Shel Israel's Ten Questions With Dell CEO Michael Dell

Shel, great work on getting this Q & A with Michael Dell.

Shel prefaces the interview by asking, smartly: "Are Dell's increasing stockpile of blogs just the work of middle management or are the people steering the company committed to social media as well. Is blogging a smart play or a strategic initiative?"

Michael Dell's answers are predictably pretty safe but interesting nonetheless. He poo-poos the term "social media programs" and calls it "conversations with customers."

He mentions Dell's other social media initiatives and emphasizes the use of video clips (posted to Dell's blog) to announce new products. He mentions two other Dells blogs: Dell IdeaStorm (where customers can debate and offer ideas) and Dell Shares (for investors but not for first-time announcements of material information).

Note: Dell's home page links to Dell blogs

I noticed in visiting Dell.com today that there is a link to "Dell Community" at the bottom of the home page. It takes you to a page where you can find all of Dell's blogs, forums, videos, etc. Sun Microsystems is one of the few other F500 companies blogging that provides a direct link to blogs from their home page.

And now for a few excerpts from Shel Israel's interview:

Who made the decision to start Dell's corporate blog, Direct2Dell?

Michael replies:

"I asked why we didn't reach out to customers on the Web if they had issues and then, once we had that in place, I asked why we didn't have a company blog to further connect proactively with customers. But all credit goes to our team who really took the initiative to make it happen."

[Note: Lionel Menchaca is the chief blogger on Direct2Dell. He will be the opening keynote at BlogPotomac here in Washington DC on June 13, 2008. Register now, if you're interested!]

What has Dell learned from blogging?

"When we have an issue, we act quickly and we use Direct2Dell as a central point for clarity.  If you look at the battery recall, we shared continual updates on our progress."

Has blogging changed Dell's corporate reputation?

"You'd have to ask our customers. We don't own our reputation we just own our actions. That's something our customers give to us in return for us exceeding their expectations.For me, the question is has it improved our business performance? And the answer is yes."

Will you start your own (CEO) blog or contribute to other Dell blogs?

"Yes. We talk about it often.  Watch this space :) Our team also does a good job of capturing some of my speaking events online."

Read the complete Feb. 2008 interview by Shel Israel here: Dell's founder talks about social media and its impact on his company and customers.

Corporate blogging lessons from Google's blogging gaffe

Google's blogging gaffe happened over a week ago and there's still a flap about it in the blogosphere and in MSM (mainstream media).

A quick recap, Google employee Lauren Turner, a sales rep for Google ads, gave Michael Moore's new film, Sicko, a thumbs down in a sort-of-review on Google's new Health Advertising blog.

She then invited "health insurers, health providers, and pharmaceutical companies" (her words) - the targets of Moore's criticism of limited access to costly healthcare - to get their own version of the story across by placing ads on Google.

Oops, she crossed a line there.

Partisan politics are dicey on a corporate blog

It's not so much that this Google blogger said something politically incorrect: "Do No Evil" Google coming out against Michael Moore's film?? (That drove the blogosphere wild.) Nor that she blatantly promotes Google's advertising services. But that she crossed the line into partisan politics.

Think about it. Supposing she had come out with the opposing view, saying this was the greatest movie ever made, and suggesting that readers take out ads in praise of the film. Wouldn't that have the same feeling of "crossing a line" into a partisan statement, one that urges political action?

No one would deny that America's healthcare system is hugely flawed. Access to healthcare is one of the most highly charged issues in this country. But wading into a divisive and combustible issue on a corporate blog - and expressing a political point of view about it - strikes me as dicey.

Google's official corporate blog issued a retraction of sorts. I.e., it focuses on clarifying Google's political position on healthcare (Google "does share many of the concerns that Mr. Moore expresses about the cost and availability of health care in America"). It would have made more sense, IMHO, to parse exactly why Lauren Turner's original blog post was inappropriate.

3 (obvious) corporate blogging lessons

Here are three pointers for corporate blogging. They're not new, nor are they original. But they bear re-stating, in view of Google's blogging gaffe:

1. Be authentic

That means use an "authentic voice" and say what you're really thinking. Lauren Turner's Sicko post had the ring of a salesperson's spin. It sounded like she was using her "opinion" about Sicko as a way to promote Google's AdSense program. (Read Mike O'Sullivan's comment.)

2. Be transparent

If you're one of numerous authors on a corporate blog, be absolutely clear when you're expressing your own opinion vs. your company's.

