On Friday morning, I sent out a tweet announcing my joy at the fact that my new MacBook Pro had been shipped. A few minutes later, I sent another tweet joking that I also had to buy a new copy of Sage, the accounting software. Imagine my surprise when I got a reply tweet from Sage.
Here is the conversation:
Liam: is happy that new MacBook Pro being shipped today; not happy that new Mac is for new employee.
Liam: has to order a new copy of Sage today. Not as exciting as ordering new computer.
Sage: @liamdempsey Eh – what could be more exciting than a new copy of Sage?
Liam: @sageuk Wow! Sage replied to me. Called on the carpet for thinking Sage isn’t all that cool. Ha-ha! I guess Sage might be cool after all.
Sage: @liamdempsey Oh yeah, business software rocks – don’t you forget it ;)
Liam: RT @sageuk: @liamdempsey Oh yeah, business software rocks – don’t you forget it ;) … Sage is rocking!
A few minutes later I got an email that Sage is now following me on Twitter.
Let’s briefly consider Sage’s use of Twitter for marketing:
Sage has clearly put resources into monitoring its brand image and into taking advantage of Web 2.0 functionality. Through its Twitter account (and the savvy person using the account yesterday), Sage converted a single user (me) into thinking that the makers of accounting/book keeping software really are pretty cool. As you can read above, I was impressed enough by Sage to re-tweet some of their messages to my followers. And as I have a number of followers (small when compared to some, but still at least a handful), Sage was able to reach those potential customers as well.
Sage is actively tracking what people (customers and potential customers) say about it (by tracking use of ‘sage’ on Twitter), and then engaging with those people in a friendly, joking fashion via a trendy communication tool. Through this technique, Sage managed to persuade a sceptical customer into a loyal one. Job done, Sage Marketing Department!