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Case study Dell Reinvents itself Through Social Media Introduction Dell exemplifies a strong execution of the Social Media Marketing Plan: listen to the social web, establish social media strategies, define the company's target audience, create innovative content pick the right social media tools, implement the plan with precision, track and measure results, and adjust the campaign to get the biggest bang for the buck. History Dell Computer Corporation (originally called PCs Limited) was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell in Austin, Texas, and was based on selling computers with customizable options directly to consumers. This unique approach offered lower prices than other brand names and greater convenience than purchasing parts and putting them together at home. The company was first traded on the US stock market in June 1988 and grossed over $73 million that year. In 1996 Dell began selling computers though its website. By 2009 the company was grossing over $61 billion a year. Dell employs 96,000 workers and sells over 110,000 computers every day, which amounts to more than one per second. Challenge In 2005 Jeff Jarvis, a noted print journalist and blogger, posted a rant on his blog, BuzzMachine, decrying a horrific customer experience with Dell after buying a laptop. He entitled the post, "Dell Lies, Dell Sucks "Little did Jarvis suspect that his invective would create a firestorm in the blogosphere with a torrent of angry Dell customers piling on to complain about the computer maker. Thousands of unsatisfied consumers commented and linked to Jarvis s blog, supporting and adding to his statement www.euroniedu Poll Sucks." A little under a month later, Jarvis followed up the post with another blog post d as an open letter to Michael Dell "suggesting his company read blogs, white blogs, ask customers for guidance and join the for guidance, and join the conversation your customers are having without you. This social media tale came to be known as "Dell Holl." Strategy Michael Dell's company started listening and more importantly, acting. Because of "Dell Hell, the company became one of the first large corporations to integrate social media throughout its organization. Starting in 2006, Dell launched a companywide social media marketing campaign to engage consumers, improve customer service, and turn round its badly damaged reputation. wel began by training its employees in how to listen and engage consumers on the social web. To accomplish this considerable task, Dell employed almost every conceivable social media tool. As an example, Dell launched an internal blog entitled Employee Storm and a Twitter-like microblog called Chatter. In addition, it held employee "unconferences" in each of its global sales regions. All of these efforts were dedicated to helping the organization adapt to the social web. These substantial training initiatives focused on getting employees recognized as social media professionals in the community, within two months, over 2,000 Dell workers had been trained in social media marketing Along with a certification, the Texas computer giant educated employees across the enterprise on how to listen and converse on the social web, using the latest in social media metrics and monitoring tools. In 2007 Dell launched IdeaStorm, a corporate social network or community, where consumers are tribute suggestions for new products, features, and services. The company not only actively participates in the discussions, but it often incorporates the best recommendations into its products and services. In 2007 Ricardo Guerrero, a Dell employee, championed the use of Twitter as a means to push out information about his company's products. But to the surprise of Guerrero and his fellow company Twitterers, this one-way form of communication quickly evolved into two-way conversations as customers began asking questions. The Dell Twitterers soon realized that people were interested in having conversations with them, not just hearing about the latest deals. By engaging customers on Twitter, Dell not only raised its brand awareness, but it improved its reputation. The more enthusiastic Twitter participants became brand advocates for the company and vastly multiplied the effect, which is the real secret of any successful social media marketing campaign There are now more than 80 Dell-branded Twitter accounts, offering the latest products and providing customer service. They encourage employees to be active on Twitter, with more than 100 emplo accounts. The company also uses Twitter to monitor any mentions of its brand. In mid-2006 Dell launched the successful Direct2Dell blog (originally called One2one), with content that ranges widely from product deals and reviews to industry news and trends to corporate social responsibility and the impact of technology on the environment. Results Before "Dell Hell" in 2005, the company had a strict policy prohibiting employees from responding to bloggers. Given the magnitude of changes within Dell since this time, what have been the net results? In short, the company now has a strong relationship with the social media world, and has fostered a great deal of goodwill among its customer base. By mid-2000 Dell had sold more than min PC and accessories through Tw in 2009 had a 49% negative blog post ratio, whereas since then, it has reduced that ratio to a more The company's blog. Direct2Dell, ranks around 700 on Technorati und 700 on Technorati (a blog search to the blog receive more than 5 million unique views per month, making it one of the most popular corporate over 2.000 product suggestions and other ideas have been posted on the idea storms networking community. What is the secret ingredient to Dell's brand turnaround success? They discovered perhaps the hard way that to remain successful, a corporation must reach out to its current customer base become complacent, and it continually monitors, tracks, and measures the influence of its social media marketing efforts to maximize their impact. To keep current. Dell constantly evolves its social marketing plan, both to remain relevant to its intended audience and also to fully integrate social communication throughout every part of its corporate culture. The end goal is not just to become a better social communicator but to conduct business more productively, evolving from a twentieth- century enterprise into a twenty-first-century "socialprise." (Excerpt taken from Barker, M., Barker, D., Bormann, N., and Neher, K. (2013) Social Media Marketing. A Strategic Approach) Questions 1. What benefits and challenges were presented to Dell as it started to use Twitter