Remember that Faberge Organics shampoo commercial from the 80’s where Heather Locklear promises that you’ll tell your friends about the shampoo, and they’ll tell their friends….and so on? Well, Kimarie Matthews and her team from @ask_wellsfargo have implemented a Twitter strategy that seems to be doing just that: 40% of their customers who received support through Twitter turn around and make a positive comment and 13% turn around and post to their followers. On average, Kimarie says that a re-tweeted tip is shared with 1,869 other users—a conservative estimate, she admits. In addition, WF’s support responses via Twitter are quoted by the media almost as often as formal messages from corporate communications.

Wells Fargo’s Twitter strategy? Offer help, thank customers, answer questions, share relevant content, and then measure. More importantly, though, she acknowledges that customer support is still you listening to someone else and demonstrating that you care. Customers feel loyalty when their needs are met and they feel appreciated—a huge factor knowing that “the most trusted information source about a company is from ‘people like me.’”

Kimarie concluded by saying, “What we’re doing in Twitter is incubating the next generation of customers.” The good news is, this generation is more poised than ever to tell their friends, and they’ll tell their friends, and so on….