The Journey of Business Adoption to Realize Benefits of Social Media:Lessons Learned

Manish Mehta, Vice President, Social Media and Community

April 6, 2011, Bazaarvoice Social Commerce Summit.

Global Marketing2 Confidential

2008

March 2006Community Outreach Team FormedTeam begins by just listening and monitoring conversations to see what’s being said. The tech support experts are hand-selected for their tech problem-solving expertise and superior interpersonal skills.

August 2006Blog Outreach Expands Beyond Tech SupportEngagement with anyone who commented about the company. Business model and other issues considered.

December 2006Ratings and Reviews on Dell.com

2007

July 2006Direct2Dell LaunchedToday Direct2Dell exists in English, Spanish, Norwegian, Japanese and Chinese.

February 2006Michael Dell AsksWhy don’t we reach out and help bloggers with tech support issues?

January 2007StudioDell LaunchedDell’s video and podcast site, with helpful tips and tricks. Eventually expanding this into the YouTube channel making sharing easier.

2006 February 2007IdeaStorm LaunchedA voting based site allowing customers and others to submit ideas for Dell.

June 2007Dell joins TwitterWhy don’t we reach out and help bloggers with tech support issues?

Dell LaunchesEmployeeStormInternal Blogs Launched for Employees.

October 2007Michael Dell quote in Business WeekJeff Jarvis story quote, “These conversations are going to occur whether you like it or not. Do you want to be part of that or not? My argument is you absolutely do. You can learn from them. You can improve your reaction time. And you can be a better company by listening and being involved in that conversation.”

November 2007DellShares LaunchedThe first investor relations blog by a public company.

January 2008Dell Aligns Organization for Success

February 2008Twitter ExpandedStart experimenting with Twitter for business– another venue to help customers, but also thanking Dell customers. Outreach leads to some Twitters asking for help on purchases.

March 2008Accepted Solutions launched on Community Dell France begins Online Community Outreach

May 2008Dell Outlet Achieves $0.5M in Sales via TwitterCommunity team active on Twitter

Small Business blog launched

April 2008Inside IT LaunchedBlog focused on business customers, and Cloud Computing.

June 2008Channel Blog Launched

2009

2010January 2009Dell Organizes in to 4 customer focused business units

Spring 2009Some Members of Community and Conversations deployed within each of the new Dell Business units

June 2009 $2M+ Sales via TwitterDell outlet on Twitter surpasses $2 million in sales with another $1 million dollars in sales at dell.com

2009Dell TechCenterA Collaborative Community for Datacenter pros grows by 400%

June 2009Global Twitter Revenues of $6.5 M Community across the social web =3.5 million direct customer connections

December 2009Huffington Post BlogDell’s VP of Social Media and Community, Manish Mehta, begins blogging at Huffington Post

March 2010China Micro-Blogging

Early Dell Social Media Milestones

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7 Key Lessons Learned

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Global Marketing

Lesson #1: Integrate where Customer & Business Value are realized

Product Development

• Feedback Loop• Early Warning• New Product

Ideation

Marketing

• Demand Forecast• Lead Generation• Message Reach

Online Presence

• Ratings & Reviews• Communities• Customer Stories

Sales

• Collaboration• Thought

Leadership• Blogs

Customer Service

• Listening• Support Widgets• Outreach

Communication

• Rich Media• Brand Reputation• Influence• Reputation

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Lesson #2: Chasing shiny objects is a formula for ridicule. You will not be taken seriously …

• Don’t chase every trend• Find a willing business sponsor, but not a radical one• Understand the expected outcome(s)• Be willing to turn things off quickly

Take risks, but rapidly and iteratively align to above

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It’s about pragmatic approaches

Smart business fundamentals never

change

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Lesson #3: Make your IT organization a partner, play Freaky Friday often …

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Lesson #4: Never stop innovating … ever

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Innovating in the future:

A social radio for all employees

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Lesson #5: Yes Virginia, there is ROI. It is measurable in many forms, there is not 1 number …

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Lesson #6: Campaigns are capital intensive. You can not buy fans & followers for life …

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Social Media & Community University

Principles

Policy

Governance

Training & tools

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Lesson #7: Look across the entire customer lifecycle. It can be used everywhere …

• Insight: Social media improves Dell’s reach and share of voice

• Insight: Social Media provides high Business Value and contributes to demand gen vehicle

• Insight: SM keeps customers engaged, provides solutions and improves loyalty.

• Insight: Social media based support improves sentiment and correlates with higher revenue

• Insight: Established causality between social media activity and purchase

Awareness

Research and Consideratio

n

Demand / Lead Gen and Sales

Support

CLV (loyalty)Dell.com

External Communities

Our Communities

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+1: Listen, Engage, Act. It’s at the heart of all strategies …

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Thank You

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