Best Buy – an example of how health brands can engage customers and employees through social media

Best Buy is leveraging the power of social media by reaching out to both customers and employees to co-create greater and new value for themselves and the organization.

They’re asking customers to help change the company. Through their bestbuyideax.com site, customers are asked to share ideas, vote for the ones they like and discuss them with the rest of the community.

They’re also asking employees to contribute their “unedited” perspectives through Connected – a new way for people to engage with the actual folks who power Best Buy. Kudos to the company for having the courage and confidence to publish these unedited comments.

What can health companies learn from Best Buy’s social media practices:

• customers are eager to share their opinions, you just need to ask and give them a forum to do so
• these crowdsourcing opinions represent a great pipeline to innovative new products, services and experiences
• business success starts with happy, energized and engaged employees, who believe they are important to the success of their organization (asking them to contribute their “unedited” stories certainly supports this)
• for leadership to encourage employees to share their views for all to see, means more enthusiasm, commitment and passion to contribute to the greater good (and increased profits)
• continuing to drive one-way conversations puts your relevancy at risk, as your competitors are actively and openly engaging their customers and employees in a continuous cycle of co-creating greater and new value

Hellohealth, Humana (through crumpleitup) and Vitaminwater (through its Facebook flavorcreator) are a few companies openly engaging audiences to co-create greater and new value. What others can you think of?