David v. Goliath (who once was David)

As I was growing up, Best Buy was unquestionably a place you would beg to be dropped off while your mom visited the nearest clothing outlet or mall, as was often the case. You would spend hours walking through an endless display of mystical, amazing, and ‘necessary’ technology. Best Buy was one of these fabulous success stories eventually rising to the top of the consumer electronics industry (and for many good reasons).

They were, without a doubt, at the top of their class.

However, as I came of age there was a David in the making. By the time I was at college in 2006, there was this cool website where you could order some of that mystical technology you had put your hands on in middle school and dreamed of owning growing up… but there was a conflict of interests.

When you were younger, you always pictured yourself buying that laptop, that external hard drive, and that flash drive from Best Buy.

So naturally, you head to Best Buy. As you arrive you are greeted by some pretty un-helpful employees. You ask about the famous price match that you used to use as the reason for coming to Best Buy instead of say, Circuit City. They ask which store you found a better price, was it Circuit City? Target? Wal-Mart?

You respond, ‘Newegg has them for $50 less. That exact product.’ The employee looks back at you oddly… I wrote about this story in February of 2010 and pointed to the fact that if something didn’t change, companies like NewEgg and Amazon were certainly going to win that race (the original blog found here).

Like I said in the previous blog, I had mad respect for Best Buy growing up. I fully expected them to figure it out and make adjustments to be competitive with online companies. Well, a recent event has forever forced me to give up hope on Best Buy and officially claim NewEgg king. Best Buy clearly doesn’t get ‘it’ and on so many levels.

The New(Egg) King

If you don’t know about the fiasco involving Best Buy issuing a cease and desist to NewEgg… well you should. NewEgg made a pretty hilarious commercial, featured below:

First off, that is a pretty classic commercial. Secondly, it is of note that in marketing it is a general fact that as long as you are not the top dog in an industry or category, poking fun at the leader is an acceptable practice.

Best Buy issued a cease and desist to NewEgg after this commercial was met with much On Air and Internet success. What happens next is something that is probably going to be the stuff of social media legend. Instead of ignoring it or hiding it or actually removing the commercial, NewEgg posted the cease and desist documentation to their Facebook Fan Page! How crazy is that! They also posted their response to their Facebook and Twitter.

Between the two posts (of both documentations on Facebook), there were over 2,000 comments and 3400 ‘likes’ on Facebook. Not only that, but the views on the YouTube commercial spiked, were imbedded in blogs like this, and the whole story covered here and in like places. This is viral in about as many ways as is possible and this is only talking about Facebook. I saw countless people tweeting and retweeting this stuff.

So What?

There is no reason, at all, that Best Buy should be losing to NewEgg. Their brand was so deeply ingrained in my brain that I literally went to their store to ask for the price match before I would even consider buying from NewEgg. They had me, my money, my word of mouth, and my loyalty… and they squandered it.

They use their social media channels to blast you with sales, deals, and new products. All the while, NewEgg is using theirs to actually interact and connect with their followers.

But so what? Why do they care about my business or my loyalty? Don’t they have 3 million fans to NewEgg’s 600 thousand? Don’t they make more money than NewEgg?

Certainly, they do. But the game is changing and NewEgg understands the new rules. In fact, they are creating them.

Best Buy’s bottom line might look good right now, but we’ll see who still stands in 5 years. My bet’s on NewEgg. It’s a shame they are private, or I know what shares I would be buying… My money would gladly rest in the laurels of David.

Zach

P.S. NewEgg got a little crazy after those two postings. To further the ‘Geek On’ marketing campaign as featured in the video ad above, they gave away 5,000 shirts with the Geek On logo on it (also seen above). The first 5,000 customers to order it from their store got it absolutely free. At the same time, if you head over to the Best Buy fan page you can catch the online only, one day sale of that Flip Mino I bought from NewEgg last year…

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This past week I was entertaining the idea of purchasing a new TV. I had done some reaseach on the internet for various brands and models. One model got me really excited so I did some deeper research. This is where the amazement took place. I copied the model number from the manufacturer’s site and pasted it in Google. I pressed enter and the top result looked a little different than usual. It was a slightly different entry with a picture of my friend and his twitter account with a link to it as well as the TV. This totally blew my mind. I was abviously signed into Twitter at the time (although I didn’t have the page up, my computer just remember my information) so google, in the matter of milliseconds searched through millions of tweets and found something my friend had said 4 months ago about that same TV. What a glorious thing to do.

The possibilities of uses with an integration such as this seem limitless. If another friend of mine has said something about a certain product, or movie, or heck, anything, I can just Google it, and Google with instantly tell me what they said. I know this is the beginning stage of this type of thing, but I expect this to get HUGE and fast. Google is on board with what Pull was discussing and I believe they are extremelly well aligned with the wants, needs, and demands of consumers in the market. I’m excited to see what happens as Google continues to take over the world.

