Developing the Next Generation of IdeaStorm

Bill Johnston - @BillJohnstonDirector of Social Media & Online Community

Global MarketingOnline Community Strategy & Planning2

Topics

• Dell’s vision for Social Business

• Dell’s Social Media Timeline

• Key Initiatives

• IdeaStorm 2.0 Case Study

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The Simple Truth:Business is inherently social.

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Community Platform

HostedCommunities

SupportMastery & Use

AffinityIdeation

External Network

External Network

Mass Social Media

Collaboration

External Network

Analytics & Insights

Listening

User Hub / Social ProfileAnalytics & InsightsData, reporting, insights and analysis of streams of social customer data.

Community PlatformPowers Dell’s forums, wikis, blogs and ideas. RMS & Member Profile.

ExtranetsSocial spaces where Dell & Customers communicate and collaborate privately.

Customer CommunitiesHosted “on domain” communities where Dell builds valuable relationships over time.

External Networks “Outpost”Priority external social networks where Dell establishes a maintained presence.

Community experience & social data tie together via social profile & social fabric.

Dell’s Social Vision:An ecosystem of value.A rich set of programs, platforms & tools to create business value, capture business intelligence and foster customer advocacy.

Extranets

Sales CAP

Rockstars

Social CRM

Community

ListeningEnables monitoring and response on the global social web.

User Hub / Social Profile Aggregation of customer social profile data.

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Six years of experiments and experience

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• Insight: Social media improves Dell’s reach and share of voice

• Insight: Social Media provides high Business Value and contributes to demand gen lift

• Insight: SM keeps customers engaged, provides solutions and improves loyalty.

• Insight: Social media based support improves sentiment and reduces operating expenses

• Insight: Established causality between social media activity and purchase

Awareness

Research and Consideration

Demand / Lead Gen and

SalesSupport

CLV (loyalty) Dell.com

External Communities

Our Communities

Social Media is valuable across the entire customer lifecycle.

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04/12/2023

Listening: The Heart of our Social Strategy A critical first step, a social “trojan horse”, and the social radio for all.

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Social Media & Community University:Employees = Social Rock Stars

Principles

Policy

Governance

Training, Certification & Tools

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IdeaStormDeep Dive

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Highlights• Dell Project (RED) • Solid State Drives in Notebooks• Optional North American Support• Backlit Keyboards• Offering XP with Vista• 13.3 Inch Screen Notebooks• Dell Products in Best Buy Stores• All in One Systems• Tablet PCs• Dell DataSafe• Blade Workstations• Biodegradable Packing materials• Dell TechCenter• Pre-Installed Linux• Color Options on Notebooks• Touchscreen Desktops

IdeaStorm History

• Launched in February 2007

• “Social suggestion box”

• 15,000 idea submissions since launch

• 490 implemented

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IdeaStorm Four Years In – A Critical Decision

• Dell gradually shifted focus from on-domain to social web - impacting Dell participation

• Pipeline into / out of Dell became broken

• Platform functionality and UX showing age

• Community expressed frustration – advocates turned to critics

• Key Decision: EOL or Evolution?

“Sorry it took so long for me to vote on this one. I haven't been on here much lately. This site had so much potential but Dell doesn't seem to want to support it properly. I feel bad for the mods who put a lot of effort into the site.”

Cy Jervis (jervis961)

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IdeaStorm – Defining the Vision for 2.0

• Step 0: Re-engage internally & externally

• Step 1: Research

– Value to Dell

– Member Needs

• Step 2: Programs

– Idea Partners

– Community Management

– IdeaStorm Rockstar

• Step 3: Platform

– Updating platform, UX and backend

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Value Research

• Revenue from Ideas $100’s Millions

• Revenue from IdeaStorm members is ~50% higher than non-members

• Purchase frequency is 33% higher

• Higher Lifetime Value – over 50% of members in the top decile of LTV scores

• Average value of an Idea $10k

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Updated Idea Management Process

1. Ideas Submitted- Shaped via Challenges & Storm Sessions

2. Ideas Processed- CM Ensures Ideas Acknowledged & Triaged (24 hours)- Ideas w/ vote count of 100+ move forward.

3. Ideas Acted Upon- Idea Partners own team assessment, communication and response,

!!!

!Idea

Partner

Comm.Mgr.

Idea Partner

!

Idea Partner

s

Idea Partner

s

PG

Starbucks best practice

BU

!

!

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The Third P - People

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IdeaStorm 2.0: PlatformLaunched 3/22!

Front End Enhancements• Refreshed site design• New Home Page with Featured, New

and Trending Ideas• Enhanced User Profile - Avatars and

Social Profile Connectors• New User Tiers / Badging with

Enhanced Capabilities • Better filtering of ideas – Search• Ability of Idea Poster to Promote a

Comment to an Extension• Tips Section Added to Idea Posting

Page

Back End Enhancements• New Back End Interface to Improve

Functionality• Ability to Host Private Storm

Sessions• Improved Duplicate Idea Finder • Automatic Archiving system

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IdeaStorm 2.0 Performance

• Continuing to improve traffic trends – page views up 64% over past 6 months

• Participation rate from Dell has increased 72% compared to previous year

• IdeaStorm 2.0 (in partnership w/ SFDC) launched March 21st

• IdeaStorm Rockstar program launched Feb 2012 with 13 members (8 shared with Forums)

• Idea Partners program needs reinvigoration

Bottom Line: Shifted IdeaStorm from “survive” to “thrive” mode. Idea Partners, Platform upgrade, Storm Session program and integration with Dell.com & Community were are all critical for success.

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Key Takeaways from IdeaStorm 2.0

• Be a Good (Committed) Host:

– Communities require commitment over the long haul

– Platform, programs and people need to evolve

– A distributed team needs to be on point to evaluate & evolve ideas

• Signaling to the community improves value of process & outcomes

• Realistic Expectations: Big wins are few, incremental innovation is core value

• Ideas require a network to evolve and thrive

• Value is multi-dimensional:

– Ideas for product / service (new & evolution)

– Engagement as a catalyst

– Brand impact

“A good idea is a network. …If we are going to explain the mystery of where good ideas come from, we’ll have to start by shaking ourselves free of this common misconception: an idea is not a single thing. It is more like a swarm.”

Steven Johnson

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Future State

• Ideation Woven into all Dell Social Touchpoints

• Storm Projects

• Federated Ideation

• 3D Ideation

• Ideas Commons

• IdeaStorm as an Information Brand

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Thank You!

Contact Info

• Bill_Johnston@Dell.com

• @BillJohnston

• http://www.BillJohnston.net

Recommended Resources

• “The Power of Pull” – Hagel & Brown

• “Measure What Matters” – Paine

• “Engage” (2nd Ed.) – Brian Solis

• “Where Good Ideas Come From” - Johnson

• #TheCR, #octribe, #cmtychat tags

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