Having shared my Tweetsense with you on What can Twitter do for your business? in my last wisdom series, the easy and super fast method to get conversations rolling, let me get you thinking with some real Twitter success stories. Smart businesses are taking the first mover advantage in social media and have now started conversing with their consumers to get their real time feedback and to start engaging with them to first listen and witness consumer behaviors and then influence them. Not only is this convenient, it requires transparency in the people who are a taking part in this worldwide discussion. Twitter is an all encompassing medium to:

• build communities,
  
• provide consumer service,
  
• selling and providing promotional offers,
  
• building brand awareness and
  
• to raise funds.

Many companies have applied it into their company social policies and have been bearing the fruits of tweeting. Here are some interesting success stories of companies who have successfully applied twitter in their businesses. Take a good read!

Success Stories – Cases for tangible ROI via Twitter

1. Computer manufacturer, Dell is the first company that defined Twitter Monetization to the world. Dell launched the innovative idea of selling refurbished systems through twitter (@DellOutlet), they started posting messages and links to products online by alerting bargain hunters to the latest computer deals. In November 2008, Dell announced that it had made $500,000 through its Dell Outlet Twitter feed.  Joining since 2007 Dell has announced it had made $2 million in sales directly through twitter and additional $1 million from people who see the bargains on twitter then redirect themselves to the Dell Website.

2. Where Dell applied Twitter to increase sales, Comcast Cable provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services applied Twitter to provide costumer services in cost effective and efficient means. Twitter account @Comcastcares engage with customers directly and get their questions answered on varied topics, from billing issues to cable services. Today, Comcast firmly stands as the most successful customer service operations on the Web. Over the past year, Comcast has handled more than 21,000 customer service requests through social media, (a little more than half through Twitter).

3. Zappos, an online retailer featuring shoes, bags, clothing and other accessories wanted to differentiate itself from competitors by focusing on customer service and engaging with them directly. Through @Zappos, employees were encouraged to interact with customers,they answered product questions, helped in customer service. Anyone within Zappos was authorized to help customers on twitter. One thing led to another and this company with almost no sales in 1999 (the year it was established) garnered whopping $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in 2008. The primary driver of their growth has been repeat customers and word of mouth through their proactive help in services given to customers. At present, nearly one third of the employees are on Twitter, helping and engaging and conversing with customers through @Zappos.

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