Austin

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Let’s first start out by discussing the man of the hour, Charlie Sheen. He is without a doubt, a perfect example of the old saying, “bad publicity is better than no publicity.” People have seen recently how crazy he can be, and he has ran with that idea. Even billionaire business owner Mark Cuban has hopped on the crazy train with Charlie as they have recently discussed creating a show together on Cuban’s network. Anyways, as Sheen’s hype was at the peak of his existence (a few weeks ago) he decided to sign up for Twitter. It took just 25 hours for Charlie Sheen to reach 1 Million followers (a record for fastest to 1 million). And whether you like him or not, it cannot be denied that he has definitely created a brand for himself, and he has a very large following. #Winning

Along the same lines of acting outside the norm is singer Lady Gaga. Most everyone I know thinks she’s crazy, and whether or not you agree, it cannot be argued that she is ridiculously famous. As crazy as she is/seems, she has done an amazing job of getting people to know who she is and what she does. She has over 9,000,000 followers – another Twitter record.

So obviously celebrities will tend to have a lot of followers, a lot more than the average person. And building a following takes time, but once you have it, it can be even more powerful. Next lets look at a couple examples of how actions (both on and off Twitter) can affect your following or another person’s following.

As stated earlier, Lady Gaga is number 1 in terms of followers on Twitter. And number 2 – Justin Bieber. His popularity has taken off since he was first discovered on YouTube. Girls love him and adults seem to not be able to stand him. Either way he has done a magnificent job of creating a brand for himself, just like the previous examples have. On the subject of decisions affecting your following, Bieber did something that other people do everyday, and it wouldn’t matter; but it cost him 80,000 followers. What did he do? He got a haircut. Bieber has been know for his hair since he started. He himself has compared it to Tom Brady’s hair and even said Brady was copying him. Well a haircut was changing his brand. And whether or not it looked good or was a good decision, it was a change that some people didn’t like.

A final example comes from the NFL. For years one of the most vocal players in any sport has been Chad Ochocinco (formerly Chad Johnson). He is constantly using social media to connect with his fans and critics. He even has his own sports news network. Anyways, not too long ago Ochocinco posted to Twitter that a fellow NFL receiver Brandon Marshall just got a twitter account. Within 5 minutes, a simple tweet from Ochocinco got him 2,000 followers. Now that’s some Twitter power.

So what can we learn from the celebrities that harness the power of Twitter and use it in our favor. Well like Charlie Sheen and Lady Gaga, you can create a strong brand for yourself that will get people interested in what you do. Get them talking, get the hype out there. Next, you can understand the importance of the decisions you make. Losing 80,000 might be a sign that consumers don’t like something you’ve done. And finally, once you have gained a strong following, understand that you have the ability to have your voice heard by many people. This can go the other way too. As we said in a previous post, one of the best things to happen to us was being retweeted by Newegg. Imagine if Ochocinco told his 1 million plus followers to follow us (or your company). My guess is it would be huge.

Austin

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On twitter I follow the CIO of Starbucks, @StephenGillett. I don’t remember how I found him, but he is definitely one of my favorite people on twitter. Not only does he post links to great content (and it seems as though he posts several an hour), he is also very responsive.

Below you can see one of his tweets:

Naturally, I responded with this (a link to my blog on The Gold Standard of Customer Loyalty):

Here is where the fascinating thing happened. For starters, the CIO of Starbucks read something I wrote. That’s pretty cool. But notice that in his tweet he mentions @StarbucksCard. The next day I get mentioned:

So, I send them an email and then get a free Starbucks gift card.

So What?

Starbucks is using Twitter in all of the right ways. For starters, their CIO is using it perfectly. Posting relevant content and being responsive to followers. On top of that, they have an account set up for their rewards program. They also have a standard account for their company that they use brilliantly.

Let’s take a peak at a screenshot I took of their twitter stream:

Just looking at a small section of their stream, they have the following:

1. Retweeted a tweet about their CEO’s upcoming book
2. They have responded to four separate followers
3. Tweeted a link to a free iTunes download
4. Tweeted a link to a new product (Cake pops)
5. Tweeted a general question to engage followers

But it’s more than just doing all of these things. They are doing them in the right quantities. They aren’t just blasting out links to new products. They do some of that, but they actually engage their followers. They also offer free things like music downloads.

Honestly, Starbucks is killing it when it comes to social media. Even if you aren’t a huge fan of Starbucks, I highly recommend following them. Why? Because they are awesome at social media! If you are confused about how to use Twitter, all you have to do is follow @Starbucks for a few weeks.