3. Apologize if you make a mistake

Google got this one right. And even went further. As a Google spokesperson told the San Francisco Chronicle:

"We try to ensure that what is in them (Google's over 50 blogs) represents the company, but we also try to make them interesting and not too traditional and corporate," he said. "We hope to get even better at it over time, but we'll probably also make more mistakes."
- San Francisco Chronicle (July 5, 2007)

BONUS TIP: Steer clear of politics and religion unless there's a compelling strategic reason. For example, your company has decided to adopt a green (environmentally friendly) strategy on everything you do.

Useful Links

Google Faux Pas Retracted (TechCrunch, July 1, 2007)

Crossing the Corporate Line (San Francisco Chronicle, July 5, 2007)

Company Blogging 101 by Google spam engineer Matt Cutts

Google's Authentic Voice Problem (O'Reilly Radar)

Google official blog's M.O. (Three-year anniversary of Google's original corporate blog, June 15, 2007)

Philippe Borremans reveals how social media connects - and inspires - IBM's 340,000 employees

Melcrum's Social Media Forum started off with a bang here in London with an excellent presentation on social media by IBM's Philippe Borremans (my co-conspsirator in the China Blogging Tour).

Why is IBM using blogs, wikis and RSS, he asked? Because the company really believes in "the wisdom of crowds" -- not because blogging is "cool" or because IBM is a tech company.

From one of his slides: "Innovation is not possible without collaboration."

The audience of 80-plus internal communications executives listened raptly as he described IBM's recent video contest.

IBM video contest: 'Innovation That Matters' in 60 seconds or less

Employees were invited to explain in 60 seconds or less IBM's new branding slogan: "Innovation That Matters." Within a month, 520 videos were created and uploaded from employees in 29 countries. Thus far the videos (filmed in people's gardens or other informal settings) have been forwarded 4,842 times and 3,212 comments have been left on them.

Pretty amazing stats for an internal corporate communications initiative. Luckily, we get a peak at IBM's employee creativity via six IBM contest videos uploaded to YouTube. Above is one entry, "Talking is easy."

Useful Links

IBM's Corporate Blogging Guidelines

More coverage of the Social Media Forum on Melcrum's blog

Screenshot of IBM internal blog (courtesy of Philippe; note: this is from March 2005)

Pete Blackshaw on CGM, the future of what's advertising & what's not, transparency, credibility... and more

Just got off a pre-recorded interview with Pete Blackshaw for my new Internet radio show on VoiceAmerica (TM) Business: The Corporate Blogging Show. This edition airs next Tuesday (Dec. 5, 2006) at 12 noon Pacific in the regular timeslot.

Pete is CMO of Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a former brand manager for Procter & Gamble, and a genius when it comes to parsing the woolly world of consumer generated media (a phrase he coined).

Pete gave me one of my favorite quotes in The Corporate Blogging Book.

From page 95:

"Blogs are proof positive that there really is a digital trail to word-of-mouth marketing."
- Pete Blackshaw

I want to share a few highlights of our conversation before I, er, forget them. Pete is the fastest talking and probably the most articulate guest I've had so far. (What does this guy eat for breakfast? He is pumped!) I scribbled notes but still didn't get it all.

Be sure to tune in live Tuesday Dec. 5, 2006 at 12 noon Pacific to hear Pete Blackshaw on The Corporate Blogging Show.

Pete's observations:

The term blogging may disappear

A year from now we may not be using the term blogging (I agree). It may just be part of customer service, something we expect from a company.

Marketers have a responsibility to self-regulate

We, as marketers (i.e. professionals who do this for a living), need to take the lead in self-regulating how we handle transparency and credibility in the social media space. If it's advertising, it needs to be clear. If it's not, then say so (just as a print advertorial does).

What's advertising and what's not?

Pete gave as an example a video he saw recently on YouTube that was posted by the folks behind the movie "For Your Consideration." (I saw it over Thanksgiving weekend. It was great.)

Was it really a "most popular" video? (He noticed it at the top of YouTube's home page.) Or was it a paid-for placement? He also noticed a movie banner above the video. Watch the video and read Pete's blog entry.

Consumers *hate* to be tricked.

Connecting the dots between a brand and the blogosphere

Pete has been fascinated by one of the videos created for Dove's Real Beauty campaign. It shows a woman getting a high-voltage beauty makeover, set against a great sound track. She is totally transformed, unrecognizable at the end. The kicker: "No wonder our perception of beauty is so distorted."

The video was created by Unilever's ad agency; then uploaded to YouTube where it has gotten nearly a million views. It has also been posted to an astonishing number of women's blogs. (Yes it really makes a point most women can relate to.) The value to the Dove brand: incalculable.

