Abstract

In mid-2005, Dell Inc., once the leader in the global PC market, found itself in trouble when an unhappy customer Jeff Jarvis wrote about his experience with the company’s product and service in his blog and used words such as, Dell Hell’ and ‘Dell Sucks’. Over a period of time, these words spread all over the blogosphere, and the internet as well as in the mainstream media. At that point, Michael Saul Dell, Founder of Dell, took this up as a challenge and the company started its social media journey in July 2006. Over a period of time, the company became a leader in the social media space. The case discusses how the company changed from a laager to a leader in its over six-year-long social media journey. It provides information on Dell’s success in the social media space. The case also provides scope to discuss the outcome of Dell’s social media initiative and how the company leveraged its social media experience to convert it into a high margin business model.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Examine Dell’s social media strategy
• Measure the impact of social media on business
• Analyze how Dell enhanced customer satisfaction using social media
• Evaluate the role of the social media in brand building
• Discuss how Dell leveraged its expertise and experience in the social media space

Keywords

Dell, Social Media, Social marketing, Social business, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Revenue Segment Mix, Restructuring Business, Jeff Jarvis, Buzzmachine.com, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, Round Rock, Austin, PC Market, Embraces Social Media, Direct2dell, WordPress, @DellOutlet, Ratings and Reviews, IdeaStrom, Social Media Listening Command Center, Radian6, Social Media & Communities University, Customer Advisory Panel, Think Tank Program, Dell World, Bee Awards, Social Media Services