Social networking technologies are changing the way customers and consumers interact with companies, their products and services. As an example, Amazon.com customer reviews and the ’search inside this book’ technologies influence my book buying habits; and this is not limited to just searching for opinions on books.

Social networking sites and technologies can be a gold mine for companies; in some aspects they are the online version of a focus group. Customer discussions and comments enable firms to get real-time feedback on their products, identify trends and test ideas with a diverse user community. However, building these online communities are not without challenges and effort, as summarized by Michael Bloch in the article Forums as marketing tools - tips and pitfalls.

For Dell, this challenge is a good opportunity to reconnect with their customers. As I mentioned on my previous post: Strategy 101: Revisiting Low-Cost Leadership with Dell:

At the business level, reiteration of the customer commitment and firm understanding of why the customer chose, and is going to choose, your company’s products is the next important step in starting your differentiation process.

So, in February 16, Dell announced Dell IdeaStorm and StudioDell. These new social sites complement their already existing Direct2Dell: one-2-one communications with Dell blog site, which has been in operation since at least July of 2006.

No doubt that the value of these sites is linked to the utilization of the ideas presented. However, it is certainly a great strategy for working closely with customers on the web. I am quite curious to see how it will evolve and change Dell’s brand, products and services. However, I do hope Dell will look beyond the customer input for new ideas and innovations. Managing customer feedback can be a challenge, as in some cases “customers may not know what they want, but certainly want what they know.” (Bob Phelps — Smart Business Metrics: Measure What Really Counts & Manage What Makes The Difference) As always, there needs to be a balanced approach, as highlighted in Ballmer’s interview with Fast Company.

“We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There’s no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either.” Steve Ballmer

Social webs are a great resource for the firms; just don’t let them be the only source for your innovations.

About Dell IdeaStorm
Dell IdeaStorm is a social website designed for customers to share, discuss and vote for ideas as a Dell user community. The site provides a vehicle for the customers to post new ideas and wishes, and enables the community to promote/vote on these Digg-style. As Dell points out on the Ideas in Action site, they have every intention to utilize these learnings, as well as providing their responses for the most popular requests, such as the case for Linux distribution options.

Dell employees are monitoring IdeaStorm to gauge which ideas are most important and most relevant to you. And we’ll share those ideas throughout our organization to trigger new thoughts about how we evolve as a company.

As your ideas continue to pour in, we will use this page to provide updates on ideas that Dell is considering. We’ll also show you how your ideas are being put into action at Dell over time. Please check back to see your ideas in action.

About StudioDell
Dell also launched “Your Stories” section on StudioDell, similar to YouTube, for customers to submit their own videos showing how they use Dell products and services in their business and personal lives.

Technorati Tags: Social networking technologies, Social networking, Dell, IdeaStorm

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