CRM With Social Media

How would you like to have a house on the top floor of a high rise, with a spectacular view but no elevator in the building? This is exactly what you would experience on when you invest in a system which deals with just static and not dynamic data in today’s fast moving world!! The key to this is Customer Relationship Management(CRM) linked to social media
 
Customer Relationship Management(CRM) is the need of the day. Today’s customer is spoilt for choices. As soon as he plays with the thought of going for some product or service, there is a long list of providers in front of him. What is it that would differentiate you from others in this list? The answer to this is how quickly you reached out to him and how you completely delighted him/her with your knowledge about the requirements and suggestions based on age/occupation/geography and such other demographic factors. This is possible with help of a CRM tool.
 
However, the information that we have needs to be constantly updated and there should be a mechanism which helps us reach out at the earliest, to prospects as well as existing clients. This is where Social CRM comes to our rescue!!
 

What is Social CRM?

Social CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is use of social media services and technology integrated with CRM to enable organizations to engage with their customers.
 

Why Social CRM?

We can broadly look at two use cases of Social CRM:
 

• Social Engagement with prospects: Social CRM tools allow businesses to better engage with their customers by listening to sentiments about their products and services, tracking their opinions on various features, getting an idea how influential that person is, in his/her social circle.
• Social Customer Service: In today’s time, social media is moving from Marketing and Communication as engagement methods towards inbound customer services. Rather than social media being seen purely as a space for companies to deliver outbound marketing messages, it is the inbound customer queries that provide for meaningful points of engagement and the building of brand advocacy and loyalty. Also, in case a customer has some grievance, which he is more likely to voice it on social platforms like twitter and Facebook. In this case, one dissatisfied customer attracts attention of a large audience who may develop pre-conceived notions. It is extremely important to address this customer at the earliest, and in a platform where people can learn how the issue has been tackled, so as to avoid them being prejudiced. Social CRM helps integrate with these social media platforms and as soon as a case is created, it prompts you reply on the same platform within no time.
   
  Let me quote an example of the impact of Social Media. Recently, My cousin was travelling by Indian Railway and used social media to share his experience. His grievance was addressed in no time leaving him and his network mighty impressed. A CRM integrated with such social media platforms is the key to such situation.

 
We know that One satisfied customer gets with him another three, but one dissatisfied client takes at least a dozen away from us. This can be addressed with Social CRM
 
Research has found a 5% increase in customer retention boosts lifetime customer profits by 50% on average across multiple industries, as well as a boost of up to 90% within specific industries such as insurance. Companies that have mastered customer relationship strategies have the most successful CRM programs
As mentioned earlier, today’s customer is spoilt for choice. If you need to have an edge over your competition, you need to be the first one to reach out. Clients are now increasingly expecting instant and completely personalized service and that’s what we need to offer. Social media identities that can be linked to multiple contact channels – as well as your CRM – give a 360-degree view of the customer possible. From improving the service experience by connecting threads of conversations across channels to offering personalized suggestions the instant a customer interacts with you, customer experience is now taking a huge leap forward and becoming a competitive advantage for any organisation.
 
Social CRM is 1-to-1 sales relationship that occurs through social media and is profitable, sustainable and built on trust. Let’s look at a few examples of how social CRM has helped get great results: Best Buy: Best Buy employee communities grew to 2,200 employees within 3 months and responded to over 13,000 customers on social networks answering public questions, concerns, and opinions. The Twitter feed@twelpforce now counts over 29,000 followers and the number of questions averages 100-125 per day and is considered a key value-add by customers and the company.
 

General Motors: Launched “Fastlane,” one of the first blogs personally written by senior executives. Customer feedback given through a blog saved the company $180,000/year versus traditional focus group research not to mention the enormous good will of company executives responding to consumers, not a focus group moderator.
 
FISKARS: 300-year-old Finnish company that makes fine cutting tool created online social community of crafting enthusiasts called “Fiskateers” to build relationships with underutilized channel of small retailers for a 3X increase in company sales.
 
Johnson & Johnson:8-year-old online/social media community connected and engaged 8,000,000 new and expectant moms in the U.S. (78% of total) and another 16.5 million in 21 countries. A major profit centre for J&J and, in fact, a major social brand.
 
Harley Davidson (HD Talking): Harley owners created website and social community totally funded by users and user-generated content. Here, Harley owners trades photos, jokes, where to find hard to find parts, advice on Harley models and ownership plus there are at least 7 mechanics on-call at all times.
 
Summing it Up
Social CRM is a platform which brings a new element into CRM because now instead of just dealing with data and information we are dealing with conversations and relationships. These conversations and relationships take place not just from company to consumer but also from consumer to consumer.
The key benefit of Social CRM is the ability for companies to interact with customers in multi-channel environment (commonly referred to as Omni channel) and talk to customers the way they talk to each other.
 
No matter what kind of business you are in stay relevant and ahead with SimpleCRM.