Zappos & Southwest Get Direct Engagement

A couple of weeks ago I was on a panel for the Ad Age Digital Marketing conference and slightly frustrated with the tone of the discussions, I said this:

Social Networks are all about facilitating human connections, and instead of talking about how we can do this—I hear marketers asking "how do we monetize" and "how do we advertise" on them.

To illustrate my point, I recalled a recent interaction I had with Southwest airlines on Twitter.  They had found a comment I made about how much I enjoyed using one of their kiosks and responded to it.  The last time I flew Southwest, I shot out a "tweet" right before takeoff saying "thanks for being on time".  Of course, by the time I landed, they had responded.

Now along comes Zappos.  Specifically their CEO.  A couple of weeks ago I am notified that  Zappos is following me on Twitter. I watch the brand in their new environment.  Observe how they behave. Notice that they begin conversations with other people on Twitter and yesterday it all came together as Zappos spontaneously gave away 10 pairs of shoes randomly to Twitter followers. (Above is a direct message from the CEO explaining to me how he got the idea to do the give-away.)

Brilliant.

The fact that Zappos and Southwest are finding success in a social network like Twittter is not surprising.   These are companies that get both business and the customer experience.  At the Ad Age conference, the Zappos speaker talked about how the two organizations will get together to share their techniques about serving customers.  Zappos prides themselves on limiting the amount of advertising they do—instead focusing on their customer experience which they know will generate natural word of mouth.

Which brings us back to how they are using Twitter.  If there is one thing you need to remember about this space—keep in mind that it's never about the tools.  it's about how people use them.  It's about the interactions.  Zappos had figured out how to add value, create buzz, and initiate a dialouge directly with some of their customers online.  Heck, they've even started their first online promotion.  No microsite needed.

Marketers.  Are you listening?  Because your clients are.

Related Links:
How to get customer service via Twitter  | Twitter.Zappos.com

Comments

[adam cohen]

Comcast and H&R Block are two more big name brands that have had a lot of recent visibility and success on twitter. I think what is interesting is how all these companies engage - committing to solve real problems, not just use twitter for broadcasting press releases or announcements.

Are there companies that you think would not work well on Twitter? B2B perhaps?

[Sean Howard]

"Social Networks are all about facilitating human connections"

Brilliant. We just had a client approach with a social media budget. They had a quarter of a million and wanted to buy ads on facebook.

Oy. Let the fighting begin.

[Alan]

re: Zappos- brilliant move, I agree.

BUT- I did a similar post about the giveaway yesterday, and someone commented about a problem they had with Zappos.

I DM'd CEO Tony via Twitter about it to see if he wanted to comment/resolve/etc. Curious to see if he will follow through. THAT would be really special.

[Kevin Hillstrom]

How do we reconcile the fact that Southwest is good at social media, but is fined $10,000,000 for not putting safe airplanes in the sky?

I struggle with praising brands for social media success when the fail to execute on the basics, like passenger safety.

[Paula Thornton]

Ok, I went back and put a postscript on my piece to reference yours:
http://www.fastforwardblog.com/2008/04/11/social-connection-payoutssocial-connection-payouts/

[David armano]

kevin, it should really bother you that I continue to fly southwest then. This is the reward a brand reaps for creating loyalty. They screwed up for sure, but because I trust them, I have faith that they will correct their mistakes.

No successful marketing initiative is an excuse for a poor product or experience, but its always worth calling out when someone does something right. Anyone with a pet can tell you that. :-)

[Alan]

So Tony Hsieh left a follow up comment with is email and an offer to help resolve the problem. Can't ask for more than that. Timely too.

[Sean Howard]

To Kevin's point. Southwest was fined, not for not having safe airplanes, but for not following FAA regulations to the letter.

AA, however, appears to have an issue with safe airplanes. Because they were grounded, versus just a fine.

[ravi karandeekar]

Hello Armano! Thanks for the great post. I blog on Pune real estate. Pune is in India. I am using twitter for a while. People used to follow the link and visit my blog but never talk to me directly on the Twitter. But recently, people have started talking to me about Pune real estate. If an individual takes so much time then for corporates, for sure, we have to give lot more time. And keep on writing and recommending Twitter to our clients. As i am going to recommend yours to my clients. (Of course, i follow you!)

[Yvonne DiVita]

So, corporate America is getting into Twitter. I thought so. It's always hard to keep up...with the good blog, the right people who Twitter, all the new technology. But, if you don't at least explore it... you lose advantage. It's not for everybody. Nothing is.