I walked away a little confused after reading Isn’t the Value of Social Media What Business Is All About? in the Huffington Post yesterday. Manish Mehta, VP of Social Media and Community at Dell Inc., wrote an excellent article about the importance of connecting with customers in the social space. The confusion comes down to the last sentence: “No strategy necessary.”
What’s that now? Manish isn’t serious, is he??
Don’t get me wrong, I like the concept of having a ‘Mom and Pop’ shop approach to building relationships with your customers. Having solid customer relationships are a big win and a solid reminder of how to do business. But let’s not forget that half of small businesses fail before their fifth birthday.
And why? In my mind, it’s largely (but not only) because of a lack of strategy and clear direction. Of course you need a strategy.
Ironically, most of what Manish talks about in this article actually is Dell’s strategy. After Jeff Jarvis’ Dell Hell series educated everyone on Dell’s opportunity to connect with their customers in 2005, Dell built a strategy to do just that. A clear direction was outlined, to listen and connect with their customers, and IdeaStorm, Direct2Dell and online customer outreach ensued. A social strategy will define the direction and scope of your activities through objectives and goals, and ultimately drive resources to the environment (tactics, tools, processes, etc.) that will benefit stakeholders.
Give yourself some credit Dell, your strategy has been effective!