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Tea and tweets combo Zoomdweebie's builds success on TwitterFeb 17, 2009 (The Wichita Eagle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- One of the most basic truths behind a successful business and the latest Internet craze recently crossed paths to give a Wichita company new life. The combination drove home a point for Frank Horbelt, owner of Zoomdweebie's Tea Bar, a business he started less than two years ago. "I'm not the most computer savvy," Horbelt said, "but I'm learning as we go along. You just can't be in business anymore and not stay on top of it." Specifically, Horbelt began to use Twitter last fall as a marketing tool, resulting in such a significant surge in business that he's making plans for the future instead of closing his doors. His lease at 3010 E. Central runs out in May, Horbelt said. "We were seriously thinking that would be it for us," he said. "We've had an uphill struggle from the beginning." From the start, Horbelt has tried to use technology as a marketing avenue. He put a little extra money into the company's Web site, zoomdweebies.com, to make it interactive with customers. Then the two young employees he hired to help run the store told him he needed a MySpace page. Later they also suggested adding Facebook. It wasn't long before one of his regular customers began hounding him about adding Twitter. "I wasn't so sure about it," Horbelt said. "It just looked like a bunch of people chatting back and forth. I felt like I'd be spamming people." But as Horbelt learned more -- such as the blacklisting that Twitter initiated last year to stop spamming -- he bought into the Internet's latest craze that has attracted more than 6 million accounts. Last fall, he launched a separate Web site, 52teas.com, and set up a Twitter account with 52teas as the handle. A different tea blend is offered each week -- chocolate with watermelon, anyone? --and customers are alerted to specials. Feedback is encouraged. "You always say give the customer what he wants," Horbelt said. "Twitter has allowed us to do exactly that. Customers are telling us exactly what to blend each week." Business has boomed and expanded well beyond the area. Orders are coming in from Scotland to Australia. "We were shipping maybe one or two packages every two to three weeks," Horbelt said. "Now we're shipping 40 to 50 packages." Instead of shutting down, he's now considering relocating. All because of Twitter. "It's a great means of communicating with customers," Horbelt said. "It's kind of cool how that works." A privately held company, Twitter started in July 2006 as a social service with micro-blogging that limits messages to 140 keystrokes. There is no charge to have a Twitter account. The messages, known as "tweets," can be sent by mobile phone or a computer. Updates are available for anyone to see, ranging from the ho-hum chatter of ordinary folks --"I think I'll have a burger for lunch" -- to celebrities. Basketball star Shaquille O'Neal has more than 72,000 followers and rapper MC Hammer 55,000, according to the Associated Press. To begin 52teas' following, Horbelt first attracted attention by feeding off major competitors, such as Adagio Teas and Mighty Leaf. "We followed everyone who was following them," Horbelt said. "Some days we'd follow 400, 500 people, then 200 or 300 would follow us back." As of Monday, 52teas had nearly 1,700 followers. Zoomdweebie's has joined a throng of businesses utilizing Twitter as a marketing tool. Computer maker Dell has attracted more than 18,000 followers as the result of a post-holiday promotion on Twitter, resulting in $1 million sales, the AP reported. Twitter responses can come fast and heavy, and at times they have caught Horbelt off guard. A few weeks ago he tweeted on 52teas that he had only about three teas available on the Web site because everything else was sold out. "So I said (actually tweeted) that maybe we should re-blend one of the previous week's teas and put it back on the site," Horbelt said. "Immediately I got like three or four responses that they wanted us to re-blend the butterscotch chai." He updated the Web site that he would re-blend two pounds of the flavor. It was gone within 45 minutes. "It's been kind of crazy," Horbelt said. "Twitter has really turned business around for us. "I really have my customers to thank for it. They're the ones that kept saying, 'You have to try this, try that (in the technology world).' "You have to listen to your customers." To see more of The Wichita Eagle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansas.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |