Why Redbox gets an A for social media integration
Posted in Commentary on May 21, 2010
It’s been a couple years now since our family started renting movies almost exclusively from Redbox.
It’s just more convenient and less expensive than Blockbuster or Hollywood (are they still in business?), and we don’t mind driving to a Redbox location to pick-up and drop-off the movie (something we didn’t have to do when we used Netflix).
When we first started picking up DVDs from Redbox, I was thrilled to learn I could go online and reserve a movie then pick it up at a Redbox location of my choice. I love the online portion of Redbox’s service.
I even suggested to Redbox a while ago that they allow me, a Redbox.com user, to tell my social networks about the movie I was renting for the night by providing tools to share the fact that I had rented a movie from them. Something like ShareThis.com where I could, with the click of a mouse, share the details on Facebook or Twitter.
I’m pleased to say that now Redbox does offer that. I don’t know when it changed, but I did notice how easy it was when I rented a movie for tonight to share that information with my social network.
Also, on their home page, Redbox offers links to their Facebook page (although they still have the old “Fan Us on Facebook” text even though Facebook pages don’t get “fans” any longer), Twitter account, and even a link to download their application for iPhone. And who doesn’t love iPhone apps, non iPhone users aside?
Since I have always been impressed with Redbox, its business model and now its integration of social media tools, I thought it worthy of a congratulatory blog post on this beautiful May Friday.
Another brand that has impressed me lately in how it utilizes social media tools is Domino’s Pizza. With its new recipes, website and marketing (I get email and text message offers from them regularly) it has done a lot to win back my patronage.
Do you have examples of consumer brands that are using social media effectively? Please do share.
As of today, July 13, 2010, at 9:11pm local time (a normal business hour), Las Vegas has only 1 Hollywood Video that answered their phone. There may be 2 others that are open, but the phone rang continually. After they filed for bankruptcy February 2 (http://bit.ly/aZRFdy) they have closed numerous stores across the nation. – Can we really blame it on Redbox’s superior social networking or is it merely the last straw after the crippling blows of Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube? No matter the reason, I think we are seeing only the cresting of the tsunami. Social Media will change our island indefinitely.