Corporate social media marketing is a very new way of conducting business. As companies gingerly step into, what many perceive, are turbulent waters, not understanding the culture of this new world can lead to sand castle strategies being knocked over and washed away by the tides of conversation. One company who has been knocked over by conversational waves, but is now leveraging its learnings is Dell.

Quite often when I turned a corner in the world of social media that I play in, I bumped into RichardatDell. Richard Binhammer was on Twitter, commenting on blogs, visible at offline events.... he was to me Dell listening, hearing, learning and most importantly participating in "my world online."

I was fascinated by the active role he was taking and wanted to know more about how Dell was now successfully riding the wave of the new conversation. For my two cents Dell has gone from hell to the 'corporate poster child for social media marketing.' RichardatDell kindly agreed to tell me his story and share Dell's lessons learned.

About Richard Binhammer: After a career in politics and government relations in Canada, I moved to the United States to pursue a broader communications career. In the late 1990s I consulted to Dell and helped win a Silver Anvil for the company. I went on to NYC consulting in communications, winding my way back to Dell as part of the public affairs team.

Today, I am part of Dell’s Conversations, Communities and Communications team with responsibilities for listening and learning online. Basically, I listen to bloggers and engage in conversations about Dell.

If you really want to get to know me, join me on Facebook or subscribe to my blog, Around The Web With Richard at Dell, in your RSS reader.

About Dell: From my perspective, Dell is a phenomenal company and has been ever since I first met the people at Dell, Michael Dell and was a consultant to them back in the 1995 – 1998 period.

It delivers great technology connecting people around the world. It’s a young company, just 20 years old, so its still eager to learn. And it does. That’s the hallmark of an interesting, growing company with growth opportunities.

In addition, the premises underpinning the direct business model, known for efficiency and mass customization, are also fundamental to real and realized customer relationships (even with a retail component) and I believe that is still revolutionary in the marketplace…frankly contributing to some of what we do online and forging ahead. Direct To Dell Conversations With Dell

Toby: I took this from your blog - “I get to visit blogs, listen learn and converse.” For people who want to be involved with social media you might have one of the most enviable jobs on the planet. How did your job evolve?

RichardatDell: I was part of Dell’s public affairs team involved with building out our presence and involvements in communities around the world. I was then asked to go out and interact with bloggers and online, I suppose because we thought of this a community and conversations with communities. In August of 2006, my colleague John Pope and I started listening and engaging online in conversations

Toby: How involved are you really in the space?

RichardatDell: Not quite sure what you mean? John and I visit 100s and 1000s of blogs per week, participate on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, I have a blog…all part of listening and learning from customers, helping solve technical issues and joining conversations about Dell everyday. I spend at least 50% of my day online, conversing … good and bad

Toby: You have a halo of celebrity. Do you find people want to be your “friend” or “follower” (on Twitter) because you are Richard a very cool dude or because you are Richard from Dell? Does it matter to you?

RichardatDell: I don’t think there is a halo to what I do. It’s what any professional communicator should do…listen and learn…then interact to listen and learn some more. And, it is not just RichardatDELL. There is a team of us at Dell, all committed to listening and engaging in real conversations online. We believe social media really is a new frontier and that we can make an impact….we make mistakes and screw up too….so no halo…please.

At one point I always asked people on Facebook, why we should be friends, if I didn’t know them. I find that interesting and puts some rationale around “connecting”. Im sort of out of that habit these days.

I hope people want to follow me because they think we (all of us at Dell together) are doing interesting and good work. I also like to believe that we are also really making a huge global business human … I think that is cool.

Toby: Let’s cut to the chase .. does Dell really think that a blog and some conversation with bloggers will counter what some people have termed “Dell Hell?”

RichardatDell: Yes we do believe in the power of online conversations and communities. This is not about countering or changing some artifact or image…its about connecting with people and our customers.

Toby: On a high level, what is Dell’s social media direction?

RichardatDell: Keep going growing learning and get better. Experiment some more and keep going.

Toby: What are a few of Dell’s innovative programs?

RichardatDell: Ideastorm gets lots of attention. I think our technical support and blog outreach activity is innovative and I don’t see others doing it … but I am biased too 

Toby: In terms of departments or functions, who “owns” social media at Dell?

RichardatDell: No one “owns” social media, except I suspect the customers and communities … everyone should engage with social media as a means to connect and build lasting and valuable connections … brand loyalty and lust

Toby: Does Dell have “success measurements” in place? And if so what are those metrics that determine success?

RichardatDell: We know there are on average 4000 conversations about us everyday. We know we have seen a decline in negative commentary from nearly 50 % to around 20%. However, we are working to move from traditional measurements of awareness and share of voice to conversations, communities and connections and how those can be valued … hard work and constantly fine tuning all kinds of metrics

Toby: Are social media tactics integrated into a master marketing plan? If so how do other initiatives support Dell’s social media programs? On the flip side - how do social media tactics support other strategies?

RichardatDell: Increasingly social media and marketing are viewed as integrated or need to be. I think is fair to say that our CMO very much sees the world that way and hence the whole move to design DaVinci. Frankly, as a communicator, after 18 months in this field, social media should be a part of any company’s public relations (two words not practice profession or pr).

Toby: Recently Target created quite a buzz when it told the world that it would not respond to “non traditional media?” How does Dell perceive bloggers in relationship to the traditional media?

RichardatDell: I don’t think we distinguish anymore between a blogger and mainstream media.

Toby: What are a few lessons learned for companies that are considering entering this space?

RichardatDell: Be honest, transparent, your self, and don’t worry about this control BS you hear about … how can participation with people who are interested in you, your products and services or business be wrong? And some people will never like you, so get over it

Toby: Where does Dell go from here in terms of continuing the innovation track it has taken in social media?

RichardatDell: Twitter, more blogs, more “interactive and social” things on dell.com … we will see where our customers want to go …

Toby: Richard Binhammer’s view on social media marketing

RichardatDell: I think I’ve said enough and would like to hear more from your readers and friends

Note: Cross posted from Diva Marketing