I want honest, accurate answers now from someone I can trust.

The Promise We're Making

You'll know all that we know as fast as we know it. Examples of How and Who's already using using Twitter for awesomeness?

How to get customer service via Twitter, Twitter customer service

Why TwelpForce?

Supporting the brand promises with the knowledge of 150,000 * Know all that we know * Deliver and experience that inspires you * Make a difference * Blow you away with the latest and greatest * Never leave you hanging

Info on the Connect Site

Why customers might want to talk to you on Twitter? The promise we're making starting in July is that you'll know all that we know as fast as we know it. That's an enormous promise. That means that customers will be able to ask us about the decisions they're trying to make, the products they're using, and look for the customer support that only we can give. And with Twitter, we can do that fast, with lots of opinions so they can make a decision after weighing all the input. It also lets others learn from it as they see our conversations unfold.

When you start, remember that the tone is important Above all, the tone of the conversation has to be authentic and honest. Be conversational. Be yourself. Show respect. Expect respect. The goal is to help. If you don’t know the answer tell them you’ll find out. Then find out and let them know.

Approach

Tell them you're from Best Buy- part of the Twelpforce. Be engaged, know what’s going out there but don’t intrude or invade. If someone is talking about how they’re looking for a product that we may sell, don’t swoop in and tell them they’d be better off buying it from us. If they’re looking for help, or opinions, they’ll ask.

Don’t talk about private company stuff even in direct messages. Don’t ask for personal customer information even in direct message. Offer an email via direct message instead.

Connect people to outside sources or other Best Buy people when appropriate. Don’t directly refer them to other customers on Twitter or elsewhere. If your answer requires more than 140 characters, create a blog on your local store page and refer customers to it. Or look in the Best Buy Community Support Forums- there's tons of great questions and answers there.

Above all, if you don’t know or if you’re not sure, ask. Always respond quickly and follow up quickly. Apologize for delays or misunderstandings.

What do you have to do?

You don't need any special skills- you just have to be curious, proactive, and helpful- much of the same stuff you do everyday.

The best thing you can do to start is to listen to what people are saying and asking on Twitter. Go to http://search.twitter.com and search for things you're interested in. Search for your favorite brand, your favorite category, for Best Buy. Find out what questions and problems people have. And figure out a way to help them. It all starts with a simple post-

Customer:

yoshimac: need to buy a new tv for bedroom so i can watch what i want no desprate housewifes blaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

You:

@yoshimac If you need some help figuring what to get, let me know. I work at Best Buy in the Home Theater Dept and could give you some opinions. If not, thats cool too.

What if someone else already answered their question? Have a different opinion? Let them know what you think. The goal of Twelpforce is to share our knowledge and give people the information they need to make a decision. When I look for a new home in a new city- I don't just ask one person- I get opinions from as many trusted sources as I can and then after weighing the input, I make a decision. But remember- if you engage, Show respect. Expect respect. The goal is to help. Not to be creepy.

Other tools for searching for Twitter questions or customer problems:

Search @twelpforce on http://search.twitter.com after July 19th. Customers will be directed via the media support to ask questions directed at @twelpforce

  • 1. Twitter Search - It’s the most basic and most obvious, but this tool now allows for RSS feeds as well as filtering based on language.
  • 2. http:spy.appspot.com spy can listen in on the social media conversations you're interested in. What do you want to listen for?
  • 3. http://www.monitter.com -It's a twitter monitor, it lets you "monitter" the twitter world for a set of keywords and watch what people are saying.
  • 4. http://tweetbeep.com Free Twitter alerts by email.
  • 5. Twist - Free site for Twitter visualizations over time.
  • 6. Twitter Browser - Free application to view whom is connected to whom. Good for relational analysis and velocity of a users network.
  • 7. Tweetstats - If you want to research a specific user, you can see how often they post, when they post, and who they retweet (i.e. who influences them) and plan accordingly.
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