The Social Media MBA in Practice: An Essential Collection of Inspirational Case Studies to Influence your Social Media Strategy

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Dell – Building Advocacy

How Dell Builds Advocacy through social Media Engagement

Dell's Social Think Tank programme brings together the most social, vocal industry leaders to discuss trends, challenges and best practices around key trends.

Executive summary

Overview

The programme has held events in five countries over the last four years with online influencers across topics including education, cloud computing and evolving workforce.

An example of the Social Think Tank format was the day of Innovation in Education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, in September 2012. Educators, parents and students came together to discuss the impact of technology on education in an open format that was broadcast to the world through a livestream.

Key findings

• Dell's Social Think Tank programme has grown from two events in 2010 to five events in 2011, with 16 events completed in 2012.
• 18,109,907 Twitter reach; 1,000 livestream views, 98 per cent positive sentiment discussion at Innovation in Education at MIT Think Tank.
• 98 per cent positive conversation rate for the entire event.

Recommendations

1. Identify and build strong relationships with topical influencers on Twitter.

2. Leverage those relationships for in-person thought leadership activities.

3. Create an effective feedback loop so the company can showcase how they are implementing suggestions from influencers. ...