Connections
Take 5
5 Ways to Improve Your Business Through Social CRM
A Hoover's executive outlines what you can accomplish with the right strategy.
1. Get personal.
Social customer relationship management (CRM) is, in some ways, another name for personalization. Consumers increasingly turn to social channels to connect with one another to gather information on companies they deal with or plan to deal with. Your organization, therefore, needs to attract and hold the attention of active social networkers, many of whom aren't interested in, and don't react to, traditional marketing efforts. Social CRM extends traditional CRM to help cross the chasm to these individuals.
2. Gain greater insights.
Customers control the social network community. They are marketing or disparaging your products. You need to understand what is being said and how your company is being represented. A strategic approach to gathering these conversations allows you to comprehend consumers in a broader context and enhance your marketing and sales effectiveness. You will not only be able to monitor what's happening but also participate in the discussion and determine which channels provide the most value. Without being actively involved, it will become increasingly difficult to manage customer relationships.
3. Build meaningful relationships.
Gather all critical information to make your customer interactions meaningful and personal. With the wealth of data being mined from all channels, it is important to provide this wisdom to your internal organizations. Armed with data from the traditional and social channels, internal teams will be able to communicate more effectively with consumers. This helps build loyalty while ensuring you're offering relevant information throughout the customer life cycle.
4. Boost brand management.
At Hoover's, we have learned that delivering pervasive access to our products throughout our customers' workflows—whether they are on the road or in the office—increases their relevance, providing a powerful lift to our brand. With the Near Here iPhone application, we have tapped into the location-based services trend, improving the relevance of our data on mobile devices for target customers. Expanding the ways customers can positively interact with your brand ultimately leads to greater engagement.
5. Inspire customer loyalty.
Customers do business with companies they trust. So capture the right information from the traditional channels, gather the opinions from the social community, and effectively analyze this data for insights to drive extraordinary sales and marketing results. You will not only increase revenue but also provide more timely and relevant products to your customers. The bottom line is that a social CRM strategy can build your brand and gain customers' trust, because you're listening and acting through all channels.