Online Home of Derek Meister
Phil Wilson has a nice piece on the Minnov8.com website in which he asks about the success of Best Buy’s Twitter-based @Twelpforce.
As a member of Twelpforce, my favorite line comes from our own Twelpforce lead, John Bernier, who explains that, “We’ve been able to meet our customers at the crossroads of need and time…Being there when and where they need us.â€
That is, I think, really the best way to measure our progress on the project.
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This one made me laugh, if only because I’ve actually heard parents of college-bound children say similar snarky things while in the field.
Barry Judge, the Chief Marketing Officer for Best Buy, mentions the commercials in a blog post about Twelpforce and how it is blurring the line between customer service and marketing.
Also, John Bernier talks about the Twelpforce learning experiment in a blog entry called Getting Dressed in a Glass House.
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This week marked the official launch of Best Buy’s @Twelpforce, which allows customers to connect with regular employees for questions and support with products and services they are looking at, or have already bought.
TechCrunch has been very positive on the idea of connecting customers with employees, calling it, “a phenomenal way to engage with Twitter users and social media in general.”
I’ve had an opportunity to join in on the experience as a Geek Squad Agent, and it’s been eye-opening in just how powerful the idea is. I’ve seen hundreds of customer-employee interactions since the launch, and it’s wonderful to see how welcomed the responses are by the public.
I think the thing that makes this idea so unique is that it’s not just another contact point for a company public relations team. Instead, it’s made up of regular employees from around the world, 700+ at last count. The expectation for participation, according to the publicly-available website is that @Twelpforce members, “just have to be curious, proactive, and helpful- much of the same stuff you do everyday.”
I look forward to more @Twelpforce twittering in my future!
I had a chance to answer technology questions on WITF FM 89.5’s Smart Talk program on Monday morning.
You can listen to the hour-long show here.
The Internet offers plenty of free Windows applications to improve your productivity and your computer’s functionality, but finding them can be daunting. If you’re looking for a good place to start, take a look at the Lifehacker Pack 2009, courtesy of the ultra-productivity help site Lifehacker.com.
There’s plenty to choose from, including Foxit Reader for those tired of Adobe Reader’s bloat, or Postbox, a remixed Thunderbird client with a more G-mail feel.