Social Media Works For Dell – Will It Work For You?

I have to admit I’ve been a skeptic of social media. Every time I hear someone talk about spending an hour a day managing a Twitter account, Facebook or any other of the social media sites, I cringe.

For the most part it seems like just one more distraction for small business owners who already wear too many hats and are challenged to stay focused on their marketing. As a business owner my hands are full already and if I have any extra time I’d rather be biking or skiing. How about you?

But then I got a whack on the side of the head when I heard Dell attributed over $6.5 million in sales for 2009 to their social media marketing efforts. That’d make even a skeptic like me think twice about the value of social media marketing.

As a result of Dell’s social media marketing efforts they attracted over 600,000 Twitter followers. That’s pretty awesome while giving them a per Twitter follower value of almost $11.

How’d Dell do it?

They used over a hundred people to implement their social media strategy. I don’t know what they paid these social media worker bees but even 100 times a yearly salary of $30k comes out to $3 million to generate $6.5 million gross in sales.

That still sounds impressive until you take into account that Dell operates on a silicon chip thin profit margin of less than 3%, 2.8% to be exact. Now I’m sure  you’ll let me know if I’ve done the math right but according to my calculations their typical profit on $6.5 million in sales nets them only $182,000 and that doesn’t take into account the $3 million or so they spent on social media marketing.

Even if the 100+ employees were only tweeting part-time the math still doesn’t translate into a runaway success,  $182 thousand in sales for a $61 billion company.

Still want to know how Dell did it? In case you want to read their recommendations for small business owners, here’s their guide >>

My biggest concern is that you stay focused on the key marketing activities that generate leads and sales. So here’s my short list of social media marketing strategies I use myself and know work.

Make Your Blog The Core Of Your Social Media Marketing
Your blog is where you can provide great content and easily move people to the rest of your site. Focus on providing great content here and you’ll keep your prospects at your site longer so they can learn about your products and services.

Of course each time you add a blog post, use the automated systems available to instantly post a tweet on Twitter or a note your Facebook page. Of course to do this you’ll need to set up a Facebook page and Twitter account.

What Else Should You Do?

That’s a good question. If you’ve hired a social media firm and can point to a demonstrable increase in sales, let me know. Or if you have employed a social media strategy for your small business and seen a increase in income, share your story.

– Charlie