Lately it seems that anyone I talk to about social media is scared of twitter. It is perceived to be  a “new techy, geeky thingy;” and closer to the truth, we are scared of the unknown.  What’s worse, there have been many nay-sayers, lawyers with postings on possible arbitration, and skeptics who expect Twitter to either have a quick turn around (ROI) or it’s deemed a waste of time.

As an experiment, we began our twitter account in March of 2009 and slowly began following peers in our industry, local businesses, and the like which lead to a group of followers and a voice within the construction industry and community here in Orange County, California.

In August of 2009 we began the first phase of a large, two-phase project in Chatsworth, California, for a returning client, Earth Island Natural Foods, the manufacturer of the Follow Your Heart product line. Imagine our surprise when the mention column of tweetdeck showed a disgruntled employee of our client!

@DanielleJangmi: @rigginsconst you guys are sure making a lot of noise downstairs here at Earth Island! my head hurts and its only 8:30am!

What should I do?  This is where everyone freaks out about being a business on twitter:  negative comments on your service, brand, or product.  I will admit that I hesitated a bit, but once I saw this tweet from the head chef one of the chefs at our client’s facility, I put a call into our field superintendent, Mike Schnabel.

I informed him of the content and he immediately went upstairs and spoke with Danielle, explaining the situation to both her and her co-workers. Continue reading →