If you think the concept of using Twitter to promote your store or restaurant is, if you’ll excuse the pun, for the birds, you may want to reconsider. The New York Times recently deemed the powerful micro-blogging service “a powerful, low-cost marketing tool for small businesses”—and in truth, Twitter can provide a quick, personalized connection to an establishment’s followers and build any business by:

1. Keeping its customers in the loop. With a quick Twitter “tweet”, as it is called, you can let customers know you’re offering new merchandise or have introduced a new menu item. You can let them be the first to know that your store or restaurant is about to sell out of a particularly popular product or dish. You can share the details of a sale or other promotion that’s about to start.
2. Keeping decision-makers up to date on customer feedback. Twitter can be the lynchpin of a “focus group” in which you ask followers questions about what they like, what they think of your new merchandise or menu item and what they would like to change about your assortment or menu. You can also ask questions whose responses you may put to good use for planning purposes, such as when they intend to start their Christmas/Chanukah shopping or whether they are going to be in the market for gifts or “supplies” for a certain holiday—like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Passover, Easter and Halloween. With Twitter, it’s easy to start and maintain a quick, short dialogue with customers and get answers to your own questions.
3. Establishing owners and managers as authorities on certain topics. Twitter is a great way to quickly disseminate articles or links to articles you believe customers will find of interest to them.
4. Injecting levity into the customer relationship. One New York area business posts trivia contests and challenges to remain in close touch with its customers.

The point of sale provides opportunities to market to your customers. pcAmerica’s Restaurant Pro Express and Cash Register Express POS software can provide you with the tools you need to start social marketing, right from the point of sale. pcAmerica can help you undertake other initiatives aimed at leveraging the power of social media like Twitter and Facebook. To find out more, visit www.pcAmerica.com