Dell has been using social media since 2006 to deepen customer relationships and build trust. They began by responding to technical support issues on blogs, and have since expanded their social presence across multiple platforms. Dell listens to customer conversations to understand needs and improve their business. They host events and discussions with influencers to get feedback. IdeaStorm allows customers to submit product ideas, with over 500 being implemented. Dell's social media outreach team addresses customer posts to achieve high resolution and satisfaction rates. They also post thank you videos for customers that help evangelize the brand. Dell provides social media training to empower employees to connect with customers online.

1. How Dell is using social media to
deepen relationships & build trust
Liz Bullock, Director Social Media & Marketing
Liz Brown Bullock (LinkedIn)
@lizbbullock
#MSITMtg

2. Global Marketing
Power of social media:
More than ever – a company’s
brand is influenced by what
consumers are saying about the
brand
How companies
market, sell to and
support their
customers is
changing…
25% of search results
for the world’s top
20 largest brands are
links to user-
generated content
(Socialnomics, ’09)
A professor or
person like you is
trusted 2x as much
as a chief executive
or government
official
(Edelman Trust Barometer, ‘13)
Confidential2
90% trust recommendations from
people they know. 70% trust
consumer opinions posted online.
14% trust advertising (Nielsen, 2009)

3. Global Marketing
Engage or Die…
Customers expect more.
• In 5 years trust attributes have shifted
from operational excellence to more
engaging, external facing behaviors
– Listens to customer needs and
feedback
– Takes responsible actions to address
an issue or crisis
Tops down message won’t cut it alone
anymore.
• Action consumers, social activists,
employees involved in real-time,
peer to peer dialogues
Confidential3 4/18/2013 • Edelman Trust Barometer 2013

4. Global Marketing
Dell’s Social
Media
Journey
4 Confidential 4/18/2013

5. Global Marketing
January
2008
Dell aligns
organization
for success
August 2006
Blog outreach
expanded beyond
tech Support
December 2006
Ratings and
reviews launched
on Dell.com
July 2006
Direct2Dell launched
Today Direct2Dell exists in
English, Spanish, Norwegian,
Japanese and Chinese.
February 2006
Michael Dell asked
Why don’t we reach out and help
bloggers with tech support issues?
January 2007
StudioDell launched
Dell’s video and podcast site, with
helpful tips and tricks. Eventually
expanding this into the YouTube
channel making sharing easier.
February 2007
IdeaStorm launched
A voting based site allowing
customers and others to
submit ideas for Dell.
June 2007
Dell joined Twitter
EmployeeStorm
launched
Internal Blogs Launched
for Employees.
October 2007
Michael Dell quoted in Business
Week
In response to Jeff Jarvis question around
whether companies want to be part of the
online conversation: ”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 2007
DellShares
launched
The first investor
relations blog by a
public company.
March 2008
Accepted Solutions
launched on Community
Dell France begins Online
Community Outreach
May 2008
Dell Outlet achieved
$0.5M in sales via Twitter
April 2008
Inside IT launched
Blog focused on business
customers, and Cloud
Computing.
June 2008
Channel
blog
launched
January 2009
Dell Organizes
into four
customer
focused
business units
Spring 2009
Members of
Community
and
Conversations
deployed
within each of
the new Dell
Business units
June 2009
$2M+ Sales
via Twitter
2009
Dell TechCenter
June 2009
Global Twitter
revenues of
$6.5 M
December
2009
Huffington
Post Blog
March
2010
Dell
joins
Sina
Weibo
in
China
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Altimeter
recognized Dell
with “Open
Leadership Award
for Innovation and
Execution”
Social Media &
Community
University (SMaC U)
launched
5,000 team
members trained by
end of year
B2B pages on
Facebook
Dell
named
the No.
1 most
social
brand
6 Awards for the
Social Media Listening
Command Center
June 2010
CAP Days launched
In-person events for vocal
online customers
December 2010
Social Media
Listening
Command
Center launched
Seven years journey of embedding social to be a better
business
5
2012

6. Global Marketing
Listen, Engage, Act
Confidential6 4/18/2013
Customer
Listen to customer conversations across online
Customer Needs Brand ReputationIdeas
• Tech & care support
• Sales support
• IdeaStorm
• Collaboration
• Providing communities
• Thank you & delight
• Employee advocacy
Sales Marketing
Product
Group
HR Online

7. Global Marketing7 Confidential
Listening to Be A Better Business,
across the Business

8. Global Marketing
Dell’s CAP Days & Social Think Tanks
Customers giving feedback on Dell’s business Dell facilitating topic-based discussions &
brainstorms with influencers not customers
Outside In Inside Out
Customer
Feedback
Customer
Feedback
Customer
Feedback
Customer
Feedback
Influencer
Dialogue
Influencer
Dialogue
Influencer
Dialogue
Influencer
Dialogue

9. Global Marketing
IdeaStorm & Storm Sessions
Launched in 2007 to provide customers with
avenue to share ideas on products, services
and operations
• 60,000+ User Accounts
• 18,000+ Ideas
• 739,000+ Votes
• 97,000+ Comments
• 520 Ideas Implemented
Most recently supported new product
launch (Project Sputnik) to address new
target audience (developers)
• Ideastorm members 50% higher in
revenue vs. non members
• Purchase Frequency 33% higher
Confidential9 4/18/2013

10. Global Marketing
Customer Experience
Social Outreach team formed in 2006
• Tech support experts were then hand-
selected for their tech problem-solving
expertise and superior interpersonal
skills
• On average team addresses 3,000 posts
a week in 11 languages
– 98% resolution rate
– 45% ranters to ravers conversion
– Team proactively developing helpful
content based listening and
engagements
Confidential10 4/18/2013

11. Global Marketing
Thanking Customers #DellLove
Surprise & delight our customers to create memorable experiences
• Weekly videos created to thank customers
• Ability to answer questions or offer Product Recommendations
• 200+ videos created to date with 4MM+ reach
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5putiBDTg
Confidential11 4/18/2013
“By creating this video to thank me, Dell has
successfully evangelized itself … I will go on
and on about this incident anytime
someone talks to me about Dell or seeks
my advice while buying a computer. And so
I act as an evangelist for Dell which can
possibly get them more business.”
– Social Paparazzi, HappyMarketer.com

12. Global Marketing
Drive cultural
change:
Training,
enablement &
customer-
connection
12 Confidential 4/18/2013

13. Global Marketing13 Confidential
Empowering employees: Social Media & Community
University
4/18/2013
Policy
Principles
Governance
Training & Tools

14. Global Marketing
SocialSME (Subject Matter Experts)
Train SME’s to be social thought
leaders, develop key influencer and
customer relationships and thrive in
relevant online communities
Value: Impact Dell’s share of voice,
sentiment, SEO, solutions and
ultimately sales
Individual scorecards: Revenue,
share of voice, earned media value,
SEO and engagement
Confidential14 4/18/2013 Credibility Sees Dramatic Changes: Edelman Trust Barometer 2012

15. Global Marketing
Closing with final thoughts…
• #1 Trust is not a commodity. It cannot be bought, it must be earned
• #2 Embrace all channels of communication both offline and online and
actively listen
• #3 Provide opportunities for your consumers, advocates and employees to
co-create and be part of your process
• #4 Engagement and Integrity are critical for success in building Trust
• #5 Train your employees – and even offer a class on listening for insights
and how to bring into the business
Confidential15 4/18/2013

16. Global MarketingConfidential16 4/18/2013

17. Global Marketing17 Confidential
Thank You
Q&A