Home Depot’s Social Media Store Associates

Great article in Ad Age about The Home Depot’s program to designate a group of store associates as a hybrid of in-store and social media customer service providers.

What’s intriguing to me about The Home Depot’s approach:

— They thought about simply adding people to their corporate communications staff but decided their social media store associates really needed ongoing exposure to products and “live” customers

— After some months of trying the program they’ve found that the social media store associates are doing a fantastic job of generating content—both adding their own and inspiring feedback and dialogue with customers

So, the learnings? 

— Hybrid works: combining offline and online is key

— Experience matters: maintaining ongoing visibility in and to the store adds to the value of the content