Social Media Culture At Dell

Dell being a huge company dealing in the manufacture of personal computers and later to venture in the field of software and analytics apparently needed the boost of social media. The primary objectives of the development of the social media platform at Dell were to ensure that the customers received the best services and that the growth of the business could be monitored more intelligently via the social media network of feedbacks and suggestions. This trend became an excellent predictor of future shifts in tastes and how the company could adjust accordingly. The other main reason for the advantage of moving from the standard business analysis to the social media platform is that the costs were reduced remarkably. The company now has to look to the customers for their feedback and adjust accordingly. The ignorance of the customers’ grievances nearly brought Dell to its knees at the beginning of the project roll-out. This social media analysis is, therefore, an essential part of the company’s growth.

The use of the social media in the understanding of the customers needed some training on the part of the company on the use of best customer relations material and manners. The company, therefore, by 2013 had 17,000 employees that were directly linked to the clients and were able to talk to them directly instead of a proxy.

They worked directly with customers through a telephone system, mail, and their website. That eliminated the need for warehouses and saved a lot of money on overhead expenses. The result was not only a cost advantage but also direct contact with customers. Dell received immediate feedback about consumers’ needs and an idea of how to plan on advancing the new products. Partnership with the client and direct contact with them gave an opportunity to respond to market changes and create increased customer satisfaction faster than competitors, resulting in the company's sales and profits growing several times quicker in the industry on average.

Dell embraces the social media model in an entirely different way from others. They offer immediate positive or negative consumers reviews and proposals. They offer on the spot problem solutions and help in all other aspects of the computer world. Dell provides an on-line forum that shows users conversation posts for a whole variety of PC related topics. Dell covers information for all possible types of users from individual owners to small businesses and large corporations. Dell uses our more typical social media such as Facebook and Twitter to promote new products, show new technologies, and inform about their events.

Dell annually creates relationships with clients via posts in blogs, messages in Twitter, and brand-related discussions in the social media community. The purpose of these contacts is not only to increase sales but also to keep the connection with clients and develop the dialogue in which the company wants them in. Social media platforms give customers opportunities for opinions exchange with each other and with Dell. With immediate feedback, they achieve great success by knowing what their customers want to see next. Social media gave the strongest competitive edge for Dell. Being in the one-to-one social model for years which later on turned into a consulting service helped Dell to jump into social networks a lot quicker than other IT companies resulting in an excellent social business.

Dell faced some challenges that rocked it during early stages of the implementation of its social media platform. The first significant wave that shook the boat that Dell so comfortably sailed on was that they did not recognize the plight of the customers. Even when one customer pleaded to be given the right solution to his/her problems, Dell turned a blind eye. This one-sided type of conversation between the company and customers nearly ruined the company. They had to act fast before they drowned into oblivion.

There were some obvious risks associated with moving quickly. The common one is that some disgruntled employees would use that opportunity to divulge information that was secret and that some would blatantly ruin the name of the company. The top brass of the company had to instill the value of loyalty to the customers more than to the enterprise. This loyalty, therefore, shifted the focus of the employees on listening to the customers more. The massive traffic between the company and the customers created some foreseeable problems. For instance, the company had the amalgamation of different departments as any other company. The problem was that the incoming information from the customers needed to be centralized. This centralization would, therefore, reduce the backlog and speed up the reply process.

For more information on Analytics, please visit http://d-analysis.blogspot.com/2017/05/big-data-vs-data-analytics-vs-data.html, source: Building a Social Media Culture at Dell by Michael Norris & Rohit Deshpande