Read Pete's ClickZ case study. He calls this passalong phenomenon "consumer-fortified" media. I.e. it's not consumer-generated per se (an agency created it). But bloggers spreading the video around have embedded it in a permanent digital trail that benefits the brand.

(Note: Unilever is a client of Nielsen BuzzMetrics.) 

Using his personal blog to make the point about why blogging matters

He finished our one-hour show by telling me how he uses his personal blog, Dos Bebes (about his now 15-month-old twins) to illustrate what makes the blogosphere tick: "the emotional gratification to be heard and to connect." It works for individuals; it works for companies who want consumers to pay attention to their brand.

Be sure to tune in on Tuesday, Dec. 5th 2006 at 12 noon Pacific to hear Pete Blackshaw live on The Corporate Blogging Show.

WOMMA gets practical with ethics: Dell signs up to say, "We get it and we're gonna do it"

WOMMA CEO Andy Sernovitz is up to more of his tricks (jeesh, does this guy know how to create buzz) but this time* I think he's got it spot on.

"Smart companies like Dell know that ethics isn't optional - it's the first priority in the consumer-generated environment," said Andy Sernovitz.
- from a Dell press release (Nov. 9, 2006)

Andy has gotten two top execs at Dell to publicly announce that the company - a relatively new player in the Fortune 500 corner of the blogosphere - is incorporating WOMMA's Ethics Adoption Toolkit into its blog policy. The principal ingredients of the Ethics Toolkit are:

- transparency of origin

- accuracy

- ethical conduct

- protection of confidential information

- enforcement and discipline

The ethics guidelines apply to internal (employee) and external (customer) communications via blogs and other social media tools. As well as to third party vendors (i.e. PR firms and agencies that big companies are hiring).

The latter is an interesting reminder that ultimately a company is responsible for the actions of its vendors (think Wal-Mart and Edelman).

Download Dell's Blog Policy (dated Nov. 9, 2006)

Is WOMMA the right group to sanction Edelman for violation of a social media ethics code?

* It's another question whether WOMMA is the right entity to call Edelman on the carpet (WOMMA has announced that Edelman's membership has been suspended for 90 days) for the PR firm's mishandling of the fake Wal-Marting Across America blog. My first response to this was, er, this is preposterous. Why should Edelman care what WOMMA thinks or does?

Here's one of the corrective actions in WOMMA's announcement: "Provide a briefing to the WOMMA Executive Committee to fully explain the details of the incident."

Let's get real here - how likely is it that Edelman will comply with this request??

BTW, I've just done a Google search and (unless I've missed it) I can't find Edelman's reaction to being suspended from membership in WOMMA.

My second reaction is... well someone needs to step up to the plate and insist on a code of ethics surrounding corporate use of blogs and social media. WOMMA is trying hard. Maybe it's the right group.

Useful Links

20 questions toward ethical word of mouth (Jackie Huba)

WOMMA's Ethics Program

SEC says Go, Blog, Go to big companies

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox has spoken. While he doesn't explicitly use the word "blog," he suggests in his comment on Sun Microsystems' CEO Jonathan Schwartz's blog that corporate Web sites, or blogs, are a very good thing.

SEC chief makes blogging history

Cox created blogging history by leaping into the blogosphere and posting his letter as a comment to Jonathan's blog. The pair have been involved in a rather esoteric back-and-forth about something called RegFD (regulation fair disclosure).

Specifically, Jonathan has requested that corporate Web sites (i.e. blogs) be considered a proper channel for publicly (and broadly) disclosing material business information. Cox has yet to say 'yes' per se but looks like he's leaning that way. Here's what he wrote on Jonathan's blog:

"Jonathan,

I mailed the response to your letter yesterday, but since you're talking about transparency and efficiency in communications, I thought you might appreciate my taking advantage of the Internet’s speed and potential for broad dissemination by posting here as well.

Best,

Chris Cox

---
November 2, 2006

Mr. Jonathan Schwartz
Chief Executive Officer
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Mailstop UMPK10-244
10 Network Circle
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Dear Mr. Schwartz:

Thank you for your September 25, 2006 letter. In your letter, you suggest that, in light of the evolution of the Internet, the Commission should state that certain types of corporate website postings, including electronic mail alerts, would satisfy the broad non-exclusionary dissemination conditions of Regulation FD.

...I believe strongly that the Internet is a powerful tool that can be used effectively by corporations and all market participants to provide information to the market and investors. The Internet can empower investors to obtain and evaluate information about companies, and its potential has not yet been fully exploited..."

