Dell garners 6.5M via Twitter

Written on December 9, 2009 by Espo in Company, social media

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Yesterday, Mashable noted that Dell has reported that Twitter has helped the company generate $6.5 million in revenue. The company has 1.5 million followers on their @delloutlet account and while this is a great day for the company, it is also a headache waiting to happen for social media pros across the country.

Now this is not a knock on Dell, I am actually in the market to purchase one of their Netbooks and typed up this post on one of their notebooks. Rather it is knocking the thought process inside the heads of many corporate marketers.

So with that disclaimer out of the way, back to the case of why this revelation from the computer giant is going to require a large glass of water and a few aspirin. Working as an internal PR agent at my company running the social media efforts, I am privy to questions that many of us have heard numerous times and are entirely sick of hearing.

How does this social media thing work?
What are we doing?
How can we make the money Dell is making?

Have you heard them? Thought so.

Personally, after nearly a year of working the channel, it is still a struggle at times to explain why it takes time, patience and effort to reach the level that Dell and similar companies are at, but will do my best to rattle off the answers to the previous questions (let me know if I lost you or am ranting too much).

1. In the case of social networking sites, they are communities where messages are shared and relationships are built by holding conversations. This requires work, time and effort. If you would like a refresher check out Socialnomics or Trust Agents.

2. If you are asking yourself this question, please see question one. If you want to see what my company is doing, click here, here, here and here. There is more planned for 2010.

3. In the case of Dell, there are a few factors that need to be considered. The first is that on top of capitalizing on the

Image - Banksy

opportunity from the get-go, they have been patient and built up their followers and revenues over time. The second and perhaps the most overlooked aspect when honing in on Dell is their value proposition. It is unfair for marketers to expect to hit the high bar that has been set if each sale is not in the range of Dell’s. Remember it is good to shoot for the moon, but at the end of the day you need to keep it real.

In closing, remember the three closing words of answer number three above – Keep it Real. Now I am not talking that in the sense of 80′s rappers, but rather in bringing a human side to your brand or online persona as well as with your expectations.

So as you sip on that glass of water and swallow the pills, remember it is just part of your job to educate and try to keep sane as these questions come in over the next few days and weeks.