Dell Putting Social Media Principles into Practice

Dell decided to extend some of the social principles of SMaC U into actual practice, and last year began using Salesforce's Chatter tool for internal discussions and knowledge management.

Predictably, CEO Michael Dell is the prime user of Chatter, and more staffers are gradually adopting it. Chatter has also helped to answer specific questions about social media usage too. "We were able to create a SMaC U group to help us, rather than getting bombarded with individual emails. Chatter was a great example of using social media, and employees started answering others questions and took the weight off of us in the training department," said Social Media & Community Director Brown.

Dell also has various printed and online materials that complement the course offerings, including a 70-page social media playbook that goes into lots of details about how to use each social media platform. (To read more about how to put together these sorts of playbooks, see my article here)

Is it all goodness at Dell? Not always.

"We have had some disconnects with middle management who aren't yet on board or understanding the business piece," said Brown. The class that I attended, for example, was a special one for group leaders that was abbreviated and concentrated into just a few hours. Nevertheless, Dell is doing most things right and you can see the effect of all this education in how they are a force on various social media platforms.

A few additional Tom's IT Pro Social Networking articles:

• ITPulse: A Facebook for the IT Pro

New service specifically designed to boost IT communications and collaboration.

• IBM Says 'It's Social Business or No Business'

IBM connects enterprise social networking and business processes with "social business" portfolio. 

• Controlling Social Media in the Office

Social networking turns cubicles with single employees into insecure virtual gatherings of hundreds or more.