I had the pleasure to meet with Lowe’s Andy Carusone at E2.0 and hear about the amazing results that they have achieved. I loved his style and approach in his success case for Social. 400 Communities active and engaged!
How did they do it? Three key points from Alex Williams’s Blog interview!
- Discovery: The created a Web site at their big sales event. People sought it out. It was a way for the sales people to communicate. This is a critical point. The people wanted more. They were hungry for it. They were not force-fed marketing dribble. They engaged and began reaching out beyond the conference itself. Lowe’s provided the tools. The people used them.
- Transparency: People shared their success. Ideas spread. They cite one example where they gained an additional $1 million in sales. That’s small change, in our view, compared to the social capital gained but that’s a point for another post.
- Behavior: Lowe’s avoided the ROI trap. Hurrah! Instead, they looked at the return on behavior, not technology
And here is the PROUD IBM team wearing the IBM Connections Shirts.
Lowe’s is an excellent example leveraging the power of Communities.
Hi Sandy. The Lowe’s case study is one of the very best in the social business landscape. Andy has a fantastic story-telling skill to boot. Not only is the story inspiring (and gratifying for so many of us who’ve championed social initiatives for so long), it has real world ROI and exemplifies what can be done when an organization recreates itself to become a 21st century connected/engaged industry leader. Congrats to Lowe’s and the IBM team for making this one a winner for all of us.