In today’s strategic marketing plans, big businesses are practically required to dive into the world of Twitter (albeit against their own will) to promote their brands, products or services.  But now more and more small businesses are also using the microblogging site for its effective and widespread “word-of-mouth” marketing capabilities.  And they’re doing it right.

As reported in The New York Times today, small-business owners are turning to social media sites like Twitter to generate extra business in ways they are personally and financially incapable of doing, as Twitter knocks down the barriers of small town isolation and opens these mom-and-pop shops to the boundless digital community.  Free, simple and easy to maintain, Twitter truly takes all the hard work and manpower out of marketing, giving small businesses an advertising tool like no other.

A shining example of this trend is by the roving (and sometimes elusive) street-food vendor.  Twitter use has exploded by food cart owners, as it creates an opportunity for immediate and intimate updates on their daily business from right inside their trucks.

Kogi BBQ in LA is now a Twitter-made food truck celebrity

In their Tweets, street vendors give specific location updates (a vital tool for keeping daily customers hooked), special daily promotions, create a sense of demand, and effectively target their audience.  And the use of Twitter further creates a sense of community with their customers, humanizes their brand by revealing a little of their own personality beyond the persona of “that guy in the truck on 8^th Ave with the good gyros.”  Also, with the use of twitpic, vendors can display their street food in more attractive ways than the dingy cart can make it appear.

It may seem obvious, but I think it’s fascinating how Twitter truly is the digital manifestation of word-of-mouth promotion, and goes way beyond what most small-business owners are personally able to do in such a straightforward and successful way.  At the very basic level of food truck vendor, leveraging social media sites like Twitter is obviously an invaluable business tool that further bolsters the relationship between the customer and the business and promotes brands like never before.

As Anamitra Banerji, a commercial products manager at Twitter, told The New York Times, “We’re finding the emotional distance between businesses and their customers is shortening quite a bit.”   Twitter use expansion will undoubtedly help to further cement this relationship and may even change how we do business.

Here’s a list of street-food vendors on Twitter, compiled by Erin Zimmer of the blog Serious Eats.

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