ZEN WEB SOLUTIONS INTERVIEW EBUYER.COM

Founded in 1999, online UK retailer Ebuyer.com stocks thousands of consumer electronics and computer technology products.

Ebuyer have been active on micro-blogging site Twitter since early 2009 and have tweeted (the name given to each mini-update) around 800 times since then.

They currently use their Twitter account @Ebuyerdotcom to promote the main Ebuyer.com Web site and special offers such as the current 'Deal of the Day'.

The Interview

We spoke with Senior Web Designer Daryl Walker-Smith and Head Copywriter Lee Benecke to discover what  barriers they had to overcome, how they manage the Ebuyer HQ Blog & Twitter account and what plans they have for the future.

As Ebuyer are a solely web-based business, do you think this puts more pressure on you to embrace emerging online trends such as Twitter and Facebook? More importantly, do you think you’re expected to get them right first time because you’re a large retailer?

Lee: “Although we’re an online business, I don’t think there was any pressure on us to embrace social media. The decision wasn’t made because of online trends either. The decision was made because we saw a new avenue for Ebuyer to explore in terms of customer interaction, product marketing and brand awareness and whether we’re talking about social media, an advertising campaign or an interview such as this, these are the elements that drive our decisions.”

Daryl: “We put measures in place to ensure we got Twitter right first time. Before setting up @Ebuyerdotcom, I’d been personally using Twitter for a while so had time to find my bearings, learn what others were doing with Twitter and ultimately feed that into the set-up of the Ebuyer Twitter profile. There is always a learning curve and we’re learning more everyday but I definitely think we have done a lot of things right since embracing social media.”

The Ebuyer.com Homepage

Did the management at Ebuyer.com need convincing that Social Media as a whole would play a part in marketing the Web site? If so, how did you do it? Did they feel there was a risk in trialling any involvement in Twitter?

Lee: “It wasn’t so much a process of persuading our management to embrace social media, but more explaining what social media could bring to Ebuyer.com. Once we looked at it from that point-of-view it was the same as pitching any other marketing idea and that was easy.

As you’d expect, the management team are on the ball in terms of online trends so were already well aware of social media and how much sites such as Facebook and Twitter were being talked about in the media. With that basic knowledge in place, it was just a case of applying their worth to the Ebuyer business model and very quickly they saw scope for us to do business and interact via social media.

As for risks, we measured them as we do any other marketing plan and addressed them from the off. As we’ve seen with the recent 'Habitat Twitter scandal', there are pitfalls to avoid when it comes to social media but we didn’t throw ourselves into this without at first thinking about it. As Daryl has already said, there is a learning curve to this and I think there always will be. The key is to stay on top of that curve and ensure everything you do via social media is relevant to your companies marketing aims and brand plan.”

You currently have over 3,450 followers on Twitter. Do you find it hard to manage your responses to questions asked?

Daryl: “Obviously, as our number of followers grows it will become increasingly harder to manage responses, but we started Twitter to engage our customer base so we knew this was going to happen. The key is how we address that and put measures in place to ensure we still, where possible, manage to answer questions and iron out any issue as quickly as possible.”

Lee: “We have a range of fantastic teams at Ebuyer including Customer Support, Tech Support and Pre-Sales so we have a lot of support resource in-house and we intend to use them. They already field some questions posed via Twitter and I’m sure they’ll continue to do so as our number of followers grow.”

The Ebuyerdotcom Twitter Profile

Ebuyer are one of the UK's leading online retailers which has no doubt helped you to amass a good number of followers on Twitter. But would you recommend that other smaller online retailers take the plunge and join Twitter? What tips would you give them?

Daryl: “Whether you’re a large or small business, if you have a web presence I’d recommend joining Twitter. As long as you harness it correctly I think it really should be a key part of any companies’ communication arsenal. One of the dangers of online retailing is the perception of being a ‘faceless’ organisation. Twitter can help this as can blogging and social media as a whole. We very much looked to shatter those perceptions with Twitter and that is why, with the exception of our ‘Deal of the Day’ tweets, we do try to always use a relaxed tone of voice which really helps us engage our followers easier.”

Lee: “Daryl also wrote a ‘Twitter Guide for New Users’ on our blog, Ebuyer HQ. It’s a great read that will help new members gain a basic understanding of how Twitter works and what they can do. I think it is important our work on Twitter also offers something back as we obviously want to hold onto our followers. By offering the best deals, offering advice on technology and social media as well as offering customers a real time avenue for communication I think we’ve created a really good Twitter platform.”

