Interview With Lee Benecke And Daryl Walker-Smith From Ebuyer

One of my favourite retailers is Ebuyer, one of the leading computer and electronic stores in the UK. I usually buy any new computer equipment from them, mostly because their support is top notch and they offer no hassle returns.

I have been following them on Twitter for a few months and last month they lmoved into the blogging world by launching their own dedicated blog. There are not many major online retailers which have integrated a blog with their website, least not in the traditional blog sense, so I thought it would be great to interview the guys from Ebuyer about their progression into the social media world.

Hope you enjoy this interview with Lee Benecke (Chief Copywriter) and Daryl Walker-Smith (Head Designer)

Ebuyer HQ was launched at the start of May, have you had a lot of good feedback from customers regarding the blog?

Daryl: “Yeah, we’ve had a lot of good feedback about the blog, particularly about the overall design. I know it’s far from perfect though so I’ll be looking to tweak the design further in the coming months.”

Lee: “I think that’s key to making Ebuyer HQ a success – ensuring the blog is constantly updated with new posts and interesting insights into life at Ebuyer. We’ve had some good comments so far so I’m looking forward to writing more blogs and showing our followers what life at Ebuyer is like.”

Daryl: “The cake and cookie days have been very popular, haha!”

I cannot think of many top online retailers in the UK who have launched a blog. Many have launched newsletters to connect with their customers though those mostly just promote the companies latest products, rather than attempt to connect with customers. What was the inspiration to create a blog?

Lee: “I was inspired by the potential of blogging from a business point-of-view. We’re both keen readers of blogs so when the opportunity to bring blogging into Ebuyer came along, we jumped on it immediately.”

Daryl: “Obviously blogging isn’t a new phenomenon but we thought having a blog would be a great way to connect further with our customers and prospective customers. As a web-based technology retailer we also thought that blogging would be the perfect platform for reviews, guides and general tech advice. We already have an incredibly successful forum at Ebuyer so we saw a blog as another string in the ever-growing Ebuyer bow.”

At the moment Ebuyer HQ is not linked from the main Ebuyer website (and vice versa). Are you looking to integrate the blog more with the main site or would you like to keep the blog separate from the customer shopping area?

Daryl: “Great question! We’re actually in the process of moving the blog to the main site now funnily enough. When we initially set the blog up we went for a ‘soft launch’ to see how people reacted to it. As the feedback has been wholly positive, Ebuyer HQ will soon be a permanent fixture on the Ebuyer.com domain.”

Ebuyer has been tweeting since February. Did your experience with Twitter influence your decision to create a blog?

Daryl: “Not really but we see Twitter and the Blog working very nicely side-by-side. I’ve been using Twitter personally for a while but, similar to the blog, we launched the @Ebuyerdotcom Twitter account as another experiment in new ways to interact with the customer. With over 1,900 followers we think we’ve got the balance of Tweeting just about right (unlike other retailers who we’ve noticed tweet far too much).”

Lee: “Although they both fall under the same ‘social media’ umbrella, the ideas behind Ebuyer HQ and the Ebuyer Twitter account were conceived separately. Our Twitter account was designed so we had another avenue to speak to our customers and I think it’s been a great success so far. The blog was different. We have a very good forum on Ebuyer.com and the idea of a blog was an extension of this. We wanted to have a page that showed our products but also our personality. As a bit of a social media geek, I was also very keen to bring all these aspects into life at Ebuyer. Although I blame Daryl for my Twitter obsession…I was a casual admirer before he introduced me to it properly. Now I’m forever seeking new ways to use Twitter as well as all the cool tools for searching, messaging and managing my Twitter”.

