“React by responding” strategy wins Dell praises from Blog-o-sphere
In the last Pimped Post for Advertlets, I highlighted that when vendors engaged bloggers to pimp their wares, they should treat bloggers as another valued customer rather than just a content creator.
If the bloggers’ post are highly critical of the wares, react by responding to the post.
This is what Dell did and now they are getting praises from the very bloggers who condemned Dell PCs as machines from hell.
Jeff Jarvis, of Buzzmachine.com, wrote in a BusinessWeek article titled “Dell learns to listen” and turned its negative image in the blogosphere into a positive one just by listening to the blog-o-sphere.
From BusinessWeek:
Has Dell really gotten the blog religion? I recently visited the company’s Round Rock (Tex.) headquarters to find out. Founder Dell, who took back the CEO reins in January, acknowledges its problems—”We screwed up, right?”
But then he starts to sound like a blogger himself: “These conversations are going to occur whether you like it or not, O.K.? Well, do you want to be part of that or not? My argument is you absolutely do. You can learn from that. You can improve your reaction time. And you can be a better company by listening and being involved in that conversation.”
Interestingly, it was Jeff Jarvis who started the blog storm with in his own blog titled “Dell sucks!” where he posted his own experiences with a Dell machine and it was so bad, he returned it and got a Mac.
Dell’s action items included
- Dispatching technicians to reach out to complaining bloggers and solve their problems
- Started a Direct2Dell blog to deal with burning batteries
- Launched IdeaStorm.com, asking customers to tell the company what to do
Dell even hired a Chief Blogger. Any companies out there looking for one? the(new)mediaslut is looking to apply.
