7 Important Things To Remember About Social CRM

Having had this conversation between us going on for almost half a year now, I thought it would be good to take a quick trip down memory lane. I know Social CRM is an ever-expanding and flourishing topic, but there’s a lot we’ve talked about and it might not all be easy to remember.

Sure, you’ve probably already subscribed to this blog by now and spend hours mulling over each post. I know most of you have Moleskine notebooks full of your favorite quotes of mine and informational nuggets that enhanced your life when you read them on here over the past 5 months.

But for the rest of you, those that maybe only stumbled on this blog recently and have yet to bookmark it with fervor or those that have “other things to do” than memorize my writings, here’s 7 important things to remember when you’re thinking about or planning your Social CRM Strategy.

1. Social CRM is an Internal Initiative

This was something I said when we first started the journey. CRM in all its forms needs to be focused internally as much (or even more so) as externally. This one can be confusing when it comes to Social CRM because a lot of the overt actions we’ve discussed take place out and about with customers, but the true benefit of the Social CRM system is the culture and processes made possible within your company because of the technology that allows you to reach out and connect.

2. Internal Decisions Should Be Based On Customer Experience

Your goal throughout this entire process is to build a better understanding of your customer through conversation, engagement, and two-way communication. You’ll be basing a lot of decisions around how your customer experiences your brand and your information. Make sure that those experiences are positive and helpful.

3. A Thought-Out Strategy Is A Necessity

Like most things in business, before implementing an overarching system within your organization, you need to development a thorough strategy that delves into all the areas you’ll be touching. You’ll be setting up your team, setting benchmarks, and measuring success along the way. You’ll never be able to accurately play the game if you don’t have a game plan from the very beginning.

4. Analytics Are Important

You can measure just about anything when it comes to social media, but understanding what to measure, and how often, is important. Focus on sales, leads, follower growth, ROI and Customer Total Lifetime Value when figuring out where you sit within your benchmarks. Social CRM is all about driving business value and generating leads, so these numbers are important.

5. Social CRM Lives Outside of Business Hours

Social activity and conversation is pretty much a constant reality. Even when you’re not monitoring the conversations going on, rest assured that people will still be talking. Before jumping into the Social CRM arena, understand the commitment you’re getting yourself into by researching the conversations already going on in your business niche. Social CRM doesn’t live between 9 and 5 and neither will you.

6. Social CRM Breaks Down Silos

Businesses have been living within departmental silos for many years now. One thing that will be a change for a lot of organizations is the fact that your Social CRM team will be made up of people from many different departments. People from Sales, Marketing, PR and Customer Service will all hold a stake in creating epic experiences for your customers.

7. Social CRM is Changing Alongside Customer Expectations

Social media has given every single one of your customers a voice and you need to be listening. Their expectations are different than you might think, so it’s up to you to find out what those are. Source information that will personalize experiences for your customers; then build dynamic content and fill those channels with it so the relationships you build will fill your sales funnels and begin to actively drive your business.

…To The Future

Those are 7 things we’ve discussed thus far that I feel are important to remember, but we’ll be delving deeper into some of these topics and exploring all new realms entirely in the coming months.

Join me, won’t you?

Thoughts?

Get our latest posts straight to your inbox!

[Get this widget]