Social CRM is more important for businesses than ever before

You once had to be a geek in order to to know much about the opportunities the hi-tech world (especially the internet) afforded your business. These days, all of that is changing.

The nature of the way that we in business — merchant and buyer alike — interact with the web has become all-consuming. Many of us know that the social media platforms out there are being used to create massive profits, but a lot of us are still learning how exactly to harness this power.

If you are engaging in social customer relationship management (CRM) for your business, then you know that sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn are all very important parts of a modern marketing strategy. Companies both large and small are using these social networks to establish and maintain relationships with their customers… but how about those that are not?

Well, they risk falling behind during a time of change, which is perhaps the easiest way to go extinct as a business: becoming invisible. We all realise that marketing of any form is about keeping our brand fresh in the minds of our consumers. We know that it is up to us to do this effectively or we are looking at facing big problems down the road.

In order to keep your company ahead with social CRM, you must adopt strategies that work for this particular type of customer outreach. “Social” is the buzzword, and it has a very different meaning than “broadcast media”. You would never stand on a street corner in your customer’s neighbourhood with a bullhorn yelling at them to buy from you. That would, in fact, be quite antisocial and downright rude.

Customers on social networks are tolerant of marketing messages, but they must be handled well in order to make them feel that they are being interacted with rather than simply spoken to. This is a very subtle yet fundamental difference that you need to understand if you seek to leverage these social resources in hopes of turning a profit.. Also, your consumers are on equal footing with you when you take this route. They are also able to reach out to their friends and their audience online so they have a lot more power than a TV viewer has ever had.

Social CRM is not as complex as it might sound in most respects, but it is more complex than many other forms of media. If you do things wisely, though, you can expect great results. Businesses that are not on the social web need to get involved while the barrier to entry is still nice and low.