Staples gets down to business with social media

Staples Inc. is turning to Twitter to provide extra assistance for its small business customers.



Staples is preparing the launch of the #MoreSmallBiz Squad, a group of experts who will directly interact with small business customers through use of the #MoreSmallBiz hashtag. The experts will offer blog posts and other content, and also directly interact with small businesses who post questions on Twitter using the hashtag.



The #MoreSmallBiz Squad will kick off the program with a Twitter chat on Thursday, Jan. 7, where they will offer back-to-business advice and best practices. The group consists of:



• Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan), CEO of Owner Media Group;



• Melissa Stewart (@MelissaOnline), founder of She Owns It, a website for female entrepreneurs; and



• Melinda Emerson (@SmallBizLady), creator and host of #Smallbizchat, a live chat on Twitter for small business owners.



With its focus on short announcements of real-time activities and easy hashtag-based searches, Twitter is a natural platform for retailers to directly engage with and aid customers. Best Buy was an early pioneer of reaching out to help frustrated customers through Twitter with its Twelpforce team that provides direct assistance for consumer electronics issues.



More recently, for several retailers who experienced Cyber Week site issues, Twitter proved a valuable tool for monitoring and responding to consumer complaints, as well as issuing general public updates. Twitter allowed real-time conversations with irate customers and enabled retailers to let consumers know the very latest status of site issues.



Social media platforms such as Twitter are new enough that retailers are still figuring out how to best use them. But as a real-time crisis management and communication tool Twitter seems hard to beat.