By now, you may have come across SAM and MO BlackBerry. SAM and MO were created by Rogers for social networking initiatives, particularly focused on training sales staff to sell BlackBerry devices. They use a program called BlackBerry New School, which is a Facebook portal with a variety of ways to educate and engage staff including:
- Twitter tips and tricks.
- Forums (with point incentives that may be tied to rewards).
- Quizzes (earn points for completing).
- Videos (how tos).
- Facebook features (wall posts, comments, etc.)
The carrier is better than the manufacturer when it comes to educating users, primarily because of the incredible exposure they have, and the marketing dollars they can invest. I think there are a few things that RIM can learn from Rogers and vice versa.
What RIM Can Learn From Rogers: Rewards to Drive Participation
I haven’t been to the MyBlackBerry Community in some time, because it didn’t have any major features that encouraged me to come back. Sure, it’s a great forum where users can go to discuss BlackBerry, but there are a ton of places to do that already. The MyBlackBerry Community could really do with implementing the rewards feature that Rogers uses with BlackBerry New School. By offering points for contributions, MyBlackBerry would see a surge in traffic and participation. They could even give away prizes based on points like Rogers does.
What Rogers Can Learn From RIM: Keeping the Message Cool
While Rogers really hit the nail on the head when it comes to making SAM and MO look like the new BlackBerry demographic (young and hip versus old businessman), the message they’re sending is a little corny. For example, MO BlackBerry writes “Sometime I forget how convenient it is being able to have multiple e-mail accounts synched to my BlackBerry.” Compare that to the official RIM Twitter account, which sends out Tweets about cool things they’re doing at CES and projects they have going with Dipdive’s Will.i.am.
Overall, I’d like to see some cross-pollinating of ideas between Rogers and RIM and see them come together on these social initiatives. It seems as though they’re really disconnected because I’ve never seen one talk about the other. In the end, everyone wins.
