BlackBerry and First Direct: missed social media opportuntities

Two big campaigns had me a thinking this month: BlackBerry’s ‘Love what you do’ activity and First Direct’s ‘Live’ campaign.

First Direct is a nifty piece of brand activity but try as I might I can’t find how one can properly interact with the brand and its representatives – for example by finding out whether the brand is actually listening to what one is saying and taking action as a result. As a result, it seems to miss a trick in regards of creating and operating a truly social initiative with their customers.

One of the services we provide is to help brands manage communities – of customers, enthusiasts, media or other interested parties. This feedback and action loop is critical in making these communities work.

As an example, we’re currently doing some work for Education UK, part of the Prime Minister’s Initiative for international education, managed by the British Council. We’ve recruited a group of ambassadors from recent overseas students who have studied in the UK. They engage with prospective students on behalf of Education UK – answering questions, providing thoughts and opinions on where and what to study in the UK. You can check out one of the ambassador groups here.

I know it’s been said before that BlackBerry needs to do more to motivate and incentivise its audience. If we take the rich area of BlackBerry hints and tips, we can compare what the brand is doing with what third-parties are doing.

Here’s the page on the BlackBerry site that Google presented me with (http://tinyurl.com/yh47vw8): six how-to videos and a link to a tips & tricks pdf. No opportunity to feedback, add or edit.

Here’s an article that ranks highly when you search for ‘BlackBerry tips’ on Google: http://tinyurl.com/2ktf9g. 121 tips, 669 diggs and around 36 comments.

If they aren’t already, there seems to be a real opportunity BlackBerry can take advantage of – to engage more with existing BlackBerry communities, to facilitate their needs, build relationships and trust. In short, they should be creating and operating truly social initiatives with their customers