Editor's Notes

1. My case study today will be covering Dell’s evolving use of Twitter. One of the most common questions I see is “Dell has so many Twitter accounts – how do you organize it? How to you manage it? How do you govern it?” and the short answer used to be…
2. … we don’t! Not really, anyway. In the beginning, different teams, segments and people within Dell began to experiment with Twitter, using it in different and innovative ways.
3. But, eventually, the Wild West needed to be tamed. Today, Dell has developed a good structure and overarching strategy, including training, a formalized customer service experience, and integration and cross-pollination with other media.
4. We did this by first understanding WHY we were using Twitter. What were the objectives of each Twitter account? What kind of value were they offering to our customers? Was it consistent with Dell’s overall objectives and strategy? What were we missing? How can we make it better?
5. What we found is that we were using Twitter primarily to sell, to engage, and to provide news and information about our company and products. Answering the WHY helped us to better organize, categorize and understand how we can use Twitter to better meet our objectives.
6. We also focused on expanding what was working on the successful Twitter accounts. For example, the most successful Dell Twitter accounts that post offers and product information also engage by answering questions, participating in conversations, and providing support when needed. Those with the most followers tend to do a good job cross promoting with other Dell Twitter accounts, had other social media properties (blogs, facebook pages), and cross promoted w/ marketing vehicles like email and the Web site. The accounts were also likely to have an “atDell” account to help humanize the brand and also seemed to create a sense of accountability for the person managing that account.
7. But what were we MISSING? What were our opportunities? By listening to our customers on Twitter, we began to understand how customers wanted Dell to use Twitter. While there was clearly demand for offers and information, customers also wanted to use Twitter as a channel for customer support.
8. So, this year, we created @DellCares on Twitter. By doing so, we formalized and centralized our support efforts on Twitter, making it an easier, more efficient process for followers needing help.
9. … and that’s really how we got to where we are today, and what will continue to drive the evolution of Dell on Twitter.
10. Ultimately, the evolution of Dell on Twitter was driven by one simple fact: Social media has centralized the customer experience. Because the customer experience is not just about the ads they are exposed to, or the blog posts they read, or the products they buy, or the CSR rep they call when they have a question – it’s all of those things put together, and all of them needed to be addressed in our social media initiatives.