¡OH! NO, YOU DIDN’T!

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!

In an effort to be more Dale Carnegiesque and less Sheneneh Jenkins, I will not name names of the offenders. However, I will take the time to acknowledge beauty companies that tweet fair and then spill the beans on those who don’t @princereigns, @chinaglaze, @tantowel, @bellalucce, and @samparparis.

These are excellent examples of companies that are engaging their customers on Twitter and following them back. Their conscientious choice to reciprocate gives me, as a consumer, a vested interest in their brand. I make it a point to support businesses that I feel a connection to. Money can’t and won’t buy this kind of loyalty.

LIFE OF THE PARTY

Just so you know, Twitter is my favorite social media platform; and I have managed to use Twitter in ways to leverage my business that still amazes me (I’m saving those juicy details for another blog post). As usual, I am on Twitter; I am socializing and I am tweeting until my little heart is content, and then there it is. I noticed that a “beauty brand” that I use has close to 500 plus followers but is only following like 89 people, and I am so not 1 of the 89. I was a little taken aback by it, but I quickly recovered and in true @msesthy fashion.

I decided to engage in conversation with them, so I sent a clever tweet (or so I thought) telling them how much I loved their product and what a difference it has made in combing my daughter’s hair. Day one, no response; then on day two, I again tweeted about the awesomeness of their product and how it has made a difference and asked when did they plan on following more of their loyal supporters back. LOL!!! Seriously, I did. Then they told me “be patient; we are getting around to it.”

WELL, I NEVER!

Considering I have spent hundreds of dollars on their hair products when I could have easily gone to Walgreens and purchased a 12-ounce jar of Blue Magic Conditioner Hair Dress for $2.49 versus driving to the mall and paying $18.00 for 8 ounces of their product and later being dissed on Twitter. I was not impressed.

As a consumer, I expect to be treated well in all aspects of your business. My every contact with your company should be a pleasant one; and when it is not, you lose. Eckhart Tolle would argue that it should have never mattered in the first place and that my ego was in control, not my blissful state of being. Eckhart, my darling, in my defense, I am trying to align my chakras, get my chi straight, and meditate myself into a zen-like state; but intentional RUDENESS gets under my skin.

YOU GOTTA GIVE A LITTLE

When I was in high school, one of my favorite shows was Martin; and a character on that show that I could relate to (especially after they told me to be patient ) was Ms Sheneneh Jenkins. She too is in the beauty indy and is a salon owner in Detroit. Part of me wanted to channel my inner Sheneneh and go straight Oh NO, you didn’t on them (waving my extra long acrylic fingernail in the air); but my formal Dale Carnegie Training and good upbringing prevented that from happening, even though I really wanted to.

What did I do?..I turned it into a conversation on Twitter where others also noticed this behavior and were not okay with it, hence later, this post. In my opinion it is senseless for a beauty product or magazine to not follow back their customers. The people that are buying YOUR product, the people that are keeping your company afloat during these financial times, I really feel that companies should show more appreciation to the people that buy from them.

I make it a point to seek out actual clients and follow them on Twitter. Reply to their tweets and engage them in conversation. The most valuable lesson that I have ever learned is that it is human nature to want to feel a connection to want to belong. It is RUDE to ignore a a human being, in person or on a social media platform.

IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

As fast as things are moving now-days and the six degrees of separation are quickly diminishing to about 3 or 4 degrees of separation, it is in your best interest to tighten up because one day those 89 followers could very well represent 89 total units sold. With a few clicks of a mouse and a few unflattering tweets, your business or product could be a thing of the past…. Just ask Bruno.=)

Being socially engaging and reciprocating is so 2010 and beyond…you heard it here first…If you’ve been dissed on Twitter by your favorite beauty companies or magazine, sound off here.