Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

You are a marketing manager at a small company and you have been trying to encourage your company to utilize the power of Twitter to connect with potential customers.  Your boss – head of her company – is resistant to understanding the value of social media sites.

Now you have come up with a way to explain Twitter that might get your boss’ attention.

Here is an imagined conversation to explain Twitter to your boss:

You:  I’d like to demonstrate how using Twitter could help us connect with our potential and current customers.

Your boss:  Twitter?  Isn’t that where you write what you’ve eaten for lunch?

You:  Yes, some people write about what they’re eating.  But that’s not really what Twitter is about.

Your boss:  I’ve read about Twitter.  You only get 140 characters in a message.

You:  It’s called a tweet – and you’d be surprised what you can get in 140 characters.

Your boss:  How will being on Twitter help us connect with our customers?

You:  The most important reason to be on Twitter is to monitor what people are saying about our company.  See on the home page of Twitter there’s a search box?  Even if you are not logged into Twitter you can type in the name of our company and see what’s being said.

Your boss:  Let me try it.  (She types the company name.)  Wait a second!  Someone is complaining that we didn’t deliver an item on time.  What’s this about?

You:  (You click on the person who posted the complaint and see that he has 4,512 followers.)  The person complaining has 4,512 followers.  Of course not all his followers will see this tweet.

Your boss:  4,512 followers!  If even a very small fraction of his followers sees this complaint …

You:  This is exactly why we as a company need to be on Twitter.  We need to respond to this comment.  We need to demonstrate that we can “make good” on the problem.

Your boss:  Sign us up right now.  I want to answer this … tweet.

You:  We can sign up right now but we won’t have much credibility in answering the complaint.

Your boss:  Why not?

You: Because we will be new on Twitter.  We should have started building our credibility on Twitter long before this.  Now we’ll have to play catch up.

Your boss:  Do whatever you have to do to get caught up.  We need to be in this space NOW.

You (to yourself as you walk away):  That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for months.  Finally I got your attention.

If this imagined conversation hits a raw nerve, it’s time for you to act.  You can forward this post to your boss – or try the imagined conversation on him or her.

(FYI – If there’s no complaint about your company, find one about another company.  You can use that company to demonstrate what the risk is if your company doesn’t have an active and credible Twitter account.)