How To Implement Social CRM And Learn From Your Customers

Editor's Notes

• #2: Successful companies spend time developing relationships with their customers. They listen and respond to what their customers are saying online, and they often use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to manage these relationships. Many successful companies are gathering information from online conversations and sharing this information internally, and in turn they are converting these online prospects into sales. Others have recognised a need to get closer to relevant online conversations, but they have yet to figure out a way of combining their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool with social media. Whichever situation you are in, social CRM can help you become the type of company that listens, engages, interacts and learns from customers in real-time. We developed this practical eBook to help you understand the benefits of social CRM. You can use the practical questions and tips to explore how social CRM improves lead generation and increase sales.
• #4: Customer Relationship Management is a method for managing your sales, marketing and customer service interactions with current and future customers. Typically, this method involves using a technology tool like Sage CRM to store information about your customers in one place.
• #5: Social CRM is more than simply monitoring what people are saying on social media, and it’s not just about storing information in a customer relationship management tool. Social CRM is a strategy that combines CRM tools and technologies with the workflows and processes of a business. It makes customer conversations and interactions on social media as much a part of a company as more traditional business activities. Social CRM is a business strategy that enables the forging of richer, deeper and more intimate relationships with customers and prospects. It takes the valuable customer insight and conversations you may be gathering on social media and customer communities, and it layers them on top of emails, sales calls and customer service interactions, which you have stored centrally in your CRM solution.
• #6: We are witnessing the emergence of social business --- “Today prospects and customers expect organisations to be able to respond to them in a multitude of channels from offline to online and at a time when it suits them.” “This includes the adoption of processes and tools that ensure that social media channels are not only used for marketing communications… that they can be used to glean business intelligence and for social prospecting.” “Implementing social CRM in your business can yield increased productivity and help you achieve your strategic growth targets. It can ensure that all the relevant people who are involved in marketing, sales and customer support understand how to connect with a prospect or customer through their social networks.” “You will be able to confidently speak on behalf of the organisation knowing what other interactions have taken place between the customer (or prospect) and other representatives of the business.”
• #7: According to analyst firm Gartner, by 2016 one point five billion people will use social media networks. This means more customers of successful companies are gathering and conversing on social media about their favourite brands, products and services. Social media is an important communications outlet for most businesses. However, less than five per cent of business to business enterprises use social media as a tool for identifying new prospects1. In addition: 70% of social media users have re-tweeted content from small and medium sized companies Successful companies of all sizes are realising the importance of managing social interactions with customers and they are prioritising social CRM. A recent study by Markets & Markets predicted the social CRM market will grow from STG£1.2 billion in 2013 to STG£5.7 billion in 2018.
• #10: Pick a social network and observe participants It’s worth researching your preferred social network before posting social media content. This means signing up to a social media network and listening to others without necessarily participating. You can use this opportunity to familiarise yourself with the posting guidelines of each network and with what a business can and can’t do or say.
• #12: If you haven’t posted much social media content before, it’s a good idea to study the etiquette, tone and nuances of online conversations. This will help you discover how or even if a particular social network will work for your business, product or service.
• #13: Firstly, consider why you need social CRM. Consider what would happen if, for example, several leads of a telecommunications distributor posted technical queries about the distributor’s products on an industry LinkedIn group. These customers posted their queries a week ago and they were answered by the company’s sales team. Meanwhile, the distributor’s customer service team has spent several days providing support to customers on an internal community on a related product issue. However, the distributor’s customer service and sales teams were unaware of these separate sets of customer queries. This is because traditionally these teams operate within individual silos. This is a clear case for social CRM.
• #14: Talk to your customers online but resist selling to them
• #15: Talk to your customers online but resist selling to them Your conversations on social media should be predicated on feeding the appetite of social media participants for sharing and discovering great content. Unlike newspaper readers and TV viewers, social media users have chosen communication channels that are more open to inflection and diversion. They are generally responsive to something new and interesting and will engage with, react to and ultimately shape emerging trends.
• #16: Let social media inform your business Social media can provide a company with low-cost market research and the type of customer insight that was once the sole preserve of big business. You can also use social media to keep up-to-date on the progress of customers, leads and business partners by following their LinkedIn page, Twitter stream or relevant social media channel. All of this is an essential part of social CRM.
