From Mashable:While implementing a successful social media campaign is something to celebrate, longer term, policy-based programs (which may not garner as much immediate publicity) can be even more rewarding.
Here we are highlighting five companies that have enjoyed long term success with their own social media teams and taking a look at some of the measurable returns they have seen as the results of their programs.
Key personnel from within the five companies below (in alphabetical order) have commented on their teams’ successes to offer you an insight into their various processes. Meanwhile, please be sure to let us know in the comments about any other companies that you feel should be recognized for having strong in-house social media teams.
1. Dell
Dell currently enjoys an online presence in more than 160 countries with more than 15,000 online conversations about Dell taking place every day — a stat that makes it one of the most mentioned brands. Dell is proud of its history of online customer communication and claims to have been exchanging info with customers online since the late 1980s.
Dell’s social media activity, as we’d now recognize it, began in earnest in 2006, initially with the Online Community Outreach team (tech support experts that reached out to bloggers with queries), then the debut of the Direct2Dell blog, followed up with rating and reviews added to Dell product pages. Since then the reviews have been made shareable across major social networking platforms including via the Facebook “Tag Team” — a social product finder app.
In the summer of 2007, Dell joined the world of Twitter, with just one example being its @DellOutlet account offering Twitter-only special deals.
In addition to the specific activity outlined above, Dell sees social media as integral to the day-to-day activities of its employees all around the world. Interested employees can attend Dell’s “Social Media and Communities University” to help them better represent the brand online.
The Success Story
As far as social commerce goes, Dell has received more than 170,000 customer ratings and reviews on Dell.com across 62 countries, while its main Facebook Page has more than 360,000 fans.
The most headline-grabbing example of Dell’s social media program netting real-world results is its @DellOutlet Twitter account. Currently enjoying more than 1.5 million followers, Dell revealed late last year that it had generated $6.5 million in revenue, a figure that we can only assume has grown since.
Less easily measured success comes as a result of using feedback to improve Dell’s products in the future.
“The online conversations offer great opportunities for us to listen, learn and engage — we use what we learn to innovate and integrate technology that provides solutions our customers want,” says Kerry Bridge, head of digital media communications, EMEA and global public sector at Dell.
So, Why Has Dell Been Successful?
“Listening to our customers has always been at the heart of what we do,” says Bridge. “Dell’s heritage of direct customer connections and online leadership are the seeds of our drive to be a social media success.”
2. Ford
The social media team at Ford is spread across a number of departments. With six people across the company dedicated to social media, there are another 20 or so for whom social media is part of their wider roles. Ford’s social media push began in mid-2008 when it joined Twitter and the customer service department started a Social Media Action & Response Team (SMART), which monitors the online space for opportunities to help customers.
Now Ford can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Delicious, Scribd, Plancast and Upcoming, among others. In addition, TheFordStory.com is where Ford “insiders” can get more information and view user-generated content as featured in the “Your Stories,” “Ford on Blogs,” and “Your Ideas” sections.
The Success Story
Ford currently has more than half a million followers across Twitter and Facebook. A campaign-based example of recent social media success is the promotion for the 2011 Ford Explorer, which netted a number-one trending topic on Twitter, a number-two Google trend, and vehicle orders that were more than double what had been projected.
“We’re committed to the ‘always on’ mode, which means that we need to abandon the traditional ‘launch and leave’ approach that we previously used,” says Scott Monty, the head of social media at the motor company, who can be credited for much of Ford’s social activity.
“By taking the time to build a relationship with our fans by sharing not only our story but other people’s stories, we therefore gain awareness, trust and loyalty so that when they do make a purchase decision, we’re top of mind.”
So, Why Has Ford Been Successful?
“We’re successful for a few reasons: The first is that Ford has a strong business plan, great products and a commitment to a better world, and that is apparent in everything the company does. When we get to share that, it’s completely authentic,” says Monty.
“The second is, we realize that we have to constantly innovate and to give back to our community, as a way to reward them for spending their valuable time with us. And the third is that we realize that in humanizing Ford, it’s just as important to connect our customers and fans with each other as it is to connect them with Ford employees, because they’re more likely to believe what other people have to say about Ford.”
3. Intel
Intel has been involved in the social media space since 2004, beginning with blogs, before creating the Intel Social Media Center of Excellence two years ago. With three team members initially, this year the team has grown to seven and maintains a presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, as well as running company blogs.
