I don't think you can call a new solution "Social CRM" until you are connecting new social data sources to the sales data of your customers. CRM is about operationalization and efficiency. And ultimately that can only be judged against real sales data. We are now engaging customers in more and more sophisticated relationship programs meant to promote advocacy and action.I know that the state-of-the-art to monitor sales impact from social programs on a daily basis just isn't there yet.
One of our advantages (Ogilvy) in the marketplace is our complete eco-system of disciplines working side-by-side. That means on any given day, I am working with direct marketers, online advertising creatives, retail activation experts, and CRM leaders. We are methodically applying "social" to all traditional disciplines to define and practice next gen solutions to traditional business problems.
Managing Relationships
We have developed a robust Social IRM (Influencer Relationship Management) expertise. We have also developed many of the tools and services necessary to manage long term relationships with customers promoting them to both share some form of Word of Mouth with peers and to actually take an action all the way down to purchasing something. But until we connect all that great data to the actual sales data for said customers, I don't think its wise to label it 'Social CRM.'
Altimeter released their framework for Social CRMvia a useful pdf of 18 use cases. It's great stuff and a useful checklist of technology companies who may support one of those use cases.Still, is it really Social CRM? Each of those use cases represents business solutions that we and others have been supporting for years under the titles 'social media marketing and communications' and 'social business.'
Brent Leary at Inc.compares traditional CRM and Social CRM:
"And with multiple people "touching" the customer for various reasons, it quickly became important to be able to track activities, appointments, potential deals, notes, and other information. Consequently, traditional CRM grew out of this need to store, track, and report on critical information about customers and prospects.
Social CRM is growing out of a completely different need -- the need to attract the attention of those using the Internet to find answers to business challenges they are trying to overcome."
His POV, like many others, is that there is great value in adding social media strategies to your existing CRM program. He qualifies the contribution of the 'social' side to qualities we all take for granted yet remain hard to measure -
"social CRM is all about people and community. It's about how your company intends to participate in the ongoing conversations taking place in the industry. How you embrace non-traditional influential people like popular industry bloggers, and social sites on the Web frequented by your audience. And fully understanding the importance of contributing to discussions, in a transparent manner, will help you build the kind of reputation needed to become a valued member of the online communities important to your business."
This is all important social media for business. But does it qualify as Social CRM?
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