Orange County Register

sOCial sunday tracks social networking because it’s real business — notably, a hot marketing tool. Pen maker Pentel of America in Torrance — with help from GBL public relations in Yorba Linda — recently began tweeting as @PentelOfAmerica … we had to ask “Why?”

Says Marty Furman, Pentel’s chief operating officer …

1. Hear comments that people are making about our products. In the past people would call the 800 number. When email became popular we received emails from customers. Twitter allows us to hear comments from people that might not pick up the phone or email.
2. We can communicate with more customers more quickly.
3. We can provide better and quicker customer service for Twitter followers. Example: They might want to know where to buy a particular product. We can immediately provide them with that information.
4. Example of customer feedback: We have a Pentel Arts product, the Pocket Brush Pen. We didn’t realize how popular this pen was and different uses for it, if we hadn’t read about it on Twitter.
5. Example of marketing using Twitter. Product: Eight-color Pencil: We’ve heard that Bible study groups use this pencil to highlight areas they’re studying. We’ll tweet to let Bible study groups know about the pencil.

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