What is Social CRM?
Social CRM or social customer relationship management is the integration of social media channels into Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms.
In simpler terms, it is a strategy that allows you to gather your client’s information about interests and track their activity as it pertains to various social media channels.
This allows you to interact with them in a more personal level as you are able to learn more about your audience and keep up with their behavior therefore improving your customer engagement.
Why would you want to track social network behavior you ask?
Well, the more you know about your target audience the better you can serve them and customize your content and services to their needs.
This means that if one of your clients prefers to interact with your company through Twitter or Facebook, using social CRM you are able to keep up with those interactions and keep track of the customer service activity without skipping a beat.
The power of Social CRM has been around for years, but it is just now beginning to be taken seriously by many companies.
In the past years, companies have really shined through their social media voices.
Companies like Burger King, Wendy’s, and Pepsi have gone viral through their witty and clever interactions with their audience online.
A lot of companies are seeing that and are wanting to take part in the action.
What are the benefits?
The benefits of integrating a social CRM alongside a traditional one are many.
Although a traditional CRM helps you gather data and information, a social CRM helps bring in conversations and relationships into the mix.
Through social CRM you are able to:
- Track your customer’s interactions with your company
- Track your customer’s interactions with other customers
- Provide fast customer service
- Receive feedback from your customers
- Anticipate customers’ upcoming needs
- Identify and reward brand advocates
How should you measure your social media efforts?
As with any strategy the data you collect allows you to test and measure your efforts and adjust accordingly.
Below are some of the most common metrics to take into consideration. It is important that you monitor these monthly if not weekly to track your results in real time.
- Overall Traffic
Social CRM allows enables you to measures traffic and conversion rates. This includes information like how many clicks your website.
- Engagement
Measuring engagement is important because you can see not only what people clicked but if they actually took action like filled out a form or made a call.
- Followers
It’s important to note the followers you had before you launched a campaign and compare with after the campaign to see if you gained any new followers or maybe lost some.
- Shares
Through Social CRM you can also keep track of what was your most shared post across all your social media channels to help you create more engaging content.
- Brand mentions
Is your company or your unique hashtag trending? Through Social CRM you can measure how many of your followers are talking about your company or brand and if what are they saying.
Now let’s dive into the tips to leverage/implement the power of Social CRM!
Tip # 1 to implement the power of Social CRM – Have a dedicated social media manager
The very first and most important thing to do before you embark on your journey is finding a dedicated social media manager whose job will be to manage all social media channels and make sure you have a consistent voice across all channels.
Usually when more than one person is involved in writing for social media your messaging might not be as uniformed as you might like.
As with any strategy it is important that someone takes the lead and owns the tasks for that strategy specifically.
Tip # 2 to implement the power of Social CRM – Monitor mentions and respond ASAP
It is imperative that you have a dedicated social media manager that can dedicate time to monitor all your social media channels.
It is recommended that you respond to any mentions within 24 hours.
There are different software options available that can help you stay on top of your social media.
Some of them include HubSpot, Salesfocre, and Zoho.
Leaving a comment or question unanswered can negatively impact your reputation and make your customers feel ignored or disappointed.
Tip # 3 to implement the power of Social CRM – Participate in relevant social media groups
A lot of times companies think joining “groups” will help them gain leads. The truth is, it does, but only if the groups they join are relevant to the company’s target market or the services they offer.
For example, a manufacturing company may join a group on Facebook that includes other manufacturing companies that are looking to outsource the services they can’t provide.
LinkedIn groups are also a great tool to communicate with others and establish yourself as an expert of your field.
Tip # 4 to implement the power of Social CRM – Identify and nurture your brand advocates
If you have loyal brand advocates, make sure you acknowledge them!
Through Facebook that could mean enabling your Top Fan badges and letting your customers be able to share with the world their loyalty to your company.
Through Twitter you could offer a discount code or promotional offer to your most engaged customers.
To Recap:
To reap the full benefits of Social CRM you have to consider the following tips to be effective:
- Assign a dedicated social media manager
- Monitor mentions and respond ASAP
- Participate in relevant social media groups
- Identify and nurture your brand advocates
Do you have any questions in regards to social CRM? Share them with us below!
If you want to receive a monthly free exclusive tip on how to grow your business, optimize your website, SEO, and all marketing tips, make sure to enter your email below to stay in the loop:
