Image by: Hiyao Miyazaki

It's an ROI two-step: Twitter brings in the customers that bring in the dollars.

Horror of horrors – yesterday my laptop went kaput. Today, thanks to Twitter, I have a shiny new one. That's one iteration of Twitter's return on investment.

You know that nightmare we all have? The one where your laptop is stolen by international spies riding flying feral pigs and you wake up screaming in the middle of the night, heart racing, a cold sweat bespangling your brow? No? Me, neither.

But when my MacBook Air decided to depart this world, I have to admit, I had a minor heart attack. Cut off from my calendar, my Word files, even my e-mails, I felt paralyzed. It’s one of the biggest commonly shared terrors of the modern age, with or without spies and pigs.

Needless to say, the hunt for a new MacBook Air began right away.
 

More marketing wisdom from David Allison at CKNW's THE MARKETING BRIEF

We have a company tech guy. We generally order our tech from him. He finds the tech. He brings the tech. He plugs the tech in. He pushes buttons on the tech. And then the tech is all good.

But I needed a computer right freakin’ now.

I sent out an SOS tweet.

@BAdavid: Does anybody know where I can get a MacBook Air?

Immediately, I received at tweet back from Sharon @proofingqueen, informing me that she was in the Yaletown Mac Station and there was a MacBook Air in stock.

@Mac_Station promptly chirped up, confirming that they indeed had a MacBook Air, and asked if I would like them to put it aside?

“Hallelujah!” I tweeted. “I’ll fly right over!”

So what’s the point? Simply this. I am tired of all those grumpy and disgruntled Twitter naysayers refusing to jump on the social media bandwagon, Twitter in particular, because they cannot calculate the return on investment. “Twitter doesn’t bring in dollars,” they argue. “It’s not a moneymaker.”

Really? The Mac Station in Yaletown brought me in as a customer through Twitter. I was actively engaged with them in a matter of minutes. And any other business or individual following either of us was witness to effective customer service and a quick sale. I spent $2,500 dollars at their store, while every other Mac dealer lost out as they sat passively, in the event that I, or anyone else for that matter, might drop by. How’s that for ROI?

• Tags
  • Twitter, 
  • ROI, 
  • david allison, 
  • Apple, 
  • Direct Marketing, 
  • Social Media