A Look at Business in a Networked World of the Interactive Web

Richard Binhammer, Social Media and Community

June 21, 2011, The Corporate Social Media Summit

Global Marketing2

Traditionally, Business and Technology: aimed to deliver efficient organization of work through specialization of labor 1776, Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations

Global Marketing

Markets always were about conversations?

3

Global Marketing

Business Always Succeeded and Grew based on word of mouth

… more so with the

social Web

Global Marketing5

Internet:

Unlike other technologies, the Web was unpredictable; opened more opportunities to change perspectives anywhere it reached

Global Marketing

Today, Interactive Web:

First time in history, technology at home has evolved faster than for business becoming so pervasive that business is catching up to consumer expectations about connectivity, ease of use and how to use

Source: Mary Meeker, 2010 Internet Trends

Global Marketing

If Markets are Conversations…

• “Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations. Markets are conversations. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice, Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.”

7 Source: Cluetrain Manifesto

Global Marketing

…..But (Social Media) Conversations are Not Just Marketing• In both internetworked markets and among intranetworked

employees, people are speaking to each other in a powerful new way.

• These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.

• As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. (not siloed or segmented the way we normally think)

• Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally.

8

Global Marketing

The world around us is changing

9

• Disintermediation between the customer and the expert is happening already

• Users spending more time across the web engaging – beyond company’s website

• Customers trust their peers more than anyone else

• Traditional methods are not scaling; Does Social Media?

companies that embrace this the fastest will win

Control is not as successful as influence

Global Marketing10

Five years of experiments and experience

April 2006Tech support outreach to blogs

August 2006Blog outreach expands beyond tech support

December 2006Ratings and reviews on Dell.com

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.

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

June 2007Dell joins Twitter

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 expanded

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

January 2009Dell Organizes in to4 customer focused business units

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

June 2009$2M+ Salesvia Twitter

2009Dell TechCenter

June 2009Global Twitter revenues of $6.5 M

December 2009Huffington Post Blog

March 2010China Micro-Blogging

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Altimeter recognizes Dell with “Open Leadership Award for Innovation and Execution”

(Oct.)

Dell Social Media and Community University launched/5,000 teammembers trained byend of year(Aug.)

DelllaunchesB2B pagesFacebook(Jun.)

Dell named #1 most social brand in ranking of 100 top brands

Social Media Listening

Command Center

Global Marketing

Recognizing & Aligning a Powerful Ecosystem

Confidential11

Dell.com

External Communities Our Communities

Team Members

Global Marketing12 Confidential 04/11/2023

Listening to Be A Better Business, Across the Business

From 4,000 posts/day to 26,000 posts/day

Global Marketing13

Don’t Look, Listen or Touch

This is not a strategy that works.

Global Marketing

Think of it as a tool, not a channel

Listen, Engage, Act. It’s at the heart of all strategies…But How to Scale?

Global Marketing

Campaigns Scale, but are capital intensive.

You can not buy fans & followers for life …

Global Marketing

A Tool to be Leveraged Across the Fabric of a Company: different functions, uses and values

Product Development

• Feedback Loop• Early Warning• New Product

Ideation

Marketing

• Demand Forecast• Lead Generation• Message Reach

Online Presence

• Ratings & Reviews• Communities• Customer Stories

Sales• Leads• Collaboration• Thought

Leadership• Blogs

Customer Service

• Listening• Support Widgets• Outreach

Communication

• Rich Media• Brand Reputation• Influence• Reputation

Global Marketing

Customer Centricity:

Inform and Drive Every Part of the Business

The Social Radio for All Employees

17

Global Marketing

Empowering Employees: Social Media & Community

University

Principles

Policy

Governance

Training & tools

Global Marketing

Starting Down a New Road, in a Vehicle, yet to be proven

Even today, the Infrastructure is evolving

19

Global Marketing20

Authority Exchange

Community

Global Marketing

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

Global Marketing22

Making Businesses Less Machine and more Networked Organism?

A Human Organization

Thank You