In addition to Jerry Yang leaving Yahoo, which paves the way for Microsoft to somewhat catch up now, another article caught my attention from Reuters.  The headline read “Tech firms turn to social media to reach consumers”.

The article went on to explain that Dell has made a 180 degree shift in its marketing to put more effort towards programs on Twitter and Facebook and others.  My first response is what took them so long.

Dell used to be held up as a perfect example of what marketing should be.  It is a business school beauty of how a small company from the big state of Texas can take on the big guys and win by giving customers what they wanted better service, custom solutions, perceived good customer service, and simplicity in ordering.

So why did Dell take a little longer in engaging customers in the manner that makes the most sense?

The article did not dig very deep into this question.  However, Dell did start last year.  They started slowly, shifting some of their tv and print budget towards the medium.  They tested different programs and found ones that worked.  They focused on repairing their image and increasing customer service.

Dell is yet another example of you are not alone.  There are some great lessons here:

1. Don’t be afraid to shift some of your resources from traditional to online

2. Learn the mechanisms and listen to your audience to avoid fast and costly mistakes.  I won’t rehash J&J’s recent missteps here, but that is a case of taking entertainment without listening.

3. Test your programs and make changes as appropriate.

4. Most of all engage your customers in your marketing.  This is the product of the above three points.