Stew Leonard”™s public relations director Rachel Begun monitors the company”™s Twitter site.
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“Damn you, Stew Leonard,” began a “tweet” posted on the Twitter instant message service on a sweltering morning in late August, freezing Rachel Begun momentarily at the grocer”™s Norwalk headquarters. “Damn you and your wonderful frozen yogurt.”
In a single sentence, “2dolla_bill” captured the worst fears of businesses with respect to online social media bombarding the consumers that use their products ”“ and their greatest hopes to profit from such outlets.
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The Stew Leonard”™s posting by “2dolla_bill” was one of several captured by Monitter, a service that allows one to enter keywords to scan new Twitter postings for mentions of whatever is of interest as they crop up.
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Other posts that morning included “katinainct”™s” contention that “Stew Leonard”™s is way better than Whole Foods period” ”“ and “Stews _Wines” promoting a wine tasting at the company”™s liquor store in Yonkers, N.Y.
Whole Foods lit up Twitter this month, after the chain”™s CEO publicly announced his opposition to the health care overhaul under consideration in Washington, D.C. Activists used Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites to urge a boycott of Whole Foods stores, illustrating the perils such sites can bring for corporations caught in the crosshairs.
With regard to the latter tweet, “Stews_Wines” is of course Begun, who heads public relations for Stew Leonard”™s as well as its Twitter initiative launched six months ago.
“It took me a few months just to figure out what (I) should be doing,” Begun said, adding she also manages Stew Leonard”™s page on Facebook.
That uncertainty goes right to the top of the company food chain. While Begun provides updates to CEO Stew Leonard Jr. if she sees something that would interest him ”“ for instance, a recent compliment on the company”™s lobster rolls by a noted food blogger ”“ Leonard has yet to get himself set up to offer “tweets.”
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That day is likely coming for the ultimate company pitchman, who travels regularly to the farms and factories that produce the company”™s food ”“ and who makes sure he is photographed or filmed on site to provide his customers with proof of the company”™s devotion to researching the products it sells before they hit the shelves.
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So, in the coming months, expect the occasional ”“ or perhaps frequent ”“ tweet from Leonard, perhaps amid the din of turkeys gobbling as Thanksgiving approaches.
For her part, Begun said she has yet to read any dissonant squawks about Stew Leonard”™s on Twitter, though she wondered if that was where “2dolla_bill” was taking things before he completed his stream-of-conscious thought.
If or when the day comes, Begun said she would handle it much as she does regular correspondence the company receives in store suggestion boxes or via email, while acknowledging the very public and instantaneous nature of a tweet.
“We look at Twitter very much as a customer-service tool,” Begun said.
