I started off this blog with a video that showed some numbers behind the power of social media, so I thought it only fitting to show a newer version that has recently come out (some of you may have heard me talk about it in class).

In my last post I talked about Best Buy's newest social media campaign called "Twelpforce", but while I was doing some research on it, I was given some great info on the company's entire social media strategy. So, for this post I'd like to show you why I think Best Buy is a company that is at the forefront of using the 2,0 web. A special thanks to Kelly Groehler for providing me with the info.

Best Buy knows that in order for them to be a successful company they have to be able to best serve and connect with their customers. They've done so by launching a few different initiatives which allow their publics to interact directly with their company thereby building that ever important relationship with their customers.

For one, the company's CMO, Barry Judge, has a blog where he writes about Best Buy but also looks for advice on how the public thinks they can make Best Buy better (see image bellow). I think that having a major player in a large company online and talking to its people is a big must-do for all companies in the social media game.

Another interesting thing Best Buy has done is set up a site they call Best Buy Remix. The jist of this site is that they give access to their catalogue of almost all the products Best Buy currently or has previously sold for others to use. This means that people can take product pictures, descriptions, specs and other info for their own use. The best part is they make it available to anyone to use with only three minor and understandable limitations:

• Don't claim to be Best Buy
• Acknowledge that the data came from us when you use it
• If you offer commerce, we need to be one of the options

Not only is Best Buy listening to their public through Barry's blog and their numerous Twitter accounts, but they've actually set up a full website where people can make suggestions directly to the company called IdeaXChange. On this site people are invited to make suggestions on how Best Buy can be a better company. They can also vote for other peoples suggestions if they think someone else had a good idea (see image bellow). That way Best Buy will know which ideas customers think are most important by their rankings. If that isn't a creative way to listen to your customers, I don't know what is.

Best Buy has a few more initiatives in place as well (see my last post for Twelpforce as an example of one) but the ones I highlighted here are some of my personal favorites that I think highlight the company's great efforts.

If you still don't believe me that Best Buy knows what they're doing, watch this video:

Twitter is on the lips of every company right now. A lot of companies already have a presence on the micro-blogging site. Of course some have a larger presence than others. This week I want to take a look at a few companies that I think are doing well by integrating Twitter into their overall company communications.

The idea for the post came around because I've recently been hearing a lot on a Twitter campaign being run by Best Buy, a North American electronics company, called "Twelpforce" (more on this in a min). I also knew that the company had a large presence on the site with other Twitter profiles because I've been in contact with and following @KeithBurtis, who used to be a head part of the team that lead Best Buy's social media efforts. Keith no longer works there, but kindly enough, when I asked him for a little more info, he pointed me to @KellyGroehler, who sent me a ton of great info. So I decided to not delve too much into all the Best Buy twitter accounts today, and instead do a whole post on them next week. I will however use their "Twepforce" in this post.

So without further adieu, here's a couple of examples of companies that I think are doing a great job of using this new medium to their advantage:

Of course, I'll start with Best Buy's Twelpforce. This was a great and interesting idea. Best Buy has set up a single account where customers can ask questions to Best Buy ranging from help on making product decisions, tips, to technical support and all sorts of things in-between. This is where it gets interesting. While a lot of companies may have one to a few people monitoring their companies Twitter account who could probiby answer those questions adequatly, Best Buy has inlisted their entire staff. That's right, your question could be answered by any employee at Best Buy that feels they have an answer for you.

Best Buy's Twelpforce is done on an employee volunteer basis. Any employee of Best Buy that wants to help can be part of the Twelpforce. All they need to do is sign up using both their Twitter and Best Buy logins, and from there they can monitor the Twelpforce stream to see questions customers ask. If they think they have an answer, they simply reply from their account and use the hashtag #twelpforce and the Twelpforce page will agrigate their messages and display them on the main page. The best part is that they are told not to be pushy and try to sell things, but to rather just be real, friendly and helpful. Click here to see a short page that briefly explains the program to their employees (I also recommend clicking on the "tips and expectations" link on that page as well).

I think this is a great way to use the Twitter platform. It's on a voluntary basis, but if someone has any questions about electronics, they now possibly have the chance to get advice from over 15000 experts. Also, because it's voluntary (as well as linked into the employee's work login) you;d think that the employees wouldn't take advantage and say things they shouldn't. The company has even made commercials that never even mentions their main store website, it only directs them to the Twelpforce. Check them out:

One of the first companies to take a major advantage of Twitter was Zappos.com. Zappos is an online retailer that started off with only shoes, but has since expanded into clothing. The company has always been known as a leader in customer service. They have an upbeat staff that really does love to interact with people and be friendly and helpful. In return, the company treats it's employees equaly well. Check out this profile done on the company:

As you can see from the video, employees seem to like working at Zappos and talking to customers. That's why CEO Tony decided to let them interact with customers even more by getting them on Twitter. Before Twitter even became mainstream the company had a Twitter microsite built which agrigated all of their employees on Twitter as well as anyone mentioning Zappos across Twitter so all could interact at twitter.zappos.com. Here the company could engage their public through it's individual employees about both company and non-company related things. I think this really gave the company a personal warm and welcome feel, which is what the public is looking for these days. The company is so into engaging people through Twitter that they even have a page that ranks which of their employees can get the most followers.

One thing a lot of companies are doing is running basic, but well done Twitter campaigns. One of my favorites to follow is Marvel (yes, the comic book people).

I was a comic book fan when I was kid, and although I don't read them anymore I'm still kind of interested. Marvel's Twitter account regularly updates with cool things going on at the company, updates about their movies and, my favorite, gives exclusive content to people following. I enjoy companies that do thing like this, because I wouldn't really ever surf over to the Marvel website to read about anything, but if something floats down my Twitter stream that sounds interesting, I'll click the link and see something from Marvel.

Like I said, lots of companies are doing things like that, I just chose Marvel as an example because I noticed them while I was checking Twitter while writing this.

Leave a comment and let me know of other companies that are doing well with Twitter, or even what some of your favorite companies are doing on Twitter.

If you want to see what some other companies are doing with Twitter here's a list I found with a lot (but mostly American) companies.