Time 13:04

Early adopter companies are making inroads in using social media to achieve tangible business goals.

The H&R Block income tax services brand is quickly building on its brick-and-mortar foundation by effectively using social media tools, including Facebook and Twitter.

Amy Worley is the director of digital marketing for the venerable tax service corporation, and with a supportive senior management team, she’s giving H&R Block a nimble, personable face for online users.

The key to their effectiveness is being a part of the community. Worley and a small team monitor Twitter and offer suggestions through H&R Block’s Twitter profile. Amy has been on Twitter for nearly a year. She understands how it works from being an active member of the community. Her team has developed a quick action approach to people that tweet about H&R Block or taxes and offer a response.

Whether it was me tweeting today or Robert Scoble, who tweeted that he was in an H&R Block office a while ago, the company has responded in quick Twitter fashion. It had the same quick response when I tweeted today with Chris Brogan about filing taxes at the 11th hour. That has little to do with technology and everything to do with customer service (or potential-customer service), both listening and reacting.

The agency 360i worked on this program with H&R Block.

It’s the same approach on other communities in which H&R Block is a participant. Enjoy this podcast.

I’ll feature more of this and other social media practices at the NewComm Forum sponsored by the Society for New Communications Research in Sonoma, California, April 22-25.

Share on StumbleUpon