CRM and Social Networking: Part 1

At its core, customer relationship management is about creating a mutually beneficial partnership and friendship with customers and clients. While the ultimate goal of CRM is to bring in revenue for the company, the actual processes that are involved with CRM are designed to build a friendship. Or, at the very least, that is the intention.

Social networking has the same goal. Friends, family, and acquaintances use social media to connect with each other socially. Social media gives people a never ending relationship, even when they’re not communicating, as status updates, photos, etc., keep people informed of one another and involved in each other’s lives.

Since these websites started growing in popularity, businesses have looked for ways to integrate social media into their marketing plans. Social media allows all types of companies to connect directly with their customers in a way that few companies had the power to do in the past. All a company has to do is start a fan page or open an official Twitter account and swarms of customers are happy to stay connected, instantly building a connection with the company.

However, very few companies are using social media to their advantage. Most companies start a social media campaign that consists of only the basics – starting a fan page or Twitter account and performing the occasional update. That allows the customer to lead the conversation unfiltered, putting your company’s voice and message in the hands of the customer.

As a business, you want to lead the conversation, otherwise you’re not creating a relationship with your customers – you’re simply giving them an open forum to do with as they please. You also need to interact with the customer, because that interaction is how you continue to build a bond between you.

Opening up a social media account and providing the occasional update isn’t putting the “relationship” in CRM. You need to have a complete social media campaign – one that interacts with the customer, allows you to build on the conversation, create a relationship, and build your business. CRM and social media have a strong link, but only by utilizing your social media tools correctly can you actually use it to truly improve your CRM. In the next post we’ll look at how to create a strategy that will benefit your CRM efforts.