Over the course of the last few blogs I have documented my understanding of where social media arose from and what each one of the different sites does functionally. However, the end result of this blog is not to just say what many people already know. The point of this blog is to really understand, from a marketing standpoint, how to leverage this media outlet and why it needs to be on every one's marketing whiteboard. Consumer habits are rapidly changing, as I have mentioned many times before, and the business world must take heed in order to attract buyers. Today we will look at one company that is harnesses the power of social media, in hopes to show how this can benefit a company's bottom line.
I recently read an article from the Harvard Business Review supplied to me by an account rep for an Internet marketing firm. To get off topic, I love this approach from a sales person. She made it a point to educate me and give me the tools to better understand this tool. Reading that article and being fascinated by what it said is one of the main reasons I decided to start this blog. Ok back to the story now. The article was about Best Buy's CEO Brian Dunn, and how he has immersed himself and Best Buy in the social media phenomenon. This story was inspiring to me because a high level executive was going against the grain and taking a swim in uncharted waters. Since he started with the company in 1985 when it was a small fraction of the company it is today, he has been on top of all things tech. They were getting into e-commerce while everyone was saying it was the doom of brick and mortar stores. Looks like he made the right call. I am not going to give the complete story of his epiphany, but in my opinion he is a pioneer who understands consumer trends. Could this correlate to Best Buy's success over the years?
Let's take a look at what they are doing to leverage social media right now. As of March 2011, Best Buy's Facebook fan page has over 2.5 million fans, and growing consistently. The page has many many opportunities to engage the customers and create conversation, which is what the main goal of social media should be. If the sole purpose of a Facebook page is to sell sell sell, it will not be successful. This is, in my opinion, the reason for many in the corporate world to write off social media as a fad. Many cannot grasp a concept of not directly "selling" to customers on these sites. They sell, and they fail, and they speak poorly of this medium. Granted, Best Buy's page does have promotions, informing customers of upcoming specials and sales. In addition they have a area of the page called "Shop and Share." Yes, both of these are meant to sell, and that is ok. The main point is that, the main motive must be customer interaction and they do this well. Shop and Share allows the fan to click on a product, be it a new 3-D TV or new DVD, then start a conversation about the product and get real time reviews. This is a genius idea, and gives Best Buy an edge over competitors.
Another important aspect to a conversation on Facebook is that there will not always be agreements. If you want a customer to trust you, your organization must be transparent in the way it handles customer issues. The fact that Best Buy allows all comments to be posted by customers is key. Negative comments are not deleted, in fact quite the opposite is true. There is a team dedicated to responding to each post regarding a customer complaint or concern. From what I saw, the response time is quick and genuine. It would be a mistake for Best Buy, or any company, to not allow criticism. A company that cannot accept legitimate customer criticism will never change or evolve, therefore will ultimately fail. On the flip side, a company who truly listens to their customers will continue to expand and prosper. Social media gives companies the opportunity to interact with their customers, both happy and unhappy, to mold their brand or product into one that customers always want and buy. Engage that customer who has a complaint, talk to them, figure out why they are unhappy. Then look at your operation and tweak the process that is causing the issue. Granted, we cannot make every customer happy but it is our obligation to try.
Best Buy is also active on Twitter, both as Best Buy and as Brain Dunn's personal Twitter. I am not as impressed with their Twitter as I am with their Facebook. All I see on their twitter are "Hey come check us out" (I am paraphrasing of course). I would like to see something a little more than just current specials. I understand why they would do this, because for 175,000 people to see what your specials are twice a day keeps your presence top of mind. I understand this from an advertising perspective, but I don't want things like that clogging up my feed. Give me links to new emerging technology, how to use current technology to make life easier, etc. Tidbits like this give the company an edge because there customers are going to them for advice, so where do you think they will buy from?
Best Buy is one example of a company that leverages social media in their marketing portfolio. Next week I will outline steps a company can take to leverage social media EFFECTIVELY!
-Luke
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