Use Twitter to increase sales

Interesting post on techcrunch about how Dell is offering exclusive discounts to its Twitter followers.

Dell has found a way to use Twitter to generate sales. In December InternetNews reported that Dell has produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts via Twitter. People who sign up to follow Dell on Twitter receive messages when discounted products are available the company’s Home Outlet Store. They can click over to purchase the product or forward the information to others.

Dell has now taken its Twitter campaign to a new level but offering discounts exclusively to the 11,844 people who follow @DellOutlet . For instance, here is a Tweet with a link to save 20% on Outlet Latitude™ XT tablet PC. When you click on the link, it takes you to this product page on Dell.com.

The new marketing program was, launched on Monday and of course was announced on Twitter, as well as on this Direct2Dell blog post

Beginning today, Dell will offer deals from the Dell Outlet exclusive to Twitter in the U.S. With over 11,000 followers, our team wanted to show their thanks to the Twitter world through these new deals which will continue each week.

@DellOutlet now has over 15,000 followers who are receiving these marketing messages from Dell. So while Twitter is trying to figure out how to make money from its service, it is interesting to see that Dell recognizes that Twitter is a marketing channel, and more importantly, it is a channel that can increase revenues.

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Below are the list of Companies on Twitter

Media
Reuters http://twitter.com/reuters
CNN http://twitter.com/cnnbrk
BBC (Off-site List) http://menti.net/?p=17
NY Times http://twitter.com/nytimes (The NYT also offers other sections in twitter)
WHP (CBS-affiliate) http://twitter.com/whptv
Wired News http://twitter.com/wired
NPR http://twitter.com/nprnews
ZDNet http://twitter.com/zdnett
Conde Nast Portfolio http://twitter.com/Portfolio
CNET News http://twitter.com/CNETNews
Revision3 http://twitter.com/revision3
Times OnLine http://twitter.com/TimesWorldNews
CBC News http://twitter.com/cbcnews
Orlando Sentinel http://twitter.com/orlandosentinel

Airlines/Travel
Carnival Cruise Lines http://twitter.com/CarnivalCruise
Delta http://twitter.com/deltaairlines
Jetblue http://twitter.com/JetBlue
Southwest Airlines http://twitter.com/SouthwestAir
Mahalo Travel http://twitter.com/mahalotravel

Retailers
Dell Outler http://twitter.com/DellOutlet
Direct2Dell http://twitter.com/Direct2Dell
Direct2Dell (China): http://twitter.com/Direct2Dell_CN
Studio Dell http://twitter.com/StudioDell
WOOT: http://twitter.com/woot
Apple: http://twitter.com/appleinc (Questionable)
Amazon.com Deals: http://twitter.com/amazondeals
Zappos http://twitter.com/zappos
Buy.com http://twitter.com/Buy_com (Questionable)

Professional Services
Forrester http://twitter.com/forrester
Deacons http://twitter.com/Deacons (*** A Law Firm!)
PerkettPR http://twitter.com/PerkettPR
Q1Labs http://twitter.com/Q1Labs

SaaS
Mzinga http://twitter.com/mzinga

Education
Career Development Office, McGill University http://twitter.com/cdolaw
Norwich University http://twitter.com/NorwichNews

Manufacturing
GM http://twitter.com/GMblogs
Ford http://twitter.com/FoMoCoNA ***Questionable

Government
LAFD http://twitter.com/LAFD
Franklin, MA PD http://twitter.com/franklinpolice (Needs more updates)
Austin, TX PD http://twitter.com/AustinPD (Why lock updates?)

Social/Blogs
Techmeme http://twitter.com/Techmeme
Mashable http://twitter.com/mashable
Engadget http://twitter.com/engadget
Technorati http://twitter.com/technorati
SocialText http://twitter.com/socialtext
Kyolo http://twitter.com/kyolo

Food/Specialty Products
M&Ms http://twitter.com/msgreen

Authors/Artists/Musicians/Etc
Henry Rollins http://twitter.com/henryrollins
Matthew Modine http://twitter.com/matthewmodine