Twitter – a follow up

You’ll recall that a few weeks ago, I wrote a post about what marketing execs don’t get about Twitter. Seems I may have jumped the gun a bit.

It’s looking now like Pizza Hut’s foray into the Twitterverse is probably a really good thing for their image. Given what happened with Domino’s video going viral, and Domino’s lack of response online about it, I can understand how a company would want to have an online presence if for nothing more than damage control.

Managing what is said about you online is important whether you’re an individual or a corporation, and maybe I was a little quick to judge just how important it is for a company to have an online presence and use it to not only communicate with customers, but also to bolster the company’s image.

Will Richardson uses a good example in his presentations (and I wish I had links to this, but I don’t…maybe Will can help me out?) of a woman who tweeted about the lack of response she was getting from Allstate. A couple of hours later, she had a response on Twitter from Allstate, and a week later, her issue was resolved.

If only every company was so quick to manage their online image.

I’ve been trying to manage the online image of our district by keeping up with the district’s wikipedia page, and asking about starting the Twitter account during the whole swine flu thing.

Like so many people are saying, managing your digital footprint, or digital identity is how people are going to preceive you these days. By failing to manage your presence online, you are allowing others to say what they will about you, or your company. By refusing to participate in the conversation, you are allowing others to form the public’s opinion of you.

So, I apologize for being quick to jump on Pizza Hut and being skeptical about what they are doing. They’re one of a handful of companies who actually seem to be getting the point. A point that I did not fully understand myself until two weeks ago.

And, as a side note, it’s funny that I was listening in to Will Richardson’s presentation at TEC SIG on Thruday because late Thursday/early Friday, my wife’s car caught fire, and we tried desperately to get it removed from our driveway all weekend without any help from our insurance agency. I tweeted about it, put it on my Facebook, and even wrote on my personal blog about it.

And I never heard a word about it. Never heard anything from the car manufacturer, either, and I thought they were a progressive company.

I wonder how long it will be before the old school companies realize that the new name of the game is participate in the discussion, watch what people are saying about you, or go the way of the dinosaurs.