I've been talking a great deal (unfortunately not on this blog lately...) about the power of accidental communities. I call them that because I stumbled my way into starting a few of them. Stumble is the right word because I had no intention to start anything, I just wanted to keep track of stuff on Twitter, and maybe get involved with a few conversations.
About this time last year I had been writing and talking (mostly to Paul Greenberg) about the idea of social CRM for about a year. I had just finished a whitepaper on Social CRM for the folks at Sage Software and was looking try to connect with other folks interested in this area. I was also right in the middle of the whole Barack 2.0 thing, which made me look at Twitter in a whole new light. So I decided to start using a hash tag on Twitter to start tracking anything I tweeted about with respect to social CRM - that tag was #scrm.
As I began using the #scrm tag I noticed something - nobody else was. I would use it to share links and keep track of conversations, but weeks went by without anyone else using the tag. Then @ScorpFromHell (aka @Prem_k) started using it like crazy. He used it so much we began to question if he was just one person... the verdict is still out on that. Then others started using it and joining the conversation. Guys like @Mjayliebs and @CRMStrategies and @EKolsky. There was @JohnFMoore and @MKrigsman and @Jesus_Hoyos...... and @DrNatalie and @Lager and @Kitson.
So what started as nothing more than a way to keep track of stuff on Twitter turned into a real community of people interested in the development of this thing we (NOW) call social CRM. And not only are these people interested in social CRM, they are interesting people period. I know this because the #scrm hash tag made it possible for me to really get to know them. And the hash tag made it feel like I already knew them when I met them face to face, like recently at the CRM Evolution and Oracle OpenWorld conferences. Check the picture below of me, Esteban Kolsky, Paul G, Marshall Lager and Denis Prombriant - taken by Michael Krigsman at OpenWorld.
Oh yeah, the hash tag also put me in touch with some of the smartest people in the space. And while I was the alone in the wilderness when I first started using it, I'm not alone any longer as more than 670 people are now using the #scrm tag. It's by far the best place to go to keep up with what's going on with social CRM. So as far as accidents go, this one ranks among the very best I've had.
To give you just a little sample of the great conversations taking place there, I recently invited a few of the #scrm regulars onto the Technology For Business Sake show to get there take on.....well, you know. So check out @Prem_k (Prem Kumar), @Mjayliebs (Mitch Lieberman), @Ekolsky (Esteban Kolsky) and @CRMStrategies (Brian Vellmure) as they share their must-hear takes on everything Social CRM. Listen below or download the mp3 by clicking here. Enjoy!
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