Social Media Case Study - Best Buy’s Twelpforce

Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by Matt Newell in Digital & Interactive

I’ve been really surprised recently by the the number of retailers I’ve spoken with who haven’t been across the Best Buy Twelpforce case study. It is undoubtedly one of the best uses of social media by any retailer in the world.

Resisting the temptation to use social media as yet another channel through which ‘great products at great prices’ can be optimistically pedaled, Best Buy recognised that the social sphere is a world in which the customer is in control. Not only do they have the power ignore a retailer’s message, they actually have the power to respond, negatively and publicly.

When developing their social media strategy, Best Buy seems to have asked the question ‘how can we use this platform to deliver something our audience will truly value’. So rather than using it as a promotional tool, they are using it as a service tool.

‘Twelpforce’ is a Twitter based customer service platform. Anyone can tweet a question, like ‘what’s the difference between LED and LCD TV technology?’ and Best Buy’s 2,000 strong retail team are standing by with answers on tap. Twelpforce now receives hundreds of Tweets every day and Best Buy claim to have reduced complaints by over 20% (that’s a lot more happy customers).

But this isn’t just about engaging customers, it’s about engaging staff too. Think for a minute about the message Twelpforce sends to the retail team. I’ve heard stories of staff feeling so proud and empowered they actually spend significant amounts of time Tweeting responses to customers while sitting on their couch at home! So this isn’t just a great social media case study but also an impressive HR case study.

Here are some of the Twelpforce TV commercials…

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