Collaborative Community –
Social CRM vs. Traditional CRM: Part II
As we saw in Part I, today’s smart business owners add social CRM (customer relationship management) to their traditional CRM.. That’s because today’s “social customers” want businesses to show a real interest in them, and not just for the dollars they might spend. We gain their trust when we participate in the same online communities they go to for information and insight.
This collaborative community focus is one way that social CRM differs from traditional CRM. Now let’s look a little deeper at this development–
From process to conversation.
Traditional CRM helps to ensure that the appropriate people perform the proper sales and customer service activities in the correct sequences. While these elements of process are still important, social CRM strategy puts conversations front and center.
Meaningful conversations with people searching for the help you can provide will transform clicks into customers. This participation makes it easy for them to find us and invites them into a relationship with us – on their terms. Social CRM strategizes to increase the likelihood of such conversations.
From data to content.
Companies have invested in traditional CRM software to replace the card indexes, spreadsheets, and filing cabinets they used to use to try to corral their valuable customer information. CRM software makes the information available to everyone on the team who comes in contact with the customer.
But social CRM grows out of a whole new need: to attract the attention of people who use the internet to find solutions that you offer. The best way to capture the attention of these searchers is to provide relevant and compelling content.
Making it attractive, clear, and as friendly as a puppy increases the probability that you will move them to start a conversation with you. Meaningful content could be a blog post, podcast, YouTube video, or webinar.
From automation to…more automation.
Sales force and marketing automation have been two of the main tenants of traditional CRM. With social CRM’s need for content, the newest CRM software – ACT! by Sage and SalesLogix, for example – provides infrastructure to make it easier to create and distribute quality content. You can even use it to encourage your customers and partners to help you get your content out there.
Next up in Part III: How social CRM allows you to analyze your marketing and then think creatively and act audaciously. Go back to Part I if you missed WHY the way you relate to customers had better change.
