outright participating in spam, I think they should go on their own path and experience the success or failure of a certain update. Also since the format is a stream, you can just ignore and let it flow.
"Send me an email and I'll check it out. First of all, NO; You should email them, apologize, perhaps offer a discount and send them roses;"
When xXVikingsRuleXx tweets about my product sucking wind, exactly who am I going to email?
I have no problem whatsoever with a company owner asking me in a Twitter reply to email him directly. In all cases that I can remember this happening to me, it has worked out great.
Yeah, I hear you. Now in that case, I'd make it extra easy..for instance, when we had a bug and that problem was thrown at us with Chalkboard, we offered another month free(as it's a paid app).
@FollowWithoutContactInfo: CHALKBOARDHQ.com SUCKS, I CANT MAKE A PROJECT
^^ We'd reply: Hey, sorry about that, we had [xyz] happen to us. But can you please shoot me an email at emil@chalkboardhq.com.
Either in that tweet or in the email which we respond, we'd thank them also offering something in return for that. It's not necessary but it definitely provides gorilla value to the customer.
This is a value scale I'm unfamiliar with - although I will certainly be using it in the future. I fear though that you have confused gorillas with some other species of mammal - a month free is meerkat value at best.
"Let's say you're some entrepreneur, sure you made 200k this year and have 3000 followers on twitter."
I'm not sure that the author has any room to criticize how this entrepreneur tweets if they have 3,000 followers compared to the author's 65. And how is making $200k/year "doing it wrong"?
Hey, thanks for the comment. Perhaps, I didn't address that issue well...I never said $200k/year or having 3000 followers is wrong. There are VC's that throw 200k at startups each year that have 50 followers - seen it myself haha.
The core problem is really letting that "fame" go to your head.
Who is this Hitler to tell other people how to use Twitter? If you don't like it - don't follow it...YOU are taking the decision to follow what I write....eat it or don't..
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[ 0.23 ms ] story [ 43.7 ms ] threadBusinesses are about people giving you their money.
Businesses are consisted of people, money doesn't really make the business go round, the people running it do. A business making just money is pretty "soulless." I understand that I might sound like a little weird when I say that, but when they only focus on making $$(which again, is good to a point) they really won't be remembered. A good product is one part of the pie, good support is another and money is the the the oven; That's the mantra I like to follow
I can't tell you how much you having Olark on IndexTank has helped me implement IndexTank. I've had a few issues, and have spoken to two of your developers through Olark. Seriously, you have me on as a loyal customer tweeting(http://twitter.com/itsemil/status/34410618584825857) about how badass IndexTank is.
When xXVikingsRuleXx tweets about my product sucking wind, exactly who am I going to email?
I have no problem whatsoever with a company owner asking me in a Twitter reply to email him directly. In all cases that I can remember this happening to me, it has worked out great.
@FollowWithoutContactInfo: CHALKBOARDHQ.com SUCKS, I CANT MAKE A PROJECT
^^ We'd reply: Hey, sorry about that, we had [xyz] happen to us. But can you please shoot me an email at emil@chalkboardhq.com.
Either in that tweet or in the email which we respond, we'd thank them also offering something in return for that. It's not necessary but it definitely provides gorilla value to the customer.
This is a value scale I'm unfamiliar with - although I will certainly be using it in the future. I fear though that you have confused gorillas with some other species of mammal - a month free is meerkat value at best.
I'm not sure that the author has any room to criticize how this entrepreneur tweets if they have 3,000 followers compared to the author's 65. And how is making $200k/year "doing it wrong"?
The core problem is really letting that "fame" go to your head.