• #18: Consider what you want social CRM to achieveIn the previous case, the sales manager of the distributor wants his team to have current information when selling to customers over the phone, on social media or face-to-face. The distributor’s customer service manager wants her team to have access to all queries and complaints raised by customers, whether on LinkedIn, over the phone or via email. The marketing manager wants each department to communicate to customers consistently, while the finance manager wants everyone to achieve their business goals within budget. In this case, social CRM should achieve business goals. It should help the company sell better and provide improved customer support.
• #19: Establish long-term relationships Companies that ‘dip a toe’ into social media are often disappointed by the lack of return. Tweeting details of new products or adding some fresh messaging on LinkedIn doesn’t necessarily mean a corresponding surge in sales. While special offers and first-come, first-served promotions have their place and can even deliver short-terms win, social media is best executed as a long game. The idea is to foster relationships with customers through streams of regular conversations. These regular conversations with customers will provide you with greater customer insight.
• #21: Let social media inform your business Social media can provide a company with low-cost market research and the type of customer insight that was once the sole preserve of big business. You can also use social media to keep up-to-date on the progress of customers, leads and business partners by following their LinkedIn page, Twitter stream or relevant social media channel. All of this is an essential part of social CRM.
• #24: Let social media inform your business Social media can provide a company with low-cost market research and the type of customer insight that was once the sole preserve of big business. You can also use social media to keep up-to-date on the progress of customers, leads and business partners by following their LinkedIn page, Twitter stream or relevant social media channel.
• #26: The introduction of some simple working processes around the tools and solutions you may already own can build a foundation for social CRM and make social media part of a holistic CRM strategy. Many companies are drawn towards social CRM but they are unsure how to proceed. The good news is you may already have laid the groundwork for social CRM. By making your daily social media activity an integrated part of your existing CRM, you can enable sales, marketing and customer service teams to become more customer-centric and communications focused. And you can begin to unlock market insight that drives competitive advantage.
• #27: Marketing teams can identify your company’s biggest online champions and influencers and follow what they are saying and sharing. They can draw on Twitter discussions for feedback on new products and services. And they can use Facebook to launch and measure the impact of a special promotion. Marketing teams can also target campaigns more accurately if they know which social sites customers and prospects are visiting, what they are looking for and who they are talking to.
• #28: Customer service teams can use social networks to become more proactive. They can identify issues as they arise and respond quickly to customer complaints, thereby making customer service teams more productive. A carefully composed reply to a public question on Twitter or Facebook may be read by thousands and can increase the visibility of and the level of trust in your brand. Similarly, other relevant stakeholders within a business can follow these conversations or cases and provide input accordingly. Sales teams can prepare for meetings on how to target new prospects by reviewing activity on networks like LinkedIn. They can also generate new leads and retain existing customers by listening to relevant social media conversations. And they can coordinate and evaluate the effectiveness of social prospecting.
• #29: Business departments can begin to work outside of traditional hierarchal structures and share relevant information across departments and geography. This means questions raised by employees have a great visibility across the company, and the answers to these questions are less dependent on individual team members or company bottlenecks. It also means your company can create up-to-date customer records for various departments using internal collaboration tools like Yammer.
• #30: Employees can spend less time navigating lengthy email threads and searching for specific pieces of information that are relevant to the account, contact or case they are working on. This is made possible if information about customers is stored in one central location, which everyone can access. Social CRM may even reduce the volume of wasteful and unproductive emails sent across a business. Employees can also use internal or gated communities to share information and to communicate with business partners or valued customers.
• #31: Have you used your Facebook company page to engage with a customer or lead? • Do you encourage more senior employees to share information with new employees so they can do their job properly? • Do you manage an internal community where customers and business partners contribute? • Do you follow and converse with brands or industry thought leaders on Twitter? • Do you upload or comment on company videos on YouTube? • Is your company listed and active on LinkedIn, and are you connecting and conversing with partners, leads and customers? • Have you identified your brand or product’s biggest online champions and influencers? • Have you contributed to industry topics and posts on relevant LinkedIn groups? • Do your sales, marketing, customer service and other internal teams collaborate using social tools like Yammer? • Have you used any of the above networks as a customer service channel? • Are you alerted when a customer publicises a success online and do you know when to contact them and offer congratulations?