de-Hao! [ How it's done! ]

As several companies dig into various ways to increase sales via social networks, it is interesting to note Dell Outlet’s success ($3 million in sales) with their Twitter account. A lot of organizations struggle with monetizing social networks and finding where they fit in the ever-evolving social commerce spectrum. It is almost clear to me that we can all draw parallels between Dell’s Twitter strategy and that of email campaigns for other eCommerce brands — except generating sales leads via Twitter is next to free — assuming you build a solid network of followers and continue to offer a value proposition.

Needless to mention, if you join the social commerce bandwagon you have to consider alternative ways of tracking sales in the new era. In most cases, you have to supplement your existing analytics software platform with other tracking solutions.

Here’s an excerpt from an article describing Dell’s success story:

In making sales through @DellOutlet, Dell sends tweets to subscribers, telling bargain hunters the latest available refurbished systems. The company also messages coupons and clearance events.

The strategy has taken @DellOutlet to the top 50 most followed Twitter users, according to Dell. Such standings are tracked on a third-party Twitter monitoring service called TwitterCounter.

Other top 50 Twitter users includes brands like @Zappos, @Woot, @JetBlue, and @WholeFoods. As of March, Twitter.comreached 9.3 million visitors, according to ComScore Media Metrix.

If you are yet to read about Dell’s success, check out the InformationWeek article.