If you're looking for a good case study to share with your organization or client about the challenges--and payoffs--of going social as a major brand, then the story of Kansas-based telco EMBARQ (recently acquired by CenturyTel) would be a good place to start.

Here are the slides that Zena Weist, EMBARQ's interactive brand strategy manager, shared ahead of her appearance last Thursday on the "Quick 'n' Dirty Podcast" that I guest co-hosted with Jennifer Leggio on BlogTalkRadio.

The EMBARQ social story

Here are some of the highlights from our conversation with Zena:

* EMBARQ had inherited a very restrictive communications policy after splitting from Sprint Nextel in 2006, and its customer service representatives were initially prohibited from engaging with customers online.

* Crafting a new strategic communications plan, which included social media, took some 18 months, and required buy-in from departments across the company.

* Although EMBARQ couldn't talk back to its customers online from the outset, the company was certainly doing plenty of listening. EMBARQ tracked and rated customer sentiment on blogs, Twitter, and forums. When EMBARQ did ultimately begin responding to online mentions in late 2007, its listening-and-response infrastructure (see Slide 9) was fully in place.

* EMBARQ's currently online presence includes a Twitter account maintained by "customer-service superhero" Joey Harper (@Embarq_Joey). Zena said Joey's tweets make clear that he's "an actual human being," so that customers know "they're not talking to the Man." Twitter has also served EMBARQ as an early-warning system.

* EMBARQ's YouTube channel has created brand advocates. The channel includes 50-plus how-to videos ranging from the specific (testing the EMBARQ modem) to the very basic (how to use a mouse). "We're getting our customers and our prospects to embed those [videos] in their blogs and talk about them," Zena said. "As a brand person, you can't for anything better."

* Other business takeaways: EMBARQ's social media outreach and content-creation efforts have helped the company to improve its customer retention and become part of an online community. Without going social, Zena said, "we never would have that opportunity."

To listen to the complete episode of "Quick 'n' Dirty," stream or download the audio file below. Our interview with Zena kicks off at the 7:40 mark.




[Right-click to download]