The Twitter Friend

I noticed an interesting thing, the other day. I spent some time on the East Coast this summer, and one of the small boutiques near the resort I was staying at, Jimmy and Sook, really sold me. I purchased one of their polos and tweeted about it to a blogger I follow, @GreatLakesPrep, he then did a blog post about the polo. Which was noticed by another blogger, @BowsandBoats, who I then tweeted to about a sweater I purchased as well...

This all sounds very complicated, and it goes on with even more shared purchases and advice from one of us to the other. My point, though, is what this means for the companies who's products we admire. Andy Smith, the owner of Jimmy and Sook, and I have exchanged emails on what the kids at Marquette are into, and what that means for his brand. In the little circle of like-minded people in this area, preppy kids who live the East Coast life here on the Third Coast, Twitter is just one way for small companies that cater to our tastes to directly communicate with us.

It makes me wonder if they realize this, I purchased a belt from Chesapeake Ribbons, @chesapkeribbons, and was rewarded with a tweet back asking me to let them know if everything was what I expected once it arrived... For large companies, Twitter is a novelty, or a way to see big trends. But for the small business, the person who packs my order could well be the one handling their Twitter. The potential for incredibly personal marketing and relations is something that they cannot afford to miss out on.

#FollowMonday:
@GreatLakesPrep
@AnchoredStyle
@KnotBeltCo
@BowsandBoats
@JosephPScannell
@Total_MU_Move