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Social media is playing an increasingly important role in branding these days. Company blogs, product ratings on e-commerce stores, technical support forums and viral video campaigns are all examples of opportunities for companies to reach out to their customer and change the way customers perceive them.

 For companies though, being so open can be a scary thing. There’s certainly a lack of control in how a company’s image is perceived on a public forum such as a blog. But there are also some great opportunities.

 Dell is one company that opted for transparency through social media, and made it a success. A couple of years ago, Dell got some extremely bad press when a video of a Dell laptop spontaneously combusting appeared on tech website Engadget. Suddenly, videos of flaming Dells were popping up online from all over the world. A PR nightmare.

 So what did Dell do? Dell’s Digital Media Manager Lionel Menchaca posted the video on the company blog. He and his team addressed customer concerns directly, admitting mistakes had been made, and took the heat (so to speak).

 The reaction? After a couple of weeks, the Blogosphere became more and more positive towards Dell. And since then, Dell has gone even further to open up dialogue, adding more blogs and investing more of its marketing budget into social media.

 Menchacha has some very wise words in this interview with social media blog Global Neighbourhoods:

 “I would argue though that the benefits of being part of the conversation outweigh all the risks… Companies need to admit that control is shifting toward customers. More and more customers are talking about companies they either like or dislike. Those conversations happen with or without companies being actively involved.  And it’s becoming increasingly clear that those conversations have more influence over perception than much of the marketing material and PR messages that companies produce.”