Recently we saw Habitat, a major UK reailer, shoot themselves in the foot by misusing Twitter by attaching tags to the latest news (including the problems in Iran) in order to get more exposure to their tweets. This got them a lot of bad press and illustrated how a lot of companies still don’t understand how to get the best from new social mediums such as Twitter and Facebook.
Ebuyer appear to have had a very good understanding of Twitter and how to use if effectively from the start. For example, as a follower I have seen Ebuyer directly help customers with a problem via Twitter on several occasions.
Was this due to your staff members having previous experience with Twitter or did you research the platform extensively before launching the Ebuyer Twitter account?

Daryl: “Using Twitter for @Ebuyerdotcom has definitely been a learning curve and a lot of it has come down to common sense. We don’t want to alienate those people who choose to follow us for the latest deals by constantly bombarding them and we also want to help as many customers as we can whenever problems arise. I was shocked about the whole Habitat twitter hashtag debacle – and wouldn’t be surprised if they used an external company for their Twitter account. As we Tweet completely in-house we have a vested interest to Tweet responsibly!”

Lee: “I too was shocked by the Habitat Twitter scandal. I often see people using trending topics to their advantage but I think you’ve got to know what subjects to touch and which ones to leave alone. In terms of Ebuyer, Daryl and I are the main ‘pushers’ when it comes to Twitter but there are a few members of Ebuyer staff on Twitter. This gives us a good understanding of the basics which obviously helps our company profile.”

How are you looking to promote the Ebuyer blog and the Ebuyer main site with Twitter?

Daryl: “Funny you should ask as followers of our Twitter and site should have seen our latest Twitter marketing campaign – the Ebuyer iPhone Giveaway. As the very popular #Squarespace campaign was coming to the end we thought it’d be good to start our own UK only iPhone giveaway and raise the profile of the Ebuyer brand.”

Lee: “The competition centres around our Twitter but Daryl has also created a ‘How to Use Twitter’ blog post to ensure everyone who registers for the giveaway can then continue to use Twitter once the giveaway has passed. Obviously this is just one example of how we intend to cross promote our website, blog and Twitter account but I’m sure you get the idea. Basically whether you’re a blogger, a tweeter or just a casual social media fan, we want to ensure the Ebuyer brand will be there offering the best deals on electronics on the web. It’s a friendly social media takeover haha”.

Who is writing the articles on Ebuyer HQ? Are the posts written by Ebuyer staff or have you decided to outsource the work?

Lee: “It’s an Ebuyer blog so its Ebuyer staff behind it. When we launched Ebuyer HQ, we sent out a ‘call to arms’ to the entire Ebuyer staff and every department was keen to get involved. I think it is very important that our staff get involved as Ebuyer HQ is built on the products, service, business and day-to-day office life we all experience. I think it helps the integrity of the blog.”

Daryl: “We’re recruiting writers all the time and we’re also going to explore the idea of ‘guest writers’ so we can bring other peoples expertise into Ebuyer HQ.”

What are you hoping to achieve through the blog over the next 6 months?

Lee: “I’d like to see Ebuyer HQ become a blog that people turn to for advice on products or current technology trends. I also want to make sure readers get to take a peek behind the scenes at Ebuyer and get a feel for the people behind the company.”

Daryl: “We’re really looking to produce high quality and interesting articles that people will particularly find useful when making purchasing decisions. A great example of this was the ‘Compact vs. DSLR’ post written by our Pre Sales team. That post in particular got some great feedback. We’ll also be keeping the ‘Cake and Cookie Friday’ posts as they seem to very popular.”

Lee: “We should really start an Ebuyer Marketing cookbook!”

Anything else you’d like to add?

Daryl: “Thanks a lot for this Kevin…it was a great interview.”

Lee: “Agreed. Thanks and keep checking Ebuyer HQ and the Ebuyer Twitter account for more updates. We honestly have only scratched the service when it comes to social media and blogging.”

* A huge thank you to Lee and Daryl for taking part in this interview. You can see Ebuyers blog in action at Ebuyer HQ. If you are a regular Twitter use, I would also check out their fantastic ‘The Essential Twitter Guide for New Users‘

Written by Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes Club
Posted on July 5th, 2009 and filed under Interviews
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