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Listening, Joining, and Leading.
Everyone is considered a brand ambassador at Dell, even at
the lowest level. Within that world, though, there are several
levels:
Employee Advocates
These are people who’ve gotten some training, and use their
own social profiles or blogs to talk about Dell. They’ll usually
use the hashtag #Iwork4Dell, so that they can disclose their
association with the brand. Alternatively, the employee might
use an account with the Dell name, as Heiss herself is (https://
twitter.com/AmyHatDell).
Subject Matter Experts
Subject Matter Experts are individuals who are designated as
such not for their expertise with social media, but because
of their role within Dell, such as a brand manager or
product lead. Once trained, they earn one of Dell’s creative
acronyms, “Social SME” (Social Subject Matter Expert). Heiss
explained, “They’ll get specialized training, and access to
tools like Appinions. We’ll point them in the right direction to
the influencers for their products, service or area of expertise;
get them in the right communities, talk to them about which
hashtags they should be using, and really improve their
social presence overall.”
#SocialExec Program
For individuals at the executive director level and above,
Heiss’s team provides a highly customized and extensive
level of training called the #SocialExec program. Executives
are provided with customized training modules, crafted to
the individual’s Klout score and social footprint. The training
will included information about which communities should
be joined, hashtags, how often they should post, and where.
Dell also employs an outside agency, Ajax Workforce
Marketing to assist each individual with their LinkedIn Profile.
Heiss noted that it’s very easy for executives of a technology
company to get accustomed to speaking in their