So it seems that Twitter is getting hip to what’s going on with businesses and realizes that there are a lot of brands wanting to know how to take advantage of this microblogging application. To help businesses out, the great folks at  Twitter have put together a “How To” website that gives a beginner’s tutorial for how businesses can use the site. But there’s a lot more than simple elementary advice. To be truly valuable for companies, this website includes some case studies, resources and even a dictionary to help you understand the terminology.

I think that what’s helpful about this website is the ability for new brands to see the entire process on how to use Twitter. It’s not just some random website where you have to search for help. It’s a step-by-step tutorial that will give you a simple explanation about what’s going on. One thing that author and founder of public relations firm FutureWorks, Brian Solis, noted was that in the beginning, executives were often left wondering what Twitter’s usage for business is. This helpful guide sets out to answer those type of questions:

Twitter is a communications platform that helps businesses and their customers do a number of useful things. As a business, you can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company. As an individual user, you can use Twitter to tell a company (or anyone else) that you’ve had a great–or disappointing–experience with their business, offer product ideas, and learn about great offers.

First you’re going to learn about the purpose of the website (that’s the homepage). Then you’re going to move onto understanding what Twitter is before learning the lingo behind this platform and how it’s used. From there you’re now able to move to read about some best practices for how to use Twitter right before reviewing some successful case studies of brands using the platform for their campaigns. And if you need any more information after reading the case studies and getting an introductory view of Twitter, the creators of this website have offered up some additional resources for you to take a look at.

But if you’re not getting enough information just by understanding what Twitter is, then relax, as the folks at Twitter have also included the case study section that gives you examples of what other brands have done with the platform. They’re not all Fortune 500 companies and many of their solutions can also be tailored towards your brand usage if you want. So check out what companies like Dell, Etsy, Pepsi, American Apparel, Current and JetBlue is doing right now with the technology.

But wait…does that answer one of the fundamental questions about how do businesses use Twitter? Sure, you might understand what Dell, Etsy, Pepsi and all the brands listed in the guide do with Twitter, but what else can Twitter be used for? Simple. Twitter connects you to your customers right now, in a way that was never before possible. By that I mean that it allows you to monitor what people are saying online about you. Imagine Twitter as one giant conversation happening at a large event. Sure, you’re not going to be able to follow every single thing at first, but through some clever searches as you browse around, you’re able to hear conversations about your brand, product or company. That’s your time to listen and respond – it’s all about immediacy and real-time engagement – that’s what Twitter does for the customer service relationship.

So now you’re happy to know that there’s a simple Twitter for Business guide out there…what next? Well you need to share this information with your colleagues and anyone else that might have an impact on the Twitter usage in your brand. Once everyone understands what this Twitter thing is, the better your interactions with your customers will be. This website is very user-friendly in that it also offers itself as a downloadable PDF or you can print the site out in its entirety to share with whomever you wish.

If you’re a brand eager to understand what’s going on with Twitter, I’d highly recommend looking at this website first and then engage your customers. This is a really helpful “tutorial” of sorts that will give you insights that until now, you were left to figure out by yourself or perhaps left to scour the web looking for answers. It’s all here.

Gerry Rosso is a incredibly nice guy. It goes with the territory in being an excellent customer care manager. Gerry works up in the Hazelton, PA office of Network Solutions. He is a Technical Support Supervisor and the voice of @NetsolCares on Twitter. (Connie used this term when she blogged about the social media team. I like it ). I was able to spend some time with him recently and here is a transcript of our interview:

Steve: How long have you been with Network Solutions?
Gerry: December 17th will be 4 years.

Steve: How long have you been working in customer service and how did you get into the field?
Gerry: About 20 years now. I worked with a company called AmerTranz Worldwide in the Air freight Industry. Then EZ-pass NY for 4 years then NetSol

Steve: What is the typical day like in the customer service center?
Gerry: I arrive at 8:45 to check e-mails and conduct a 15-minute preshift with my team. Then I go about my normal duties of monitoring team members, providing them feedback and handling escalated issues. Since the Social Media project was formed I spend a good portion of my day (and night) reaching out to our customers online and resolving their issues.

Steve: What do you like most and least about working in customer service?
Gerry: Resolving people’s issues that had lost all hope and cementing customer’s confidence in Network Solutions. Should we really use what I like least?

Steve: What is your philosophy on providing stellar customer service?
Gerry: Never tell the customer we can’t do something. But tell them what we can do for them. Always go above and beyond the call of duty.

Steve: On a personal note, you are an avid blogger. What do you blog about and why do you enjoy it?
Gerry: Motivating people to do better in their work, lives, and health.

Steve: What is your feeling with using social media tools, like blogs and podcasts, to engage customers to improve the customer experience?
Gerry: I think companies who use these tools to reach out to their customers are really on the forefront of the new age of customer service.

Steve: What are the top five things a company can do to provide stellar customer service?
Gerry:

1. Quick turn around times.
2. Be very empathic when needed.
3. Give 100 percent accurate information if you don’t know the answer be honest and find out.
4. Treat every customer the same.
5. Care for your customers like it was one of your family members calling in with an issue.

Network Solutions is joining many companies that are successfully using Twitter to respond to their customer’s needs. People are using services such as Twitter & their blogs to express their frustration & appreciation of services. Customers are pleasantly surprised when they get a quick positive response.

Anthony Bouvier expressed his appreciation for getting help on Twitter on his blog:

What happened after I vented was quite interesting. After figuring out the problem myself, I went to my Twitter page and I had a direct message from @netsolcares, a Network Solutions customer assistance rep on Twitter itself…He used Summize, a search engine for conversations going on at Twitter and found my message within hours of posting and contacted me directly to see if he could help at all.

“Now that is proactive customer support!”

Today we were able to help out another customer. He posted this on Twitter:

Can anyone explain why Network Solutions has been down for over a week and how I’ll ever be able to re-register my domain???

Within a half hour of that being posted Customer Service looked up the customer’s contact info & and called the customer to ensure that the domain is renewed and also resolve his issue. It seems his ISP was blocking his access to our website for some unknown reason.

Our goal is to provide the best customer service as soon as possible to all of our customers including those that are expressing themselves online.

I have joined Shashi as the voice of @NetSolCares on Twitter. We welcome your feedback whether it’s positive or negative.

Let us know if you would like us to tweet service messages?