Fri. Feb. 16, 2007
In 1996, we launched www.dell.com to provide technical support resources to our customers. Soon after, we began selling hardware over the Internet. Back in the early days, most of the focus was on e-commerce. Today, having a web presence increasingly means giving customers a way to share their feedback and ideas. Our digital media strategy was a reaction to this evolution and it’s why we’ve focused our digital media efforts on listening to our customers and acting on that information.
Michael unveiled two new components of our digital media strategy today at a statewide education conference here in Texas: Dell IdeaStorm and new functionality in StudioDell that will allow users to upload their own video testimonials.
Michael talks about both of these new tools in this StudioDell video.
Dell IdeaStorm
As blog manager for Direct2Dell, I get lots of folks who e-mail me directly with ideas. Dell IdeaStorm takes this to another level. It gives you a direct path to submit ideas about what they would you’d like to see in Dell's products, services and operations.
Think of Dell IdeaStorm as a combination between a message board and Digg.com. Topics that earn the most points from the voting process move up to the top of the page. End result, by submitting ideas and voting on them as a community, you will tell us how you want us to change. Along the way, we'll call out the top ideas that are being considered by Dell. We'll also keep track of which ideas we've implemented, and make it easy for you to see.
If you're interested, here is the process to get started in Dell IdeaStorm:
- Go to www.dellideastorm.com
- Click on the Register tab (it's just below the Post an Idea button)
- If you have an idea, click on the Submit an Idea button
- From there, you can add a Title for the idea thread, add an Image if you want, and enter details behind your idea in the Editorial Summary dialog box
- After logging in, you can comment on any of the discussion threads
- To vote on a topic that would improve Dell’s ability to serve you, click on the blue Promote button.
You can browse by category just like you can on Direct2Dell. Overall scores for each idea are in gray just above the blue Promote button. If you’re logged in and promote an idea, you will add 10 points to that idea’s overall score.
Popular Ideas is the default view of the IdeaStorm page. It lists ideas in order of overall point total. Using the tabs across the top, you can easily see Recent Ideas (which shows lists in the order they are received) and also a Comments view (listing starts with the latest thread to receive a comment).
User-generated video testimonials in StudioDell
Beyond ideas, we want to hear how you’re using Dell products. Starting today, Dell customers who create video testimonials can submit them to the Your Stories channel in the Home network. We’ve added an Upload Your Videos button. When you click that, you enter a few fields like Screen Name, E-mail address, Video Title and Video Description. From there, you choose a category from a drop-down list, and then click on the Submit Video button.
Here are the Terms and Conditions.