WOW, the power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing… in this case, using YouTube’s viral marketing properties.

I recently received this email in my personal email account and thought this to be an excellent example of word-of-mouth marketing and its power.

It’s actually a true story and you can read (and listen) to the whole story on http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/ubg/.

The email that is circulating among friends:

Subject: United Breaks Guitars

This is clever way to “pay back”… notice over 7 million hits on this YouTube video…. a company spends millions on advertising and screws it up with one error like this. There used to be a business axiom that said “If you do something right, the customer will tell 3 other people; when you do some wrong, the customer will tell 20 other people”. This guy made the odds even worse for United Airlines.

United breaks guitars…….a gem!

A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines. United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) during a flight. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for youtube exposing their lack of cooperation.

The Manager responded : “Good luck with that one, pal”. So he posted a retaliatory video on youtube.

The video has since received over 7 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: “Good luck with that one, pal”. Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders..

Here’s the video …. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Ok, I thought I’d post several helpful Twitter Tips & Resources for those starting out on Twitter. This is actually from a previous SEO Web Consulting blog post, but am transferring some content over to this site blog…

Please keep in mind, before setting up a Twitter account for your business, intelligently plan out your goals and strategy for using Twitter for your business.

Twitter Resources & Tips for Beginners:

After setting up your account, be sure to fill out your profile. Be sure to add your website and a professional, captivating bio. Even witty bios are better than no bio!

Consider customizing your Twitter background to reflect your business profile. Have your web design team design a suitable Twitter background for your business. You can always check out TweetPages for freebies.

You only get 140 characters for your Twitter posts, so become familiar with using URL shortening to reserve your character count.

URL Shortening Services:

http://bit.ly/
http://is.gd/
http://tinyurl.com
Here’s a good URL Shortener Resource: 11 Best URL Shortening Services to review different features of each shortening service.

How do you find Tweeple to follow?
There will always be those you know on Twitter who can get your ‘follow’ list started, but what happens when you max-out that list?

Reach out!
Sometimes when you follow people in your niche, they follow you back. So reaching out - even to competitors - can not only be a good way to learn how other businesses are using Twitter, but it can be fun to start and nurture online business relationships.

– Use the Find People function (top right navigation link)

– Use the Twitter Search function (either on right navigation or footer link). Use the search function like you would a search engine. Use your niche keywords to target others in your business niche.

– Participate in conversations. Comment, Retweet, Ask questions, conduct polls / contests / surveys

Be selective! Don’t follow just anyone. Follow those of specific interest to you and your business - or those who consistently offer interesting information.

What do you Tweet to attract followers?
– Interesting articles you’ve read or written

– Interesting industry blog posts you’ve read or written

– Breaking news that you want to share w/your Twitter following

– Industry news

– Use Twitter #hashtags to attract more followers in your niche. DON’T ABUSE #hashtags!!! It will turn tweople off!

– Use the Twitter Search function to find business-niche Tweeple and follow them (they may review YOUR tweets and want to follow you back!)

– ReTweet!! If you see a Tweet from someone you are following - and think YOUR following could benefit - RETWEET! (i.e. RT @vdcseo How Mayo Clinic Uses Social Media http://bit.ly/9djiC WELL WORTH THE READ!!)

– Post your Twitter badge on your website, blog, email signature and all online (& offline!) marketing - inviting people to follow you on Twitter

– Again, participate in conversations. Comment, Retweet, Ask questions, conduct polls / contests / surveys

Keep checking back for more Twitter resources and tips - whether you’re an experienced Twit or new to Twitter! And in the meantime, I invite you to follow me on Twitter!

In addition to this great Twitter Resources for Businesses blog post from MarketingExperiments ( @MktgExperiments ), they provide free web clinics for any business to “discover what really works in sales and marketing optimization through testing and research”.

This MarketingExperiments blog post is a great Twitter resource for business. It includes articles and Twitter tools… bookmark this for future reference!

Twitter Resources / Tools / Articles:

10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business

Twitter Brand Smackdown: the winners and losers

12 Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles

10 Ways To Decide If Your Business Should Tweet

5 Twitter Marketing Experiments

3 Ways a Small Business Can Use Twitter

10 Twitter Tools to Organize Your Tweets

MarketingExperiments Twitter Resource web clinics and a special eWorkshop: How To Use Twitter to Boost Your Business Results