Widespread social media usage means that CRM has to be conducted in this forum in order to deliver an all-round experience for the customer. Not only should social media be integrated into any existing CRM strategy and looked at from a touchpoint and channel perspective, but social media can also be used to drive CRM.
CRM should embrace the social customer – effectively summed up by social CRM expert Paul Greenberg as follows:
“Social customers are not the customers of yore. They trust their peers, are connected via the web and mobile devices to those peers as much of a day as they would like. They expect information to be available to them on demand … They require transparency and authenticity from their peers and the companies they choose to deal with” (Greenberg, 2010).
Social media platforms allow customers to easily share their brand experience (good or bad) with their online social connections, who in turn can share this experience on. This means a potential word-of-mouth audience of millions could witness a single user’s brand experience and weigh in on the situation. Social customers place a great deal of value on the opinions of their peers, and are more likely to look favourably on a brand, product or service if a peer has recommended or praised it. In fact, the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual trust and credibility survey, saw trust in social media increase by 75%, noting that respondents are placing more and more importance on information gathered from
this space (Edelman, 2012).
Brands have realised that they need to leverage this in their CRM strategies and now understand that communication is not one way (from brand to consumer), or even two way (between consumer and brand) but multi-directional (brand to consumer, consumer to brand, consumer to consumer).
The convergence of social media with CRM has been termed social CRM or CRM 2.0, and has developed into a field on its own.
CRM should embrace the social customer – effectively summed up by social CRM expert Paul Greenberg as follows:
“Social customers are not the customers of yore. They trust their peers, are connected via the web and mobile devices to those peers as much of a day as they would like. They expect information to be available to them on demand … They require transparency and authenticity from their peers and the companies they choose to deal with” (Greenberg, 2010).
Social media platforms allow customers to easily share their brand experience (good or bad) with their online social connections, who in turn can share this experience on. This means a potential word-of-mouth audience of millions could witness a single user’s brand experience and weigh in on the situation. Social customers place a great deal of value on the opinions of their peers, and are more likely to look favourably on a brand, product or service if a peer has recommended or praised it. In fact, the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual trust and credibility survey, saw trust in social media increase by 75%, noting that respondents are placing more and more importance on information gathered from
this space (Edelman, 2012).
Brands have realised that they need to leverage this in their CRM strategies and now understand that communication is not one way (from brand to consumer), or even two way (between consumer and brand) but multi-directional (brand to consumer, consumer to brand, consumer to consumer).
The convergence of social media with CRM has been termed social CRM or CRM 2.0, and has developed into a field on its own.
