{"id":54616,"date":"2012-09-18T14:01:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T21:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/customerthink.com\/10_steps_to_successful_social_crm\/"},"modified":"2012-09-18T14:01:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-18T21:01:00","slug":"10_steps_to_successful_social_crm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/10_steps_to_successful_social_crm\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Steps to Successful Social CRM"},"content":{"rendered":"
Customer relationship management (CRM) is integral to the long-term success of a company. Now, with online community participation and social media usage at an all-time high, social CRM is quickly being adopted. Quite possibly the missing link between sales and marketing, social CRM allows companies to monitor and engage customers like never before.<\/p>\n
There are many definitions of social CRM available, but this one best defines the concept.<\/p>\n
[Social] CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a system and a technology, designed to improve human interaction in a business environment.<\/em><\/p>\n Esteban Kolsky, Three Reasons You Will Do Social CRM<\/em><\/p>\n The core function of successful sCRM is to integrate data pulled from social media platforms and use analytics to determine customer sentiment, industry trends, and social media return on investment. Social customer relationship management is the act of monitoring, engaging, and managing online conversations with prospects and clients.<\/p>\n The key to effective social CRM is transparency. And the secret to successful transparency in a business environment is to have a plan. Salespeople have call objectives, marketers have conversion goals, and customer service representatives have issue resolution plans. Social CRM combines all of these departmental aspirations into one unified customer-centric strategy. The number one benefit of successful sCRM is being able to actively seek out and engage prospects in the communication channel of their preference.<\/p>\n Social customer relationship management is a necessary business strategy. However, what works for one company may not work for another. The specifics of what will make your company’s sCRM efforts successful are unique to your business and its target audience. When laying the foundation for your social strategy, here are ten key steps to consider:<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong> Assemble a team<\/strong><\/p>\n An effective sCRM team should include employees from all relative departments, and a supervisor or manager who oversees daily activities, content distribution, and overall strategy execution.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong> Audit all social media accounts<\/strong><\/p>\n Before implementing a social customer relationship management initiative it is important to identify what accounts a company currently uses, determine which employee accounts will be used for brand advocacy, and create any accounts that are missing from the social media portfolio.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong> Create a style guide<\/strong><\/p>\n To ensure consistent messaging, it is essential to create a style guide. A style guide will outline the tone, industry-specific terms, desired hash tags, and general messaging guidelines for all online conversations.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong> Create a disaster plan<\/strong><\/p>\n Be prepared for negative engagement. A disaster plan will dictate how employees should respond to negative feedback and any potential disaster. Create scenarios and openly discuss with employees to determine the most appropriate response timeline.<\/p>\nBenefits of sCRM<\/strong><\/h3>\n
10 Step Check List for Successful sCRM<\/strong><\/h3>\n