Is your company “upgrading” their traditional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, for a new, shiny technology makeover called social CRM?  Ironically, social CRM isn’t a technology or program, but often the term is used to represent a variety of apps, software, technology gadgets and more.  Personally, I’m not a fan of the acronym CRM.  Who really manages their customers? And, putting the word social in front of it just makes the concept even more insane.

I recently attended a teleclass, How To Not Throw Away Money on Social Media and CRM, presented by Marshall Lager, industry analyst and Managing Principal at Third Idea Consulting LLC.  Marshall shared these three critical points for companies looking to leverage social networks and bring social into their CRM process.

Marshall’s tips:

1. You can’t throw away traditional CRM in favor of social CRM, because they supplement each other.
2. Integrate your social platform with your work flows or you’re just creating a data pit.
3. Don’t invest in new social tools because they’re new—invest because you can make good use of them.

The reality is that you should think of social CRM in a much broader way.  You should be thinking about what you want your customers to experience and how these new shiny social tools can help your company deliver that experience across your sales, marketing and customer service departments.  This concept is similar to traditional marketing and social marketing. One does not replace the other.

These tips are so import to the success of business, let’s explore each one in more detail.

You can’t throw away traditional CRM in favor of social CRM, because they supplement each other.

You still need visibility to all interactions with your customer from sales, marketing, and customer service and support. This operational information is your traditional CRM.  When you combine that information with all of the potential social networks, the data can be overwhelming and difficult to manage. In some cases, it can cause extreme interruption in productivity.  So, you need visibility to social data when and where it is relevant.  However, in the same token, your customer might share frustration about your product on Twitter.  By reaching out to them to offer help, your brand creates stronger loyalty and satisfaction.  So, yes, organizations need to adopt both traditional CRM and Social CRM.  But the social aspects must be integrated in a way that increase the company’s potential to provide a richer customer experience.

Integrate your social platform with your work flows or you’re just creating a data pit.

Most consultants assisting with both Traditional and Social CRM tools should take your company through a discovery session, whichat the very least is typically 2 days of mapping out workflow with the sales, marketing, and customer service departments.  For companies ready to bring customer voice into research and development, this discovery process may be executed in phases.  From this stepping stone, your consultant can help your company identify how social CRM can help your company achieve the customer experience vision.

Don’t invest in new social tools because they’re new—invest because you can make good use of them.

And, this process is how your company can define the requirements for a social platform, which is ultimately integrated into cross-department workflows.  And, no, it is unlikely you will find the perfect fit with one solution.  But, at least you will know what to look for in a solution and ultimately select the right tools instead of the latest shiny technologies.  Technologies which may look good, but may not help you achieve your customer experience vision.

Best of luck.  Let us know if we can help.  And, if you have some tips to share with our readers, share them here.  They would appreciate the opportunity to learn from your experience.

-Kim

More from Bigfish

• What is Social Media?
• 3 Tips To Create Brand Power In Your Marketing
• You're a Social Media…What?
• Is Your Brand Embracing the Technology Addiction?
• Advertising Fragmentation Due to Interactive/Social Media

Bigfish Recommends

• How To Measure Social Media ROI  (StayOnSearch)
• How to Use PostRank for Social Media Analytics  (StayOnSearch)
• We won't need Facebook to be social  (Vator News)

Ask Bigfish Creative Group To Recommend Your Posts