When it comes to the CRM, Paul Greenberg literally wrote the book. When it comes to Social CRM, he had this to say:
“We’ve moved from the transaction to the interaction with customers, though we haven’t eliminated the transaction – or the data associated with it. Social CRM focuses on engaging the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. [The social CRM] is the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.”
I wanted to start here because we all know that here at SocialCRMInfo.com, we feel like the Social CRM is a big deal (hell, it’s the entire focus of this blog), but the idea and importance reaches far outside these digital pages. The CRM world is standing up and taking note as well, which is good because the Social CRM is not out to destroy the traditional CRM.
I’ll give you an example:
I held out on buying a Blu-Ray player for a long time. The main reason holding me back was the simple fact that I had spent years building up a very impressive DVD library. The last thing I wanted to do was sacrifice all that work and start over because Blu-Rays looked a little better. Square 1 scared the bejeezus out of me.
One day, through some research, I stumbled on a fact that had always been true but had escaped me up until then: Blu-Ray players were compatible with, and even enhanced, DVDs. The day I realized that Blu-Rays weren’t out to destroy what I had built, but were coming in to enhance and improve my efforts, with the ability t take my efforts further I went out and bought a Blu-Ray player and now can’t remember why I was so scared to do it in the first place.
It appears to me that many companies are holding onto the same fears about implementing a Social CRM. Let’s explore that.
Cooperative, Not Combative
Customers are adopting social media into their daily lives at alarming rates, yet companies are dragging their collective feet getting on board and installing Social CRM components into their current CRMs.
It’s true that there are many problems facing companies today when getting in line with social media efforts (we’ll be discussing those on Thursday, so come back for that), but simply throwing more people at the problems won’t solve anything. A more organized, concerted effort needs to be made in order to give companies to respond and relate to customers in a near real-time fashion.
A Social CRM is that opportunity.
Social CRM does not come in to replace an existing CRM, quite the opposite. Social CRM enhances the efforts of the existing CRM. Social CRMs augment social networks into CRMs as a new channel with which to communicate and drive relationships. The purpose of a well-defined Social CRM is to build upon the existing relationship aspects of existing CRMs and improves those relationships with more pointed and meaningful interactions and conversations.
So, don’t hold back on getting that Blu-Ray pla…..er……I mean, Social CRM in place because in a few months you’ll look back and not be able to remember what your life was like without it.
Thoughts?
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[...] Social CRM Will Never Be A Murderer Regarding CRM [...]
@DannyBrown @jugnoome @joey_strawn Who said that? Social CRM is an extension of CRM.
@justinmwhitaker @JugnooMe @joey_strawn Probably the same folks that think social should be standalone strategy…
@DannyBrown @jugnoome @joey_strawn bigger issue is whether enterprises are realizing any returns on CRM efforts, not what channel monitored.
@justinmwhitaker @JugnooMe @joey_strawn Good point. Mind you, if they approached properly with goals, measurement and success metrics…
So so true. It’s the same with anything social. Social media isn’t here to replace traditional media, or your existing marketing efforts. It’s all about cooperating, enhancing, and extending. Too often with anything new we see it as replacing the old, rather than enhancing the old.
Great perspective, Joey!
Oh, and those 8-tracks you’ve been saving? They won’t work in your Blu-Ray…
@KenMueller What are 8-tracks?
@joey_strawn@KenMueller Go easy on Ken, mate, he bought shares in 8mm, Laserdisc and HD-DVD….
@hessiejones Thanks! That’s one of my fav blog pics. I’m happy I finally found a place to use it. : )
@joey_strawn now I’m hungry:)
@hessiejones haha, me too!
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } socialcrminfo.com – Today, 5:54 [...]
Love the photo, Joey. I see what you call social CRM as filling a void that traditional CRM wasn’t designed to. So in that respect, it’s reaching people on their level, where they hang out, on all the SM
platforms. I think sometimes companies, particularly the established, “old school” firms 1) don’t see the benefits; 2) don’t understand the tools ; and 3) worry that it’s going to be too labor-intensive. I think though, that done right, CRM and social CRM can be a powerful mix. What an interesting site this is. I need to bookmark it. : )
Oh yeah, and as far as music goes, I can top all of you. I’ve gone from 45s to LPs to 8-tracks to cassettes to CDs. Talk about have to buy the same pieces and artists multiple times. : )
@JudyDunn Pish posh – I still have The Ink Spots on 78s in my attic.
@DannyBrown Ink Spots. Haha. Your grandfather’s right? I think I had a 78 when I was 5. “Mighty Mouse in Toyland” it was called.
@JudyDunn@DannyBrown I still have David’s old harp recordings. You know the one: The King Saul Sessions.
Great points raised here. The way that customers, existing or potential, find, use and talk about products and services has changed. SCRM’s are here to cope with that, to expand a businesses ability to react to this.
Why the fear?
I agree, Steve. It seems like a lot of companies, even the “hip” ones, are afraid of changing the ways they do business or look at customers or processes. That’s why you see a huge pushback with issues like remote workforces and Social CRMs.
Very few companies seem to realize that a lot of these issues are supplementary and will benefit them in the long run.
Thanks for the comment!
Good points there. We’re using Oktopost (http://www.oktopost.com) for social media marketing along our salesforce.com CRM.
Thanks David! I have a friend who works for Salesforce. I know they make a quality product and are looking into adding game-features, Hopefully they’ll add more social features too, but I’ll have to check out Oktopost.
Cheers!
[...] Monday, we talked about the misconception of the Social CRM being out to destroy the well-established CRMs that companies already use. I mentioned in that post [...]
[...] See the original article here: Social CRM Is Not A Murderer Of CRM [...]
[...] is something we’ve touched on when I introduced the topic a while back, when we talked about Social CRM not replacing a standard CRM system, when we discussed who owns Social CRM, and many more posts, I think it’ll be good if we [...]
[...] Integrates social networking elements into a traditional CRM [...]
[...] talked before about the basic premises of Social CRM and that above all else it is not out to murder or replace your traditional CRM. This fact can get [...]