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Tweeting with Petey P. Cup

As the Twitter feeds of Best Buy employees pick up thousands of “followers,” the company is gaining followers of a different kind, too. More Minnesota companies are wading into the world of social networking. You can now “friend” a HealthPartners mascot on Facebook, follow the tweets of a General Mills’ snack developer, or join a conversation about sleep curated by a Select Comfort blogger.

Sarah Ryder—or SleepNumberSara, as she’s known on line—has been representing Select Comfort on Twitter since October. “Select Comfort has always placed a premium on the voice of the consumer,” Ryder says via e-mail, “and Twitter is another way to listen to our customer and obtain feedback about their experiences.”

The Plymouth-based bed retailer uses Twitter for both marketing and customer service. Ryder responds to customer questions and complaints, promotes contests and specials, and drops the occasional sleep-related tip or factoid into the mix as well. Example: “WebMD says getting more than 7 hours of sleep per night prevents colds!”

Bloomington-based HealthPartners is using social networking to put its brand in front of a younger demographic that probably otherwise wouldn’t spend much time thinking about health care. The company’s novelty mascot, Petey P. Cup, a seven-foot-tall walking urine-sample cup, has been accumulating friends on Facebook and Twitter since last spring.

Individual employees from companies including Fridley-based Medtronic and Golden Valley–headquartered General Mills have recently shown up on Twitter. Both companies declined to comment for this piece but are discussing social networking strategies. As they do, odds are good they’ll be looking to Best Buy as an example.

Says Ryder: “We view Best Buy as the gold standard in creating mutually beneficial online relationships with customers and consumers in general.”

—D. H.