I must start by emphasising that social media is by no
means the only CRM (customer relationship management) tool a company should use
and certainly in certain circumstances there are are other CRM tools that are
more effective.
It has however become clearly obvious that with the
implementation of social media as a grass roots CRM instrument by medium and
large enterprises, the cost effectiveness of these tools and overall resulting
customer experience of the engagement, interaction and when necessary also the
intervention often provides an almost immediate ROI.
A number of examples immediately come to mind. The most
recent was only yesterday when we were attending a conference at a venue that
is part of one of the largest global hotel and hospitality chains. My other
half was rather displeased with the service and sent a single tweet and hash
tagged it.
The response was almost immediate and came from pretty high
up. This company got it right in both of the most important ways this should be
approached. Implementation of their actual CRM strategy using social media and
their culture regarding how to approach the problem using the relevant
instrument - in this case Twitter.
It is very clear that not only do they have an engaging
monitoring policy, but they also go out of their way to ensure that when tweets
are not directed at them personally they can pick up hash tagged and
unhashtagged conversations, enabling quick intervention when required.
Brand and reputation development and protection should come
hand in hand with any online engagement strategy and policy for any business
regardless of its size. We all knows that rumours (even when untrue) can cause
stocks to crash and can ruin a healthy corporate virtually overnight.
A company strengthens its armour when it's digital presence
policies encompass brand protection and it has the strategy to be able to turn
negative customer experience around so that the outside world watching this
unfold, (and trust me it's a very big glass house out there) can witness a
positive outcome - every time.
The online world leaves digital footprints that remain for
years and even decades. If there has been a bad customer experience linking it
to a positive outcome this, has enormous long term value. Consumer forums often
discuss customer experience and the footprint they leave is enormous and
lasting. When the forums actually show a positive outcome it can have a domino
effect.
Customers will discover how others have reached satisfactory
resolution, enhancing brand image and also driving new customers not only to
the company's web presence be it interactive social media, e-commerce or the
company website, but also their b&m (bricks and mortar) premises.
Happy and satisfied customers breed an air of confidence
about certain brands which has the effect that the brand becomes the prevalent
choice.
I remain astonished at how many large corporate enterprises
still use social media for promotion only and do not have it integrated into
customer service, logistics, sales and sales support, in fact any department
that engages with customers at all. Those that use it for monitoring remain
even fewer and yet the obvious advantage that offers over the competition isn't
rocket science.
This is where analysis of ROI becomes tricky. If analysis
is only going to include the financial return particularly when looking at CPA,
a true picture can never be determined. True social media effectiveness is not
only visible by growth in online sales, but also by the willingness of the
customer to return to the B&M (bricks and mortar) presence on the street as
a result of the social media strategy that enhances their spending experience.
In closing, I would recommend that any company recruiting
or contracting a social media Strategist look beyond their technical knowledge
of markup languages and GAIQ, but also investigate the candidates ability and
outlook at directing and if necessary redirecting their digital strategy to the
ever changing needs and demands of the customer. After all the needs of the
client/company are irrevocably entwined with the needs of their customer base,
and it would be a huge mistake not to recognise that as the customer base
grows, so will the need to diversify the social media strategy.
