EMC, its Communities, and social media

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EMC is among the corporate leaders in social media, recently listed as the 16th most “social media savvy” corporation in the US (Microsoft came in at #1). They rose to fame initially through the personal visibility of Dan Schwabel “Personal Branding Expert, Bestselling Author, Speaker, Consultant, Columnist, Publisher and Blogger” who says on his site:

EMC had no idea what I had been doing outside of work, and I didn’t feel that they needed to because I considered it a hobby. EMC public relations had caught wind of the article after receiving a Google Alert notice and sent it directly to a Vice President who was starting a team to manage EMC’s social media program. I received an email the next morning from the VP, and we met. I then met with the head of Public Relations and was ready to interview with him, and I even brought a press kit. I created the first ever social media position at EMC, and at a Fortune 500 company, without ever applying. Instead of pledging to the company like a fraternity, they were coming after me for my talent, thus I was able to make money doing what I loved. I knew at this time that I was onto something big!

In fact Schwabel resigned from EMC in January 2010 to pursue his own fame. Len Devanna is Director of Social Strategy at EMC and recently listed a range of the company’s communities. The EMC communities are all under the umbrella of the EMC Community Network which has nearly 100,000 members, and include:

Nothing unusual for an IT firm to have these communities, but @EMCcorp is very active and also these are only one part of a wider EMC social media strategy (see Len’s 2-Year Retro, and below). 

See the EMC YouTube channel and also for example one of their active and very public technologists 
Stuart Miniman @stu and Polly Pearson, VP Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement on Slideshare.

You’ll find a good list of EMCers at Listorious.

What Can Social Media Be For EMC?

IN 2008, Jamie Pappas, Manager, Social Media Strategy @ EMC, wrote:

  • Platform for collaboration, communication, and culture
  • Employee collaboration on a global scale
  • Improved productivity and communication between Geo’s and BU’s
  • Influencer of purchasing decisions in all markets
  • User generated content is most trusted source of information for purchasing
  • Think support forums, discussion forums, recommendations, ratings
  • Early warning system for negative and positive opportunities
  • Who’s saying what about EMC and how do we join the conversation? 
  • Barrier to entry from competitive threats
  • Converts customers to loyal recommenders of EMC products
  • Demonstration of EMC brand in action
  • EMC Thought Leadership demonstrated
  • EMC bloggers

Benefits realized:

  • Stronger connections and awareness of expertise among employees
  • Virtualization of employee skills and knowledge
  • Empower employees to contribute and innovate
  • Knowledge retention and re-use – A corporate memory
  • Ability to dynamically create and sustain productive, virtual teams
  • Increased employee satisfaction
  • Reduced employee support costs – employees support each other
  • Coordinated planning and execution against strategic initiatives

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Walter Adamson
I help firms create optimal customer experiences by integrating social data, teams & processes with enterprise systems. The much vaunted 360-view of the customer can be a bottomless pit without a clear data strategy. I help you deliver a greatly improved customer experience starting with a "45-degree" view of the customer, fully utilising social data analytics. I clarify your objectives and what data you need to service them, and guide you to operationalise "social at scale" to consistently deliver valuable customer experience at every social touch point.

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