Tonight, I saw a great example of a company using Twitter to put a personal face on their brand.     I had a flat tire, and my wonderful husband (@aballstudio for those of you who follow Twitter) took the tire to Discount Tire to get it repaired or replaced. While waiting to get it fixed, he sent the following Tweet:

“@roundpeg waiting for your new tire: $19.54. Tell people about Discount Tire’s great insurance program! Woohoo!”

To his surprise, he received the following Tweet in reply from @discounttire:

“@aballstudio Thanks for the shout out – glad we could help!”

This was pretty clever marketing for any company, but especially a relatively low tech company   @aballstudio was impressed and sent the following preface to his RT (Retweet)

“Brilliant marketing&use of Twitter +very happy customer”

I honestly thought it would end there.  He had complimented the company, they had thanked him, he acknowledged the marketing, what else was there to say?   Then to my surprise, @aballstudio got another tweet from @discounttire.

“@aballstudio Why, thank you. Checked out your site – you do beautiful work! Especially liked “Ironglass”. Ever do shows out this way?”

And suddenly the person behind @discounttire became real.  We liked him, and his taste in art. With just a few words, he enhanced my perception of his brand.

I have always been a fan of Discount Tire. Their service, prices, free tire rotation, and warranty program keep me coming back.  But now I have one more reason to go back.  Somewhere in their corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona is a real person, who likes my husband’s art.

So what about you?  Are you using Twitter and other Social Media to put a face on your brand?