Zach

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1. The Power of the re-Tweet
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Obviously, a re-tweet of this magnitude is not always common. In fact we have @mentioned plenty of companies and have not been re-tweeted or responded to. But all the times we have, we have killer posts, and just so happen to have the company notice our @mention.

The Other Side

Twitter is obviously a great way for customers to have their voices heard, and for companies to hear what people are saying about them. In today’s world this can be great or horrible. I want to focus on the great aspect. Last weekend, I went on a double date to Pei Wei, which I love. Their food quality alone keeps me coming back, but my last experience ensured I would be a lifetime customer. The other three people with me received their food in a timely manner, but mine didn’t come for about ten minutes. I didn’t say anything about it being late, but the food runner noticed how late it was compared to the other meals. Within 30 seconds the store manager came and sat down next to me, informed me that my meal and my date’s meal had been refunded, and handed me a $10 gift card for a future visit. WOW!

What a great testament for Pei Wei, and without the utilization of Twitter, Pei Wei and its customers would never know how great the situation was handled. The opposite can happen too though, as Twitter can be your nemesis if your delivery isn’t near perfect. For example, a few months ago I had a horrible experience at a restaurant and nothing was done to solve this problem. Lucky for them they didn’t have a Twitter. But imagine if they did.

Basically what I’m trying to say is learn how to use Twitter in the best way that benefits you. If you write a blog, a re-tweet can be great. Listen to what your followers are saying about you, and interact with them on a personal level. You’ll be surprised how amazing a tool in can be.

Also, I highly recommend you start following us on Twitter if you are not currently doing so. Trust me… it will pay off soon.

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In other words… I had absolutely no interest in Twitter. A few months later I was taking Graduate Marketing Management with @drstevegreen and one of the books that he assigned for the class to read was Twitter Power, by Joel Comm. This book (and the class) enlightened me as to how Twitter could be used appropriately. Although the book didn’t exclusively say it, I have personally found that the key difference, however subtle it might be, was in relevance. Because Twitter has the ‘follower’ setup, you choose exactly what you have coming into your stream.

Friend or Follower: The Subtle Difference

On Facebook, in order for you to get my updates you and I would have to be friends. Now, let’s be honest. Most random people who send you a friend request don’t get your approval. The word friend suggests that you should know the person. The system inherently wants you to only share content with people you are friends or at least acquaintances with. Before Twitter, I had no issue with this system. In fact, I was really comfortable with this idea.

And then there was Twitter… Twitter has brought about the follower system. The core difference is that you can become my follower and I don’t have to give you approval. Nor do I have to stream your content through my stream. This lends itself to a very different type of relationship. For example, I can get content updates from SmashingMag or status updates from legendary CEO Jack Welch, something impossible through Facebook. If Jack Welch had a Facebook, there is no possible way he could accept everyone as a friend who would want his updates.

And this brings me to what I wrote about last week: The Fan Page. The Fan Page operates essentially like a Twitter account does, somewhat enabling Facebook to do everything that Twitter does and then some.

Less is More

While I think the advent of things like the Fan Page are critical to the continuous growth (and profitability) of Facebook, I think that one thing Twitter has done exceptionally well is they have found something and decided to do that one thing better than anyone else. They have chosen simplicity over complexity. There is a certain demographic that appreciates the simplicity of Twitter and thus Twitter continues to grow. In terms of sheer capability, Facebook dominates twitter. But when you bring in the idea of minimalism or being modern, Twitter is on the money.

The takeaway here is that if you go into Twitter thinking that it is something worth replacing Facebook with, you’re going to be unsatisfied. It’s not intended to replace Facebook. It’s a completely different beast with a unique set of users. So how can you use Twitter to benefit your business? Here are a few key examples:

1. You can use it as a resource – I personally follow SmashingMag, Jack Welch, and Joel Comm among others. SmashingMag offers all kinds of awesome design and web tips with links to fabulous blogs, Jack Welch offers management and leadership tips and links, and Joel offers all kinds of goodness.

2. Use it to become a resource –  The Gaming Blog that I created several years ago and still write for / manage (@TeamCovenant) uses Twitter to interact with customers, provide updates, host contests, and announce every time a new blog goes up. You can do anything with twitter, but the primary reason for becoming a resource would be to provide useful content of some kind assuming your target can be reached on Twitter.

3. Use it to stay connected – I also follow lots of people who are in my local social network of friends and family. My content on twitter is much more selective than on Facebook, so I generally only follow people who are somewhat important in my mind.

We just set up a Twitter account for Business Over Coffee, so if you want to get a tweet every time we post something new or have something to talk about, you can find us @bizovercoffee. I’ll be blogging more on social media in the coming weeks, so if you are interested hold on tight as we take a long journey through the world of social media. If you have any questions or great examples, I’d love to hear from you.

Zach

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