digital marketing - case study - asap!

DELL: Successfully Using Social Media By 2004, Dell had fundamentally changed its interaction with customers by making a major commitment to social media. By fully exploiting the potential of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels, the company has developed the capacity to engage customers more directly than ever before. On Facebook, Dell can directly target a variety of market segments, with separate home pages for home users, different size businesses, and separate entry points for other countries. It has a Facebook Marketplace, a trendy page with ads and special promotions. Dell uses walls and links on Facebook to offer users a variety of options. Users can plug directly into Dell Support's online forums, which feature a scrolling list of live conversations on many topics, for example, how to burn a CD. Other links move in a hipper direction. Twitter gives Dell an entirely different stream of conversations with users. Its main Twitter page links to Dell's multiple Twitter accounts. These offer product news, provide product support in multiple languages, and even allow users to tweet directly with Michael Dell. Dell.com's blogs facilitate active dialogue between user-subscribers and company leaders. These include Direct2Dell, the company's flagship corporate blog; DellShares, providing investor updates; and DellSoftwareNews, which discusses software products, pricing, and licensing. Working professionals who access Dell through LinkedIn find product updates, recent blog posts, and direct links to Dell managers. Through Google+, Dell offers product news and updates but also invites users to join the group conversations, or circles, that interest them. These multiple channels allow Dell to build a positive sense of its brand while also gathering insight from thousands of users who personally text, post, and tweet their comments daily, in real time. Dell understands the importance of listening to customers and of analyzing the information it collects. It partners with Radian6 to monitor over 25,000 user conversations daily. Dell has a new Social Media Listening Command Center, which provides almost instantaneous support in 11 languages to customers around the world. Annual training updates and Dell's Global Social Media Policy guides all listening conducted by its social media staff. This connection of listening to customers has a powerful impact on customer loyalty and strengthens the brand. The Command Center is used not just to listen, but also to identify key discussions early so employees worldwide can be given the tools to respond to customers. According to a Forrester Report, that approach has enabled Dell customer support to reach 46 percent more users and has produced additional tangible results, including quicker response times; improved issue recognition, mitigation, and management; enhanced coordination and response consistency; and an early warning system to avoid faulty product launches. From its earliest days, Dell has been driven by the potential to connect with and engage its customers. With a corporate culture that has fully embraced social media connectivity, today's Dell is leveraging more powerful interactions with consumers to improve products and services, retain loyal customers, and increase revenues. In terms of the 4E framework, what is the significance of "engaging" the customer? Is engagement a critical goal of Dell's social media strategy? Explain.