Signed up for Twitter yet? In case you don’t know Twitter is the microblogging social media site where you post messages that are 140 characters or less. These are called tweets.
I’ve been on Twitter for about three years now, and I definitely go hot and cold on it from time to time, as far a social networking or just plain chatting goes. But as far as being a frugal consumer, Twitter is a life saver. OK, it’s actually a money- and time-saver. How? Let me fill you in on a few things.
So many companies have set up shop on Twitter to deal with customer service that you can often get a question answered or a problem solved faster via Twitter than calling an 800 number. Even better? Because of Twitter I’ve been able to save money. Here are three examples of how I’ve done that and you can, too.
1. Got a refund on a clothing return. When it comes to buying shoes, I have a hard time, because I have hard-to-fit feet. Since driving to Nordstrom (which carries shoes that fit me, albeit expensive shoes that fit me) isn’t always convenient, I’ve turned to Zappos.com many times for shoe purchases. I just love that Zappos offers free shipping on orders and returns. Most recently I bought a pair of metallic flats from Zappos–and then tweeted about how much I loved the shoes when they arrived. @Zappos_Service started following me on Twitter, and we had a nice little chat about my shoes. Two days later those some flats had stretched out so much that they were flying off my feet. I tweeted my disappointment, and @Zappos_Service told me what I needed to do to get a refund: simply tell the customer-service person I called on the phone that I’d spoken with the Zappos person on Twitter and he/she/it had assured me that I could get my money back in full. “Normally, we don’t give refunds for shoes that have been worn,” the operator told me when I called later that day, “but since you dealt with our people on Twitter, I’ll credit you for the full amount.” Cha-ching! $68 back on my credit card.
2. Follow people who post links to coupons. I can’t even begin to count how much I’ve saved on grocery shopping, thanks to the people I follow on Twitter who posts links to coupons. Some of these people make it their business to share couponing information, such as @couponmom. But other folks I follow just want to share the wealth–or the savings, as the case may be–by sharing links to coupons. And I’ll often follow those links, print out those coupons and bring them with me when I go shopping.
3. Find special savings’ codes from companies you like. Big travel companies, such as Hertz and Marriott, are on Twitter, and they will often post Twitter-specific codes in their tweets that you can use to save money when booking a reservation. I know restaurants and stores also run these kinds of Twitter promotions. So here’s what I would suggest you do: find all of the companies that you favor or locations that you’re hoping to visit, and start following tweets related to them. Then, hopefully, you’ll start reaping the financial benefits of their super-secret sale tweets or something like that. (Check out how this one guy save $600 on a vacation.)
Let me know if you’ve found clever ways to save money via Twitter, too.
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