Introduction
There are several posts about uses of Twitter all across several blogs and websites. I wanted to provide a few more real life examples in varying business (and personal) scenarios that could be incorporated by your organization. I have structured each of these examples under 4 sections:
- Problem that needs to be solved
- A possible solution using Twitter and
- The Benefits
- Similar Applications
Here are 4 examples!
Food on Wheels
- The Problem -A "Food on Wheels" van travelling between office buildings during lunch hour in a neighborhood had trouble letting its customers know that they were around in the area
- The Solution -The owners created a Twitter account, encouraged customers to follow them -On a regular basis they now Tweet current location, a link to the day's Menu with a roadmap and timetable for the day
- The Benefits - Improved Customer Service, Potentially Increased Revenues, Lesser Food Wastage
- Similar Applications
- A farmer bringing in produce from a remote farm into a city and parking the truck in specific locations can Tweet their current location for retailers to pick up. This will help easier distribution for the farmer.
- A mobile medical unit travelling remote areas
- A mobile library services travelling remote areas
Restaurant - Reduce waste
- The Problem - A restaurant was dumping food each night due to the inability of being able to guess the amount of food to cook each day and in some instances lack of clientele
- The Solution
- Created a Twitter account and encouraged its patrons to follow them
- Every evening around 8PM about an hour prior to closing, the Restaurant tweets deals for the first 99 (number changes depending on leftovers) customers who would walk in with a copy of the tweet and the code word for the day!
- The Benefits - Improved Customer Service, Potentially Increased Revenues, Lesser Food Wastage
- Similar Applications
- Leftover food after large events can be handed to NGOs feeding the hungry
- Farmers can tweet and invite people to harvest for themselves in their farms
- Large grocery chains can sell excess "perishable" inventory on special deals
Local Public Bus Route Plan
- The Problem -A local bus company wanting to help customers by letting them know their current location
- The Solution
- Each Bus Route would have a Twitter account
- Passengers wishing to track multiple buses on this route would follow the Twitter account
- Drivers tweet just prior to departing from a bus stop and announce number of minutes to the next two stops
- Passengers wanting to board the bus at these stops are able to plan accordingly -Others picking up passengers from these bus stops can also plan accordingly
- Any delays due to traffic are also tweeted out by the Driver "on the run" helping everyone plan better
- The Benefits - Improved Customer Service, Potentially Increased Revenues
- Similar Applications
- Airlines tweeting when flights are ready to board
- Other public and private transport company's that need to keep passengers informed
Math Homework Help
- The Problem: -A Math website receives 100s of Homework Help questions from via email each day. Responses to the queries are automated for the most part, however some queries get a response only after 12-24 hours
- The Solution:
- Have the users follow you on Twitter
- Tweet their questions and let followers respond to these questions
- The Benefits - Improved Customer Service, Potentially Increased Revenues
- Similar Applications
- Queries on how to use a product not answered in FAQ
- Customer support and Helpdesk queries
I hope these examples help you think about your own business scenarios and make use of a great tool like Twitter effectively.