There are lot of ways for companies to represent themselves in social media, or rather how this media could be used to the advantage of the companies. Here are some examples in Germany: the Customer Community 60 years of VW, the employee’s Daimlerblog or the Customer Weblog Two For Fashion from Otto. Ford Germany tweets, Tchibo applies Crowdsourcing and BMW uses amongst others its own YouTube Channel. Hence, in Germany companies do exercise a quite broad application of social media platforms.

A company in the U.S has discovered another use of platform to its advantage. BestBuy sets out for unsparingly transparency in its new social media strategy. It’s called BestBuy Connect, which is a public social media aggregator for social media activities of the employees. BestBuy Connect summarizes all social media activities of employee’s participation through livestream.
Dawn Bryant explains this particular strategy of BestBuy as followed:

If people outside of this company could really feel the culture and drive that makes this place what it is, we can strengthen our reputation, goodwill, and ultimately grow our talent and grow the company. The beauty of that is that we didn’t need to create anything new, people are doing it and we don’t want to control it, we simply want to make it easier for the rest of the world to find the energy and human-ness”.

From a German perspective, this kind of proposition or rather the notion behind the project is somehow astonishing. In case BestBuy could hold its head high with this particular project, it would definitely be by far the most daring project in the area of social media I’ve ever encountered. What Lee Oden said about this social media initiative:

The objective of Best Buy Connect is to showcase the people, behavior and unedited perspectives/ideas of those who power Best Buy. It humanizes the brand, increases accessibility and fuels transparency. This can affect current and future customer perceptions as well as future employees.

Basically I agree with Lee’s opinion. From a consumer’s point of view there is nothing better than an unedited transparency. Yet, I do have my doubt, whether this kind of directness could be maintained overtime. Although German companies have become increasingly open to social media, this kind of project is still unthinkable. It would probably provide sleepless nights for the majority of company’s executives. Thus, BestBuy tries to minimize the danger in the use of Connect by employees through clearly defined Guidelines:

What You Should Never Disclose:
The Numbers: Non-public financial or operational information. This includes strategies, forecasts and most anything with a dollar-figure attached to it. If it’s not already public information, it’s not your job to make it so.
Promotions: Internal communication regarding drive times, promotional activities or inventory allocations. Including: advance ads, drive time playbooks, holiday strategies and Retail Insider editions.
Personal Information: Never share personal information regarding other employees or customers. See the Customer Information Policies for more information.
Legal Information: Anything to do with a legal issue, legal case, or attorneys.
Anything that belongs to someone else: Let them post their own stuff; you stick to posting your own creations. This includes illegal music sharing, copyrighted publications, and all logos or other images that are trademarked by Best Buy.
Confidential Information: Do not publish, post, or release information that is considered confidential or top secret.

What would happen to the employees, if they do not abide the guidelines:

Get fired (and it’s embarrassing to lose your job for something that’s so easily avoided)
Get Best Buy in legal trouble with customers or investors
Cost us the ability to get and keep customers

It’s a daring project from BestBuy, which I can’t imagine happening for the German market, well at least not at the moment. In Germany, it is already problematic for many companies to run a corporate weblog. Furthermore, this initiative of BestBuy is somehow light years away from the actual German social media reality.

Connect is only an element in the social media strategy of BestBuy. For CEO Brad Anderson, social media is the central factor in the whole company’s communication. BestBuy sets out international benchmark, particularly by its use of social media for the optimization in internal communication of 150.00 employees in over 1150 office branches. Beside employee’s forum and internal wiki, BestBuy has also its own social network.

Brad Anderson and his employees have recognized the company’s added value through social media. Not only that, BestBuy understands the use of social media for external communication or rather for marketing and thus, BestBuy also realizes how social media changes the life of a company. As commented by Peter Hirshberg:

I think Best Buy is a leading indicator what businesses will start to look like in the near future…

Hirschberg’s interview with Anderson in Zeitgeist 08