- SEC Chairman Christopher Cox in a comment posted to Jonathan Schwartz's blog (Nov. 3, 2006)

Conjecture on why there's a debate about corporate blogs and RegFD

What's interesting about this little debate is that there's any debate at all. Of course corporate Web sites (and blogs - which are a kind of Web site) are a way to "broadly" disseminate information. If it's a public blog, an investor has instant access to the information whether he or she visits the site or gets the update via an RSS newsreader.

The current system is multi-step and seems rather indirect to me. Companies issue a press release, the business press pick it up, pull what they want from it and publish their story "reporting" on the company's earnings announcement.

Me thinks the real problem here is that if companies transmit their earnings releases via a blog post, that obviates the need for mainstream media to "announce" the news to investors.

Useful Links

Wall Street Journal's Law Blog (WSJnl blogger Peter Lattman is miffed - OK, tongue-in-cheek - because the SEC Chairman didn't leave a comment on his blog; yet another example of MSM wanting to be first on important stuff - dontcha think?)

SEC Chief Suggests Blogs For Disclosures (Washington Post, Nov. 7, 2006)

SEC chief posts to CEO blog (IR Magazine, Nov. 7, 2006)

"The concept of a company using its own web site to release important financial information is a controversial one. For one, hackers could post fake information to blogs. Others note that companies themselves could manipulate material after posting it. It also simply up-ends the established order. 'Can a company bypass the mainstream channels and be its own news service?' asks Debbie Weil, corporate and CEO blogging consultant. 'It seems scary and different.'"
- by Anna Snider in IR Magazine

Private letters turn into public conversations (Daniela Barbosa makes the point that the blog exchange between Schwartz and Cox demonstrates "the power of social media tools - enhancement of the creation, distribution and consumption of information.")

IBM's blogger-in-chief Christopher Barger on the 4 times he's had to "drop the hammer" on IBM bloggers

Here's an interesting nugget from SNCR's Inaugural Research Symposium in Boston today. It's a great look inside a Fortune 500 and how they're managing employee blogging.

Four reprimands to IBM bloggers in 18 months

IBM's Christopher Barger, known as Blogger-in-Chief, just told the audience he's only had to "drop the hammer" four times on IBM bloggers since Big Blue launched their blogging initiative 18 months ago.

Barger is on the New Media Communications Team at IBM, which is part of the Strategic Communications group (publishes the annual report, etc.). Formerly a speechwriter for IBM, he moved to his current position after his managers discovered an external personal blog he'd been writing for a year. Rather than disciplining him, they said "Hey, we gotta deal with this stuff and you're the guy to do it."

Three of the times he had to call IBM bloggers on the carpet were for internal blogs; once it was for an external blog posting by a developer.

One of the internal blogs was religiously-themed, Barger said, but "tasteful." However, publicly discussing religion is heavily discouraged by HR.

Another of the internal blogs was "slagging on [the blogger's] manager," Christopher said. The manager's name wasn't included but there were "very specific details."

The outside blog incident was an inadvertent posting by a developer. He posted something about a product he was working on that IBM was contractually forbidden from revealing. Christoper contacted the guy and he removed the post "within five minutes."

On the ROI of IBM's blogging initiative

Says Christopher:

1. Morale is up, as measured by HR, over the past 18 months.

2. Blogging is free; there's no cost.

3. Blogging adds to the "relationship selling" that IBM espouses. I.e. developing relationships with the community that IBM is part of - as well as selling to.

On why Mark Jen was fired from Google

"Off the record," Christoper says jokingly... "Are there any bloggers in the audience?" Mark's offending blog postings were frowned upon by Google's marketing and communications folks, Chris told us. They were unhappy with ceding control of the message.

In this case, it related to Mark's disclosure on his Google blog of - yet another - positive earnings report for the company.  Not exactly news BUT I have to take the side of the Marcomm team here. Generally, there should be agreement at a company as to who can say what... and when... about news such as product launches and financial results. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's what blogging guidelines are for.

Google doesn't have an official published blogging policy (unless I"ve missed it). But in IBM's Blogging Policy I think this particular issue (revealing information normally handled by another channel) is discouraged.

Useful Links

Blogging at Big Blue: an Interview (with Chrisopher Barger)

IBM's blogger in chief - The (UK) Times, May 26, 2006

Why blogging matters, from Eric Kintz, Pete Blackshaw et al

Kudos to the always clever Eric Kintz over at HP for his creative blog entry (and illustration at left), rounding up pronouncements about blogging from a handful of marketing experts: blogging vs. PR vs. corporate communications (adversaries or peacefully coexisting?); the new blogger influencers at the end of The Long Tail; the blogosphere is beginning to be a "must" in integrated marketing;  customer "intimacy" (a blog) vs. your 1-800 number (is there a disconnect?); etc.

