Radian6.com cited this Innerarchitect post: 6 Elements of Effective Social Media Benchmarking
First adopters of social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and blogging understand that their success can be measured and based on audience engagement, recognition, and involvement. Yet, Social Media’s Achilles heel, in the eyes of corporate decision makers who still utilize Web 1.0 analytics and measurement for their marketing, sales, and promotion efforts, is the lack of compelling ROI case studies: until now.
Dell’s Twitter Strategy: ROI of Engagement
The Washington Post reported on Claire Baldwin’s article in Reuters “Twitter helps Dell rake in sales“:
- Twitter: Dell established their Twitter account two years ago
- Measurement: Dell measures and “track sales with proprietary software”
- ROI: Dell “has raked in more than $3 million from Twitter followers who clicked through its posts to its Web sites to make purchases.”
- Trend: Dell has “made more than $1 million in the past 6 months” utilizing Twitter
@DellOutlet: Dell’s Twitter Strategies
Dell has over 650,000 followers on Twitter. Although they are only following 23, they are known as a value provider:
- Coupons: Dell distributes valuable discount coupons through Twitter
- Customer Service: Dell answers questions and solves problems by engaging with their audience
- Crowdsourcing: like their efforts at Ideastorm, they crowdsource their Twitter network for ideas on products, services, processes, and anything related to making their consumers satisfied
- Network: Dell brilliantly and seamlessly integrate their Twitter network of followers with their Facebook fans for their Facebook company page. They convert many Twitter followers to Facebook fans and vice-versa
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Case study history is often the basis for ROI discussions. How many of those ROI questions included citing “discount coupons” as a source of engaging an audience of consumers?
Valid point, and well made, But the real question i feel is being over looked is, how much did it cost Dell to set up, maintain and quantify thier ROI? Say compared to the equivalent advertising over a 3 year basis.
Brook,
You are missing the point here. There is no more comparing print advertising costs from an industry that is on it’s last decade or less of relevance.
You can reach a conclusion on ROI measuring the sales (via coupon codes) vs. the labor costs associated with monitoring the social networks.
Here lies the reason ROI is not just a dollars and sense equation. If Dell did not plunge themselves into Twitter and FB they would be ignoring the vast majority of their audience that has adopted those networks. Combine this with the fact that Facebook will soon replace Google as the #1 tool for people to SEARCH for information and you have all the reason in the world to adopt social media.
Simply put this is not a measure of the cost of advertising vs social networking. The real issue is that Dell, a cutting edge technology firm, would look foolish (stupid actually) if they did not embrace and sell to their audience on Twitter and Facebook.
Perception is reality. In this case Dell’s reality is a lucrative monetary and customer relationship management gain across the board.
The customers are there, so why wouldn’t companies go to social media sites? And, of course the coupons drive sales, since we all want a bargain. Companies which build online relationships with their customers successfully build brand recongition and loyalty. Customers will find what they want easier using social media, and those companies who are not there will miss the boat. Get on board, or be left waiting at the dock!
Betty,
A surprising number of companies of all sizes still do not utilize Twitter. The fact that Twitter and Facebook are direct marketing channels, measurable channels, and contact strategy can be leveraged are enough reason for adoption. In many cases, it’s a “wait for the white paper” mentality.
Case studies like these are very effective for convincing more traditional direct marketing oriented superiors. A few questions I have are:
Did Dell incorporate the management of its Twitter account through many employees as a side task or was a full-time position devoted to this?
How did they convert Facebook fans into Twitter fans and vice versa? Is there a tool to do so or was it promotion on both ends?
Rahul,
The only information I have is that DellOutlet is run by multiple employees. No information is available as to whether these employees are exclusively Twitter account managers. My guess is that they do more than run this account.
They do not hint at how they convert FB fans to Twitter. We provide a data solution that will identify a person’s social network addresses with the simple input of their email address. That would be the first step- finding current customers on the social networks. The other steps are the obvious- Twitter widgets on FB pages and cross promotion. Thanks for the comment!
dean
$1 million in Twitter-related sales is all well and good, but Dell was already a $50 billion/yr company.
Mondo,
That is precisely the point! If a multi billion dollar company like Dell is willing to create a Twitter account to successfully sell products then any size business, from one off entrepreneurs to global juggernaut, should be ready to leverage this direct marketing channel.
It’s simple. The rich and successful remain rich and successful companies because they pay attention to detail and they do not allow opportunities, no matter how small, to slip away.