Daryl: “Although we have a good online presence, gaining followers certainly hasn’t been easy. As part of our Twitter strategy, we’re always thinking of new ways, from blog posts to banner ads, to advertise our presence on Twitter.”

You’ve recently used your iPhone 3GS Giveaway to attract more Twitter followers and tweets about Ebuyer. Do you think competitions are one of the best ways to get attention on Twitter?

Daryl: “I do think competitions and giveaways are a really good way to generate a ‘buzz’ about a brand and, judging by our increase in followers, it definitely works. We took the idea from the very successful #Squarespace campaign because we saw this as a very clever exercise in brand awareness”

Lee: “Competitions or giveaways are just one way to engage with your Twitter audience. Obviously the incentive to receive something inspires people to check out Ebuyer and, from a marketing point-of-view, this is great, but we don’t want this to dictate what we do with our Twitter profile. I think businesses should definitely see competitions as a popular method of attracting followers but that shouldn’t make up the entire fabric of their Twitter profile. I personally like three dimensional profiles that offer news, chat, great offers, giveaways and more.”

As well as the big social media players (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.), there are dozens of social sites that don't hit the headlines but do have thousands of users. Do you think that protecting the Ebuyer brand name across the full spectrum of Social Media sites is worth doing? Or is concentrating your efforts on the more mainstream sites the way to go?

Daryl:  “I think mainstream appeal is fairly important but the real key is how appropriate the medium actually is. Twitter is a great case in point as it was clear from the outset that it could be used to quickly and directly communicate with customers.  I'm always keen to see how new technologies can be harnessed and at the moment I'm keeping a very close eye on Google Wave as the next big thing,  although time will tell if we'll be able to use it in the same way we have done with Twitter.”

Lee: “From a business point-of-view, I think engaging the main players while keeping an eye on the new upstarts is the best strategy. Even the big players (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc) started from nothing so I think it is very important to keep an eye on what else is coming up on the social media radar because any one of the new sites such as Ning or Tumblr could be ‘the next Facebook’ but, in terms of setting up social media networks, its potential to Ebuyer has to be the first and foremost reason to consider. If we feel it has a rightful place in our arsenal, we’ll explore it.”

Now that you have the EBuyer HQ blog and your Twitter account up and running, are there any other projects you're looking at, maybe a YouTube Channel or iPhone application?

Daryl: “We already have a YouTube channel and we regularly tweet about new product videos that go online. Our Multimedia team are a talented bunch and make a lot of cool videos whether they are product videos and quirky ‘behind-the-scenes’ featurette films like the recent table tennis tournament we had at the offices”

Lee: “We always try and tweet about our latest videos so keep an eye out for them on your Twitter stream. As for iPhone applications, there has been a lot of chatter about this in the Ebuyer office. Although nothing has been agreed, it is definitely something we’re going to explore and look into setting up.”

The Ebuyer HQ Blog

After seeing the news that Dell made $3 million from Twitter, did you decide to set specific targets when launching the Ebuyer Twitter account and your blog? Are you able to track which orders have come from someone who’s followed a link from each source?

Lee: “There are a wide range of analytics options and stat packages available that are specifically designed for companies to track stuff like this and we do use some of these to track orders. I know we also use URL shortening devices such as snurl.com to measure how successful our ‘Deal of the Day’ tweets are.”

Daryl: “There is a lot of talk about ‘Twitter Strategies’ but I think our strategy is simple - we want to raise brand awareness and entice people to our site with great deals.”

We’ve noticed that the Ebuyer Facebook page doesn’t seem to be something you’re actively updating or using to promote the Ebuyer site. Did you decide Facebook wasn’t working for you or do you have plans to push on with it in the near future?

Daryl: “It definitely comes down to the appropriateness of the medium and Facebook is orientated towards ‘friendship’ which makes it a difficult medium to use. It would also take a much larger investment in time which is something you don’t get with Twitter.”

Lee: “I don’t think we’ve explored the full potential of Facebook and our Facebook page will be addressed very soon. I agree with Daryl, Facebook is a very different model to Twitter or MySpace as I don’t think it lends itself to business as easily some of the other social media sites but it can still be a valid tool and it’ll definitely be something we’ll be rectifying very soon”.

Thank you for allowing us to quiz you about your social media strategy, I hope you both enjoyed answering the questions. Do you have any closing comments?

Daryl: “Thanks a lot for the great questions, I hope we’ve given you a bit of an insight into the world of Ebuyer.com”

Lee: “Thanks for a great interview and keep an eye on @ebuyerdotcom and our blog, Ebuyer HQ as we’ve only just touched the surface in terms of social media and we have plans for a LOT more.”

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