HR Block Has Social Media Savvy
Published by Rodney Rumford April 15th, 2008 in Branding, Facebook Applications, business, social media.
HR Block Gets Social Media: I recently had the pleasure is speaking with Amy Worley who is the director of digital marketing at HR Block while attending the Forrester conference in LA.
HR Block has done a great job of having their brand participate in social media sites like facebook, myspace, second life and twitter. Brand Managers and Chief Marketing Officers need to watch this video and see how HR block is embracing & befitting from these social media technologies.
Worthy of a side note is that HR Block reached out to me as an individual on Twitter after I mentioned them. They were effectively listening and reaching out in a very 1 to 1 personal basis. I loved this personal touch that they had. That is how I met Amy before the conference. Listen up! She talks about truly listening and how quality customer engagement is very effective via various social tools.
You can find HR block on twitter here.
Interview with Amy Worley:Director of Digital Marketing from HR Block
Technorati Tags: hr block, hrblock, business, marketing, brands, facebook, twitter
6 Responses to “HR Block Has Social Media Savvy”
- 1 Trackback on Apr 15th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Great interview…it’s interesting to see how social is being embraced by marketers. I do think they could do better with their efforts however. See here: http://robinsontechnology.com/blog/2008/04/16/hr-block/
Great interview. I think H&R Block’s approach to social media is very innovative and fascinating to hear about first-hand from Amy.
Great interview - definitely agree that marketers’ Twitter mantra should be “Retweet not retreat”
(Outreach and consumer evangelism vs. hiding when faced with customer criticism)
http://www.fantrust.com/
Very nice read.
I think that H&R Block has realized something that very few companies have realized: that the traditional sales model has been greatly impacted by social media, especially for web-centric and Software-as-a-service (SaaS) products. While the functions within the traditional Discover, Evaluate, Purchase, and Support areas remains relatively consistent, the people and resources responsible for delivering those functions has shifted.
Think about it: traditionally a Sales Rep would be responsible for getting new customers to discover the product, help the customer to evaluate it and answer questions, and then close the deal. Now a potential customer does a Google search to find the product as well as read blogs and other customer reviews (that are not run or posted by your company) about your product. They look at your website to evaluate the product, download a trial version/subscription to decide if they like it, and then purchase through the website. You made or lost the sale without any human interaction; “seller” control over these areas is lost to the web and social media. The only area left, the only area where you still have control, is Support.
Support has now become critical to influencing the other areas. When someone does a Google search for a product you sell, you want them to see the blogs and reviews written by your raving fans because they are so impressed with the amazing customer service and experience that you provided them. Treating one customer like royalty in the short term may be more costly, but in the long term not only will you spend less on helping current customers, their free word-of-mouth marketing will help you add even more customers. Support has effectively become the new marketing. Now the question is: can you follow H&R Block’s lead and adapt to the new world of social media and marketing? I recommend taking a step back and figuring out what it’s like for your customer in the Support area, and how you can improve it.
I’d be happy to email a “How SaaS has Impacted Selling” or a “7 steps to Online Marketing” guide that I put together for my internal team. Note: I don’t work for an agency & am not offering any professional service, making a sales pitch, etc - just offering free, no-strings help from one marketer to another.
- andy[dot]ridinger[at]muralconsulting[dot]com.