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Many articles and blog posts have been written about Zappos.com as a social media best practice example, but after reading the book “Delivering Happiness” by the Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh, it stands clear to me that it’s not all about social media – it’s about a company doing a whole of things right and social media is ‘just’ a tool. By the way – this is not a review of the book – you can read my little less than traditional review here.
Zappos.com basically stands out because of two main focus areas: customer service and company culture.
Customer service is first priority
The core of the entire company is bringing happiness and delivering a wow-effect to all everyone that gets in contact with Zappos.com. This basically means that profits for instance comes longer down the priority list – great customer service is seldom the most cost effective way to run a business.
This sounds almost to simple, but it absolutely isn’t! Reading “Delivering Happiness” gives a glimpse of how hard and focused work it requires from an entire organization – from the top management and especially to the sales rep, the receptionist or the tech geek of the company.
Company culture is a great brand
During several years, zappos.com has poured money and energy into building a corporate culture that can back up their mission: to deliver happiness in a box to all clients. They have empowered their employees and sourced the corporate development to the Zappos tribe, thus coming out as one of the most innovative e-commerce businesses of our time.
Corporate Culture is not built over night or with a few core values if you want to do it ‘the Zappos way’. It takes time and involvement. For instance, with involvement from all employees Zappos.com has made a “Culture Book” that has become a phenomenon in itself. It communicates the company culture to a much larger tribe than just the people working at Zappos.com
To quote CEO Tony Hsieh: “Your Culture is Your Brand”. So build a great culture and you build a great brand.
Social media is a social tool
So what does Zappo’s social media usage make them stand out as a best practice example?
I don’t think it’s because they have been technically innovative to use social media or because they used it before others. It’s basic, it’s because social media is a great tool for companies building their company on delivering great service to their customers and empowering and involving the entire tribe around Zappos.com.
It’s that simple – social media is about people, so if your aim as a company is to do all you can to do good for the people you want to connect with, social media becomes a great and very valuable tool.
By the way – I can, from a deep (very very deep) part of my heart and mind, recommend you to read “Delivering Happiness”. It will inspire you and give you mindjumps that can transform your business if you are open towards change!
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