I shouldn't be a bad sport but I can't help but be a bit annoyed that his little "club" of experts is all male. Eric, uh, the blogosphere (and even the corporate blogosphere) is a very multi- place. Multi-opinion, multi-perspective, multi-nationality, multi-gender. Too bad that wasn't reflected in your entry, Why Blogging Matters.

Pubbing in London with Brit bloggers

Fun to meet up in London last night with a group of UK bloggers. We met at the Hereford Arms, around the corner from my hotel in South Kensington. Very simpatico group: Neville Hobson, Mark White, Martyn Davies, Tom Shelley, Keith Collins and Alex Manchester (editor & blogger for Melcrum).

Lots of discussion - and little agreement - on the recent Edelman / Wal-Marting episode and what it means for Edelman's reputation as *the* PR firm that can help big clients negotiate the blogosphere.

Edelman's biggest goof was their silence. It took the firm five days (an eternity in the blogosphere) to fess up publicly to their role in Wal-Mart's fake blog. Still, I think the incident may blow over.

Neville's podcast of our blogger meet-up

Stay tuned... I will post this later.

Flogging, Wal-Marting and Edelman's non-response

Update: Richard Edelman responds here (90 96 comments) and then here. Steve Rubel here (over 50 comments).

I'm a huge fan of the folks at Edelman, particularly Steve Rubel and Phil Gomes and Guillaume du Gardier in Paris. So I have no idea what's up with Edelman's non-response to the outing of the Wal-Marting Across America blog as a paid-for publicity stunt.

Definition of flogging

Flogging refers to a new blog-ism: fake blogging - as coined used by MediaPost reporter Tom Siebert in his article: Pro-Wal-Mart Travel Blog Screeches to a Halt. Full disclosure: Tom interviewed me and quotes me in the article. He also quoted me in his follow-up article (see below).

[Correction: flog was coined by Matthew Oliphant.] 

I'm inclined to think that a lot of wires got crossed on this one.

About ten months ago Wal-Mart retained Edelman to work on blogger relations with them to counter the stream of negative press the company is getting. One of the things Edelman did was suggest that Wal-Mart create Working Families for Wal-Mart (WFFWM). Hard to believe that the Edelman team would then give Wal-Mart such bad advice, as in:

Here's how to behave in the corporate blogosphere: fake it

I.e. get WFFWM to pay a photographer (Jim) and a freelance writer (Laura) to pretend they just happen to be driving across America in an RV. Oh and they just happen to park each night in the RV-friendly Wal-Mart parking lots. Oh and they just happen to photograph and interview lots of happy Wal-Mart employees. Oh and then they post this happy chronicle to the Wal-Marting Across America blog.

(All the entries have now been removed except the final semi-explanatory one by Laura.)

Oops - that didn't work

Turns out "Jim" is Washington Post photographer James Thresher (who's now in deep sushi with Wash Post executive editor Len Downie). His girlfriend "Laura" is Laura St. Claire (whose brother happens to be an Edelman employee).

Steve Rubel, are you listening?

So far there's no comment on this corporate blogging snafu (don't know if I'd go so far as to call it a fiasco) on Richard Edelman's CEO blog, nor on Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion.

Another way Edelman could have handled this

As I told the MediaPost's Tom Siebert:

"What would they lose to have said, 'we're sending two people around the country to talk to people at Wal-Mart,'" says corporate blogging consultant Debbie Weil, author of "The Corporate Blogging Book." "It could have even been funny--they could have made it self-deprecating, really loosened up and it would have been so much more effective as a PR strategy. Instead, they went with that whole Madison Avenue lie that everything is perfect, which people can't stand."

- MediaPost (Oct. 13, 2006)

Useful Links

Wal-Mart's Jim and Laura: The Real Story (Business Week - Oct. 8, 2006)

WashPost Photog's Wal-Mart Trip Violates Paper's Policy (Editor & Publisher - Oct. 11, 2006)

WaPo Photog To Repay Wal-Mart Group for Blog Expenses (MediaPost - Oct. 13, 2006)

Blogs, splogs & flogs: edelman and the wal-mart fiasco (bizhack - Oct. 12, 2006)

PR bloggers respond to Wal-Mart / Edelman controversy (from Wal-Mart Watch)

Defending and Defining the Blog Culture (Toby Bloomberg - Oct. 13, 2006)

Wal-Mart: On the Importance of Being Ernest (Kami Huyse - Oct. 13, 2006)