Here at Dell, listening to and interacting with customers through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, forums and blogs is core to our business. We’re proud to be among the social listening forerunners like Comcast, REI and UPS, who have made great strides in corporate social listening and have been recognized for their early adoption of social media. Like us, they use social media to listen to their customers hoping to improve those customers’ experience and possibly “enchant” them, to borrow an expression from Guy Kawasaki.
While we’ve seen great benefits to our business by employing a social listening and engagement strategy, we were curious to find out what the social media experience has been like for other large companies.
We wondered:
- What impact has a social media engagement model had on business in the U.S.?
- Are we at the ‘tipping point’ where integrating social media philosophies, practices, and technologies across business is commonplace in medium and big business across the U.S.?
- And how does it actually work?
- Who sets the strategy for these efforts?
- What percentage of these companies’ marketing and customer support budgets are dedicated to social media?
- Is social media considered a core marketing function in the industry yet?
We have been speaking with some of the brightest minds in the space from Guy Kawasaki to forward-thinking social marketers in corporate America. We’ve also conducted primary research with Forrester Consulting. I am excited the findings from our Dell-commissioned Forrester study will be shared publicly on July 13. That morning, after the results are released, we will convene a live panel discussion moderated by Guy Kawasaki featuring an amazing line-up of social media practitioners, including Kip Wetzel of Comcast; Shane Steele of Twitter; Jordan Williams of REI; Debbie Curtis-Magley of UPS and Jason Duty of Dell.
I invite you to join this panel discussion on Wednesday, July 13 at 10:30 am EDT, by viewing the live streamed proceedings at http://www.justin.tv/dell. During the panel, contribute to the discussion online and submit your questions for our panelists by using the #DoMore hashtag on Twitter.