Since launching its social media program in 2006, Dell has been one of social media’s big brand pioneers. And in this short amount of time, a lot has changed, both at Dell and in social media. In his presentation at BlogWell in Cincinnati, Dell’s chief blogger, Lionel Menchaca, explained how the program is evolving. A few of his big ideas: There are opportunities in social media beyond customer service. Lionel says that while their initial focus was on customer service, they’re now moving into additional conversations, such as brand reputation topics. Centralized teams can only scale so much. With 4,000 to 5,000 mentions about Dell every day, Lionel says there’s no way a centralized team can engage all of these customers. Today, they’re breaking this into the buckets of brand reputation, tech support/customer care and subject matter experts. It’s about going wherever the conversation happens. Dell is looking at LinkedIn, technology discussion groups, and external blogs and forums to find relevant conversations that their subject matter experts can engage in. And if you dig this presentation, check out our upcoming BlogWell event in Seattle on May 5.
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Andy’s Answers: How Dell’s social media program is evolving
General-interest networks such as Facebook and Twitter take up so much of our attention that more focused sites sometimes take a back seat. It’s a shame, really, because LinkedIn combines many of the best features of the more popular networks with a practical focus on career advancement. If you’ve been neglecting to sign up for LinkedIn or you want to catch up on the latest best practices, here’s a roundup of LinkedIn stories that made it into our e-mail newsletter, SmartBrief on Social Media . 5 tips for tapping the power of LinkedIn LinkedIn is a powerful marketing tool for businesses, writes Lewis Howes. But to get results, you need to work smart. Use groups, participate in the site’s Answers service and send plenty of personalized messages to build leads, Howes advises. “LinkedIn is the most powerful social-networking site to help you grow your business,” he writes. “It makes Twitter, Facebook and YouTube seem like social-networking sites for kids.” SocialMediaExaminer.com (2/22) Microsoft marries e-mail to networking with Outlook update Microsoft has announced its Office 2010 suite will include a feature allowing users to interact with their Facebook and MySpace feeds via Outlook. The current version of Outlook is getting an add-on that is compatible with LinkedIn, allowing users to keep track of contact information, view postings and add people to their networks. MediaPost Communications/Online Media Daily (2/17) , FastCompany.com (2/17) Developers seize LinkedIn’s API release LinkedIn opened up its API for developers to tweak this Monday, and programmers are already seizing the opportunity to integrate it into their offerings. TweetDeck will be adding a LinkedIn column, Posturous plans to offer an update feature that posts simultaneously to its site and to LinkedIn, and Box.net is planning to share its content with LinkedIn contacts. TechCrunch (11/23) Don’t spam LinkedIn groups with links Newbies to a LinkedIn group need to establish a reputation before they post links, or they will be considered spammers, Doron Gez writes. Some groups go as far as to ban links to avoid unwanted promotion. “Don’t come too strong,” Gez suggests. “Take things gradually. Don’t push your counterpart.” Social Media Today (11/19) LinkedIn syncs updates with tweets LinkedIn and Twitter have synchronized their 140-character status update boxes so that users on either site can post a message to both simultaneously. While Twitter users can be anonymous and read anyone’s tweets, LinkedIn accounts are based on real identities and visible only to those within the person’s networks. Reuters (11/10) 10 tips for asking good questions on LinkedIn The question forum on LinkedIn can be a useful tool, but word your query poorly and you’ll get flooded with pitches, Valeria Maltoni writes. To ensure useful answers, do your homework about the topic, make your question specific and provide enough context, she wrote. “If site users need to interpret your question, they will interpret to their advantage,” she wrote. Conversation Agent (10/23) LinkedIn eases managing potential contacts LinkedIn has introduced a new feature for premium subscribers that lets them create searches and save profiles in folders for future reference. You can also jot notes about each profile to help you remember your last contact with the person. The feature, free for 30 days, is much like a customer-management tool, John Jantsch writes, noting that it makes time spent on LinkedIn even more efficient. Duct Tape Marketing (10/1) Signing up for SBoSM is a fast, free, easy way to make sure you’re never caught off guard concerning social-media news. Our exclusive summaries will help you digest the latest updates in a flash. Check out today’s issue and see what else you’ve been missing. Image credit, Zeffss1 , via iStock
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SmartBrief on: Getting the most out of LinkedIn