Naked Pizza was one of the first businesses to understand how to use Twitter to engage their local customer base. Their business is booming, and they continue to demonstrate smart ways to use Twitter.

• Before You Start: You have a business Twitter account. Your business relies on local customers.
• Learning level: 3 | Building Skills
• Article Last Updated:  Sunday, December 4, 2011

Naked Pizza On Twitter

In spring 2009, a small pizza joint in New Orleans has made a splash in the technology news. Naked Pizza (@NakedPizza) identifies itself as an all natural pizza with no preservatives or additives, which makes it a healthier pizza. The moniker “naked’ describes it and catches your attention. But the unusual name is not the reason why everyone started talking about Naked Pizza. What really sets Naked Pizza apart is the way they use Twitter to impact their business.

Naked Pizza was one of the early businesses to figure out how to use Twitter  to grow their business. Naked Pizza focused on finding Twitter users within three miles of their restaurant, and use Twitter to  engage their customers and neighbors. In a scan of their Twitter timeline, you find them joking with customers, and including pictures of customers in the shop. They mention their specials, but it’s a small part of the conversation. Discounts are not their primary message.

In the last year, Naked Pizza began franchising their healthy pizza concept and local business model. Naked Pizza is starting to show up in cities around the US thanks to investors who recognize the business savvy of the founders.

Borrow These Ideas

Naked Pizza does offer an outstanding example of a small local business that figured out a smart use for Twitter. If you run a small business, check out what they did and borrow some of their brilliance for your own Twitter strategy.

One key element of the Naked Pizza success is finding local Twitter users. If finding local Twitter users would help your business, there are several tools that help you find them.

Another really smart strategy is the way they engage their customers in conversation. Look at the photos of customers picking up pizzas,  tweets about the local New Orleans community and rebirth, and the strong sense of personality you get from reading just a single page of tweets. All of this with a slice of (healthy) pizza. What’s not to love?

Your turn: What do you see as a key ingredient of Naked Pizza’s success? Do you know other businesses who have turned Twitter into a community building engine for their business? Share your observations here.

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