It didn’t take long for businesses focusing on customer relationship management (CRM) to follow the trail to social media. With opportunities like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, the ability to reach customers grew by leaps and bounds. Not only is it easier to reach them, it’s easier to communicate with them. That communication is a key factor in creating strong customer relationships. Not only can a business connect with current customers—if leveraged the right way, it can help find new ones as well.
One thing CRM experts are emphasizing is that social media tools, like Twitter, are not the end all, be all solution for CRM. In fact, social media is an important channel that provides businesses with a means to engage customers,and gather data. What has developed is social CRM, and more and more companies are recognizing the opportunities it offers every day.
Twitter’s benefit, and why it’s being touted as the next big thing for CRM, is that it offers a single location for a community of people to engage in honest open discussions with their peers. Discussions are both negative and positive—some ad campaigns have been halted in a matter of days due to Twitter backlash. Either way, it’s a useful medium to find out what people are saying about your brand, your company, and even your competitors. Interfaces such as TweetDeck allow users to set up a search alert, similar to a Google alert. So, when a specified term is mentioned anywhere in the Twittersphere, a simple search on the web platform will produce similar results.
With results coming in real-time, companies are able to better meet the needs of their customers, and it works both ways. A customer can direct a question to the company via Twitter, and the company can respond the same way. As more customers see these kinds of conversations, they’re more apt to join in. Establishing a brand on Twitter brings customer service and relationships to a whole new level. Micro-bloggers can use social media, like Twitter, as a catalyst to promote more business.
While Twitter is often hailed as a CRM darling, there are other social media tools that should not be overlooked. Facebook, YouTube, Blogs and even LinkedIn all have merit when it comes to the establishment and development of customer relationships.
- YouTube is slowly being adopted by more and more companies as they figure out how to use it to their advantage.
- Facebook’s groups and “fan pages” features allow regular users to create pages and join in on conversations about everything from products, brands to TV shows and food. With a wide range of topics, incorporating your business or product is easier than ever.
- Blogs help engage conversation through posts using an authentic voice, the opportunity for customers and readers to provide feedback through comments, all while developing brand loyalty.
- LinkedIn helps representatives connect to the people in need and develop consistent and real relationships with customers, leads and fellow industry professionals. If a rep is a new user, they can instantly find people they already know by uploading e-mail contacts during the sign-up process—LinkedIn matches addresses with existing users, making the transition that much easier.
While you shouldn’t neglect traditional customer service and relationship management tools, social media is definitely a good addition to any management system. The benefits of social CRM are becoming clearer each day. Integrating any of the above mentioned tools is a great way to monitor your brand while connecting with customers at the same time.
