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
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Traditionally, Business and Technology: aimed to deliver efficient organization of work through specialization of labor 1776, Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
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Markets always were about conversations?
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Business Always Succeeded and Grew based on word of mouth
… more so with the
social Web
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Internet:
Unlike other technologies, the Web was unpredictable; opened more opportunities to change perspectives anywhere it reached
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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
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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
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…..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.
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The world around us is changing
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• 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
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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
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Recognizing & Aligning a Powerful Ecosystem
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Dell.com
External Communities Our Communities
Team Members
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Listening to Be A Better Business, Across the Business
From 4,000 posts/day to 26,000 posts/day
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Don’t Look, Listen or Touch
This is not a strategy that works.
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Think of it as a tool, not a channel
Listen, Engage, Act. It’s at the heart of all strategies…But How to Scale?
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Campaigns Scale, but are capital intensive.
You can not buy fans & followers for life …
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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
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• 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
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Customer Centricity:
Inform and Drive Every Part of the Business
The Social Radio for All Employees
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Empowering Employees: Social Media & Community
University
Principles
Policy
Governance
Training & tools
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Starting Down a New Road, in a Vehicle, yet to be proven
Even today, the Infrastructure is evolving
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Authority Exchange
Community
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Lesson: Yes Virginia, there is ROI. It is measurable in many forms, there is not 1 number …
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Making Businesses Less Machine and more Networked Organism?
A Human Organization
Thank You