Mmm....steak. And great customer service!

Recently, we've heard a lot about how social media can help us market ourselves and our businesses, but many of us still don't really understand how. So we blindly sign up for up our twitter account and fumble to learn all of it's bells and whistles and we start following people and they slowly begin to follow us...so what? How is this helping? Chances are it isn't if that's all we're doing. We need to listen to and respond to the people we're following and who are following us. Recently, I read an article about a really awesome example of how listening to your followers can do amazing things for your public image. A man was about to board a plane and jokingly tweeted "Hey @Mortons - can you meet me at network airport with a porthouse when I land in two hours? K, Thanks. :)" And Morton's did. When the man's plane landed, there was tuxedo-clad waiter holding a doggie bag with the man's name on it. Talk about great customer service and great PR! When you listen to and respond to the people who are talking to you on twitter and facebook, it builds a more personal relationship with them, which is what many of us are doing already in our small libraries with the people we physically see. We always hear about how great it is that rural libraries know their customers...that's because we work hard to establish relationships with people when they walk through our doors. Using social media is just another way to develop these relationships when people aren't actually in the building. It's almost like outreach. So go on, reach out and talk to your tweeps! Great things could happen!