My brother Sean is coming to speak to the Triangle AMA chapter. Great topic on how social media is chaning the way we communicate with customers. The press release is below and you can register online at triangleama.org.
Your Brand Is Being Discussed, Are You Listening?
Dell Executive Shares Dell Story – Social Media Experiences and Knowledge – at Triangle Marketing Event
Raleigh, NC, November 4, 2008 – The degree to which you listen and engage with your customers can differentiate you from your competition — it works for Dell.
Attendees at a November 20 luncheon, hosted by the Triangle American Marketing Association (AMA) and open to area professionals, will learn how Dell listens and engages in online conversations with customers.
“Dell believes that when we listen and engage in a two-way conversation with our customers, we are a better company,” says Sean McDonald, Director of Communities and Conversations at Dell, Inc. “The degree to which we do this can differentiate us from our competition. By joining online conversations, you can make your company more personable, more human. You establish customer relationships and enable brand ambassadors,” he says.
Sean currently leads the design and operation of Dell’s online community activities on Dell.com and online conversations off dell.com.
Michael Dell launched Dell 24 years ago on an innovative concept: build computers based on the customer’s specific requirements and sell them direct. Today, the company continues to connect with customers by engaging in online conversations — in five major languages.
Dell uses a host of social media technologies to connect, communicate, and resolve customer issues on dell.com and across the web.
By fostering open conversations, Dell and its customers have benefited: decreased online negative sentiment from 49 percent to nearly 20 percent, implemented more than 200 customer-driven ideas, and gathered more than 10,000 accepted solutions for community, by community.
This year 250 million visits will occur on Dell communities including Dell Community Forum, Direct2Dell, and Idea Storm. On non-Dell websites, the company is mentioned approximately 5,000 times every day. Sean and his team join these web discussions, adding value by resolving customer issues and answering product questions on personal blogs, third-party forums, Second Life, Twitter, Facebook – wherever the conversations are occurring about Dell and its products or technologies.
Sean has spent 11 years at Dell in Marketing, Customer Service, Online, and presently Global Communications. Prior to joining Dell, he spent two years with Deloitte Consulting Group as a Senior Management Consultant and seven years in the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant in Logistics, and he holds a BBA and MBA from The University of Texas at Austin.
