Amit Bhaiya for the HuffPo writes: With eCommerce exploding and sales for products and services
increasingly growing online, social media is a must-do for companies.
But it takes more than a presence on Facebook or other social media
sites to keep companies large or small connected with their customers.
The
real game changer is Social CRM or social customer relationship
management. Social CRM turns online relationships into real-time
opportunities. It gives companies the chance to ramp up conversions and
increase sales, bolster customer care and innovation, even streamlines
business operations. In fact, Social CRM results in real ROI on a
company's social media investment of time, employee participation and
money.
Today's customer is ubiquitous and outspoken, particularly
on social media where a customer's words are written not verbalized.
When you consider this generic customer profile, you come to realize
your customer is in control of the customer/company conversation.
According to the IBM Institute
for Business Value (IBMIBV), 72 percent of Boomers, and 89 percent and
79 percent of Generations X and Y participate in social media. Due to
these consumers having access to information and intelligence in real
time, these statistics display the pervasive power of consumers in
online communities and networks. They are empowered influencers who
hands down can make or break your company's reputation.
As a
business owner or leader, you could be daunted by this imbalance. On the
other hand, you could develop a Social CRM strategy geared toward the
dynamics of the virtual environment. In this social media-driven
community based environment, website visitors become loyal customers --
not because they are "soft" on a particular company's brand but because
that company wrings out value from the online relationship.
That
value translates to customers getting the special attention they feel
they deserve when they buy a lot of product or service. That special
attention could come in the form of discounts and coupons that will save
them on their next purchase, a prompt response to an issue or trouble
ticket, or even the appreciation for delivering on a customer suggestion
for improvement.
Social CRM positions companies to take the good
out of social media and designs online experiences that, according to
Carolyn Baird IBMIBV global research leader, "deliver tangible value in
return for a customer's time, attention, endorsement and data."
Baird's
conclusions make sense in our current virtual environment. Her views,
shared by many experts in the CRM sector, surely suggest there's risk
for companies who fail to ride the social media wave.
Still,
companies must be mindful. Rushing into social media without a strategy
can lead to failure. When you're in a frenzy to leverage social media to
enhance customer favor and gain market share, a rush to adoption
without a strategy may end up being spotty and dangerous. So, yes, your
company may use social media but if the usage is neither strategic nor
integrated, you may not really be hearing what your customers want.
Therefore, you run the risk of failing to fulfill their value
expectations -- expectations that can be characterized by
responsiveness, respect and real deals.
According to CRM guru Paul Greenberg
in his book CRM at the Speed of Light, Social CRM is based on the
ability of a company to meet the personal agendas of customers while, at
the same time, meeting the objectives of [its] own business plan. In
other words, you simply can't separate the social chatter from your
business mission and value nor from your business objectives and
operations. Social CRM strategy covers governance, workflow and
guidelines that employees are actually trained to follow. It also
includes a centralized function that ensures customer insights and
organizational responses are shared, monitored and vetted throughout
your company.
Here are some tips to help you keep your eye on the ball when developing and delivering on a Social CRM strategy:
Use a comprehensive technology platform to reach all customer touch points: Your
platform should include listening, monitoring and engagement
capabilities that can seamlessly integrate with other key enterprise
applications like sales, marketing and customer care to foster a
holistic customer approach that will enable you to manage the
customer-controlled conversation.
Identify and engage your social influencers:
Use social tools to identify who is driving the most conversation about
your brand and reach out to them to foster a two-way dialogue and build
a relationship.
Find creative ways to identify customer values:
Dialogue and participation is the base of social media. Ask customers
what they expect from your brand and do it creatively with polls,
surveys, idea jams and posed challenges. Getting customers invested in
the outcome will cultivate their brand ambassadorship and advocacy. That
can only benefit your business.
Reward the loyalists: Create
client loyalty and discount codes to keep this steadfast group coming
back, either to purchase or to keep them engaged when they're not
buying. This is imperative for those interacting exclusively with your
brand. Up the ante even further: Turn to handwritten notes and brand
trinkets via snail mail to reward positive feedback.
Respond in a timely manner:
And this means quickly, especially if a customer has a question, even
more so if he or she has a complaint. With the latter, you're talking a
personal response in minutes. Overall, these actions deepen customer
loyalty, appreciation and trust.
Put a human face on your brand: Friends
and fans want to interact with "real" people, not a faceless
organization. Allow employees who tweet from a company account to put
their name at the end of a message. Encourage employees to inject their
personality into a post, still keeping within brand voice and tone
parameters as defined in the company's social media guidelines. Above
all, talk with your customers, not at them. Remember, you're not just
pushing information. You're having a two-way conversation that
ultimately syncs coveted customer expectations with your company's
business objectives and its culture, mission and vision.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment