Walmart's ElevenMoms

Walmart has had its share of issues trying to enter the Social Media space; but they are persistent and have come out with a new effort: ElevenMoms; coupe of things I like from what they write in the ElevenMoms Story page:

They write:
o “We've spent lots of time interacting with and seeking to understand how people use these tools and in what ways the Walmart brand can be relevant and provide value. It quickly became obvious to us that many communities exist that focus on saving money which is core to our brand promise. We felt we could best participate in the conversation by helping to foster the growth of people and forums in this space.”
o “We began slowly, making contacts in Twitter, leveraging Facebook profiles, viewing related You Tube videos, and trying to understand how we could participate. And not just by adding more messaging. We made friends. We heard from our critics. And we began to interact as both Walmart associates and as people.”
o “In all we invited eleven Mom Bloggers to participate and began to refer to the group as "elevenmoms." Several Moms strongly suggested that we add another Mom Blogger that they regarded highly so we did. Hence, we have 12 "elevenmoms", a great value as well!”

Alas:
o They listened
o They chose not to create a new space; and instead to engage with key influencers in the space, invite them to engage & empower them.
o They co-created (changed the program based on the influencers input)

Without passing judgment yet on this; they are at least writing the right things; it will be interesting to follow it.

What do you think?

Filiberto Selvas
Filiberto.Selvas@Razorfish.Com