A leading social engagement firm has named Verizon's corporate website the top community website among wireline and wireless telecommunications companies, and 6th overall among all companies.
The firm, ComBlu, cited www.verizon.com's strong set of social engagement features, which enable consumers to interact easily with Verizon and with one another.
ComBlu also praised the enhancements to the online Verizon Community during 2010 as offering user-friendly, high-value content for consumers. The rankings are contained in ComBlu's second annual "State of Online Brand Communities" report.
"Verizon was ranked very highly because of its peer-to-peer community where customers share experiences with each other," said Kathy Baughman, a principal at ComBlu. "It has created a strong info-centric platform that features consumer community leaders who help others get more out of their products and services.
"Social media is growing up and companies are beginning to take advantage of it to improve the overall customer experience. Verizon has created a great destination for customer interaction and learning," Baughman said.
ComBlu evaluated company websites based on best practices for site navigation, share features, welcoming, leader board, member spotlight, personal dashboard, campaigns/contests, offline engagement, content customization, customer advocate or expert programs, toolbars and custom widgets.
"Our customers are important to us, so we've made a concerted effort in the past year to create more ways to engage with them through the Verizon Community, Facebook and Twitter," said Mark Studness, Verizon director of e-commerce. "We've customized options for customers to give us direct input and share their thoughts so we can respond and act on that information to provide the solutions and products or services they find most valuable."
Two of the most recent additions to the Verizon Community - Room To Learn and the Idea Exchange - offer new consumer content and interaction opportunities. Room To Learn is a site rich in educational content about digital lifestyle activities, and offers free online courses and basic instruction on all things digital. It also features weekly technology advice from longtime tech writer Alfred Poor.
The Idea Exchange allows customers to directly submit to Verizon product development teams suggestions and proposed enhancements for Verizon products and services. Customers can vote on the best ideas, with Verizon giving status updates on the site regarding progress of the recommendations.
In addition to the Verizon Community, customers also can interact with Verizon at http://twitter.com/verizon and http://www.facebook.com/VerizonFiOS.
About ComBlu
ComBlu is a full-service social engagement firm specializing in building and growing online communities for corporations, brands, associations and employees; integrating social media into marketing mix; finding and activating brand advocates; and measuring ROI of social programs. The firm was founded in 2003, is headquartered in Chicago with offices in Indianapolis, Denver, Austin and Los Angeles. www.comblu.com.
About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 94.1 million customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 194,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.
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