The Success Story
Intel’s “Social Media Guidelines” is one of the best known corporate policies around. During the past two years, the company has trained more than 1,000 “social media practitioners,” in order to help them “succeed globally by enabling with information, tools, latest and greatest best-known practices, playbooks, strategic direction” and more.
“We consistently monitor and listen to the conversations on the web, trying to address as much of the questions and issues as we can,” says Ekaterina Walter, social media strategist at Intel.
“It is important for us to have presence on social networking sites where our customers can engage in a dialogue with us and get a 1:1 attention.”
Walter tells us Intel has been especially successful in engaging on Facebook in the past year. “We have achieved about 10% to 15% monthly organic fan growth on average, which is considered the highest organic growth you can get. We are now up to over 240K fans (over 90% of which were acquired organically).”
So, Why Has Intel Been Successful?
“Intel is a pioneer in the social media space. We were one of the first to come out with the Social Media Guidelines and one of the first to adapt to this seismic shift to social and train our marketers around the world through the robust university-like training program,” says Walter.
“Our success can be attributed to the strong executive support and to passionate grassroots/social media practitioners within Intel, among other things.”
4. JetBlue
JetBlue’s social media stratagem comes under its Corporate Communications department, which it describes as “the clearinghouse for all communications.” The company’s big push for social media engagement started in the spring of 2007 and it says it regularly looks to its customers for guidance as to what they’d like JetBlue’s role to be within the social media arena.
A corporate communications employee oversees a working group of subject matter experts from a variety of departments spanning communications, marketing, TrueBlue customer commitment and operations who engage directly with customers when opportunity arises. JetBlue has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube as well as maintaining the BlueTales blog.
The Success StoryJetBlue’s Twitter presence is the jewel in its social media crown. JetBlue started a Twitter account back in 2007 and now boasts 1.6 million followers. This success has seen the company launch a separate account — Cheeps — which is used to push promotional fares. JetBlue says this second Twitter account “has proven successful as a dedicated social media channel.”
“We have come to realize that Twitter is an excellent tool not just for pushing information out, but perhaps more importantly, for taking information in,” says Allison Steinberg, an e-communications analyst for the airline.
“We are able to use Twitter to take a general pulse of our customer base as well to identify breaking news items that may not have made it down the pipeline yet internally or via mainstream outlets. This helps us to stay on top of customer service items and respond to things in a timely and efficient manner.”
So, Why Has JetBlue Been Successful?
“Social media has been hugely successful for us because we understand that communication is a two-way street,” says Steinberg. “We consider the social media tools available to us to be our eyes and ears, in addition to serving as a mouthpiece for our brand.”
5. Vodafone
Vodafone’s social media team was formed around 19 months ago. It has since grown from the original three staff members to 15 and includes online PR and social media specialists and customer care and acquisitions.
Because Vodafone doesn’t treat social media as a stand-alone channel, the activity spreads from the obvious branded channels, which include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube to all major online forums, tech and consumer blogs and more recently location-based platforms like Foursquare.
The Success StoryVodafone currently has more than 18,000 followers on Twitter, 210,000 fans on Facebook and another 116,000 on its non-profit Vodafone Foundation “World of Difference” Page.
A recent example of success for a specific project comes in with Vodafone-backed @documentally’s challenge to travel the length of the UK utilizing only a PAYG SIM card and an iPhone. The trip resulted in 4 million impressions on Twitter alone, which Jakub Hrabovsky, head of web relations, says “demonstrates the endless possibilities and sheer power of social media.”
However, Vodafone’s in-house social media team is committed to everyday actions, as well as the splashy stuff. “Whilst our social media activities peak around launches and major campaigns, we consistently offer superb customer service across all of our channels including our eForum with an incredibly high percentage of customer inquiry resolutions,” says Hrabovsky.
“Twitter, due to its fast-paced nature, has been the most successful channel for us with almost 100% of inquiries resolved, with incoming traffic at over 5,000 customer inquiries per month at busiest times.”
So, Why Has Vodafone Been Successful?
“The major driver for our success has been the consistent commitment to social media and online channels overall, as simple as it may sound,” says Hrabovsky.
“Another reason is the ability and willingness to listen to our customers, our honest and credible interaction with online audiences and determination to explore new platforms as well as speed of reaction.”
