Even though the economy has been dismal and unemployment has been on the rise, a fascinating phenomenon suggests that small businesses and boutique firms stand to gain customers in these trying times.  Let’s face it, whether times are good or bad small businesses have never been able to afford the luxury of being wasteful, inefficient, or careless with money.  Large corporations, on the other hand, which are bureaucratic by their very nature, have a tendency to become highly inefficient and wasteful when times are good.  When faced with an economic downturn, the inevitable occurs in a large corporation—mass downsizing resulting in a loss of valuable talent and customer service.  Consequently, the large name brand company that customers were paying for tends to lose its luster in the face of lost relationships and customer support.

Peter Bregman, CEO of Bregman Partners, Inc., a global management consulting firm, also believes that small companies will win in this economy.  He states that “Small is the new big.  Sustainable is the new growth.  Trust is the new competitive advantage.”  He says that “small companies with low overhead, reliable owners, a small number of committed employees, personal client relationships, and sustainable business models that drive a reasonable profit are the great opportunity of our time.”  To read more about Bregman’s point of view on this topic visit his article Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy.

Small, large, existing, and start-up businesses alike can all benefit from building a community on Twitter.  If you are not familiar with Twitter, it is a social networking site designed to help people connect and share information.  Flyte, a web design and internet marketing company located in Portland, Maine, defines how Twitter works as follows:

“Twitter users—often called Tweeple (or worse)—have 140 characters to answer the question, “What are you doing?” If you join Twitter you can “follow” other tweeple, which causes their updates to appear on your home page. In turn, they can follow you, a form of permission-based marketing. You can also direct message them, but always in 140 characters or less.”

As of August, 2009, Twitter provides access to 23.6 million people according to Web-analytics firm Compete Inc.  It is apparent that Twitter has created a wonderful platform for business people to gain the attention of millions of people.  Therefore, the only question that remains is how does one use Twitter for Business?