From CRM to Social CRM: Tales from the SCRM Blizzard
Last week more than seventy of us hearty souls ventured into the whiteness of Virginia seeking the Holy Grail of Social CRM, now the technology industry's newest acronym. The most prominent take away from this conference that I observed was that most companies attending didn't know what SCRM is, let alone how to execute social CRM business initiatives across the social media landscape. Our seer for this conference was the undaunted and innovative relentless revolutionary, Paul Greenberg. Paul started the conference off with this statement, "we are in the midst of a social communications revolution that impacts all institutions and business among them." Paul loves the revolution word because of his history as a baby boomer revolutionary and he is probably still on the FBI watch list. In my view, the biggest challenge ahead for many companies and organizations that need to address this revolution is their own DNA and culture, and most companies today still don't get social media.
Sometimes the technology industry simply can't help itself and that is because we spend too much time living in our own ecosystem speaking a language that most people don't understand. Without knowing it we make our jobs harder by creating acronyms that most business people really hate. I still vividly remember my anti-acronym experience at Public Health Care Systems in Massachusetts. The CIO invited me to present to fifty five line of business managers back in 2003 and of course there were several acronyms on my first slide. Before I could even get off the first slide a woman in the front row told me that if I used another acronym she would leave. So here we go again with yet another acronym, SCRM.
Key Take Aways from the SCRM Blizzard
Paul Greenberg continued, "The dynamic nature of business strategies today is demanded by the changing customer behavior and the use of web 2.0 enabling platforms. According to various research surveys and reports that Paul presented, peer groups became very important during the period of 2003-2004. We certainly see the same results in our internal research, as peer groups ranked in the top ten out of 24 channels of influence in 2006 and again in 2009 primary market research that we recently completed.
The Decline of Trust?
- Edelman notes that it takes five separate sources to establish trust.
- Peer group trust is declining according to Edelman.
- Trust in general is declining.
I don't agree with these findings as they go against the results of several research studies recently completed internally at SAP and also several studies by SNCR, which clearly show an increase of participation and trust in social media peer groups. Although I have referenced the New Symbiosis of Professional Networks research before in other blogs, I think it is important to revisit some of the key findings, as they directly contradict some of the statements on the decline of trust.
Key Findings from the SNCR's New Symbiosis Research Study
Professional decision-making is becoming more social
- Traditional influence cycles are being disrupted by Social Media as decision makers utilize social networks to inform and validate decisions.
- Professionals want to be collaborative in the decision-cycle but not be marketed or sold to online; however online marketing is a preferred activity by companies.
Professional networks are emerging as decision-support tools
- Decision-makers are broadening reach to gather information especially among active users.
Professionals trust online information almost as much as information gotten from in-person.
- Information obtained from offline networks still have highest levels of trust with slight advantage over online (offline: 92% - combined strongly/somewhat trust; online: 83% combined strongly/somewhat trust).
Reliance on web-based professional networks and online communities has increased significantly over the past 3 years
- Three quarters of respondents rely on professional networks to support business decisions.
- Reliance has increased for essentially all respondents over the past three years.
More Key Take Aways From The Blizzard
- Influencers that have ecosystems that include social media peer groups and social media platforms are gaining more importance?
- Social media peer groups and member communities reach more Internet users than email.
- The conversation is now controlled by the customer.
- The most important aspect of this revolution is the fear of who the social customer will influence, now potentially in the millions.
- 50-55 year old women fastest growth segment on Facebook
- Gen X Baby boomers rapidly adopting Web 2.0 technologies.
- The PC gaming industry understands these customers more than most industries.
Net/Net
What does this all mean? Well first and foremost what we thought about only younger people using social media has now changed dramatically and this will impact nearly all aspects of business, organizations and government. As I have said many times before, social media is the new word of mouth marketing platform. Another important notable concept that Paul introduced is that of a "collaborative value chain" and his example of Proctor and Gamble's successful use of social media peer groups to market to mothers and teens and their supply chain optimization was excellent. If you are interested in reading more about how R. J. Lafely created a culture of innovation at P&G, pick up a copy of Game Changer a recent book by Lafely and Ram Charan.
Another actionable point was "Mapping the customer experience" and in Paul's words "knowing how thy customer thinks and involve him or her in your thinking behavior on a systemic and ongoing basis." This is key and links to the new world of customer experience management, or CEM, (yes another acronym) and how to measure the customer experience in terms of volume, tonality, frequency and influence within the social media landscape and peer groups. Today it's the five Ps of marketing, product, place, position, price and people and until next time I wish you great marketing and selling it the millennium.