Michael Dell said it best: "We're a company with big ears" - a good thing considering there are more than 25,000 online conversations about Dell each day in English. While that number can be overwhelming, it underscores the wonderful opportunity social media offers for companies to listen, engage, and ultimately understand customers more than ever before. Here are some helpful tips and tricks you can use to provide a #winningexperience for your digital customers.
1) Go where your customers are - Dell interacts with customers on a variety of social media platforms around the globe like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Sina Weibo, RenRen, QQ, Google+ and more to ensure we're meeting our customers where they are already active. We've learned early on our customers are as diverse as the platforms they choose to spend their time on. Tools like Radian6 allow brands to listen before they engage and identify the social platforms with the most conversations. Those insights are key to better understanding our customers.
For example the Dell Social Media Listening Command Center helps us to listen, engage and act through whichever platform a customer shares a compliment, complaint or idea about the company.
2) Be responsive - It is not enough to merely listen, you have to respond to your customers and put the proper checks and balances in place to make sure you're meeting their expectations. People expect to get a response when they rant, rave or raise an issue in social media. If you decide to be active in social media be sure you are equipped to engage with your followers and customers in a timely manner.
3) Our social media outreach teams, @DellCares and @DellCaresPRO, cater to our consumers and business customers respectively. These dedicated community teams address over 3,500 posts a week in 14 languages. In fact, @DellCares has a 97% resolution rate - and we're always looking to improve.
4) Empower ALL your employees to get social - Every employee across the business should feel empowered to interact with and respond to their customers. While we have a dedicated team in place to respond to customer support issues, we empower employees Dell-wide with our Social Media and Communities University (SMaC-U) training. The program formally launched in 2010 and since then we've certified more than 9,100 team members and more than 17,000 team members have completed at least one training course across 55 countries. In addition to employee training, SMaC University recently launched executive social media training (#SocialExec) for executive director and VP level employees. Executives receive customized training modules with community and engagement recommendations based on the individual's expertise and area of the business.
5) Thank your customers - Gratitude goes a long way in social media. Nothing leaves customers feeling more warm and fuzzy than a 'thank you'. Our #DellLove Thank You Program is a unique platform where Dell's customer service team members thank our customers for spreading the word about Dell and its products through personally addressed YouTube videos. The #DellLove team has posted over 450 individual videos as of December 2013.
6) Inspire your customers to engage on your behalf - There are no better advocates for your company than your customers. After all, sometimes it's best to learn from your peers. At Dell, our Dell Community Rockstar Program identifies, engages and empowers 75 Dell enthusiasts and advocates to share their expertise and passion with customers in the Dell Community and other social properties.
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