Chad McCloud, Director at Jabian Consulting, moderated a TAG panel discussionon the benefits of social media strategies for customer relationship management.
Atlanta, Georgia – September 15, 2011 – Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) CRM board member and Jabian director Chad McCloud moderated an interactive conversation among TAG members on how to connect with customers through social media. Assembled business and thought leaders discussed lessons learned from social media use and how it can engage a customer base and enable deeper relationships.
McCloud explains that social media is no longer just a novelty: “The day my 5-year-old started counting the number of baskets he made in our driveway, I realized he was growing up. Simply bouncing the ball wasn’t enough anymore – he had to get five in a row. Social media is coming into its own that way – it’s no longer the toy companies are tossing around just for fun. They want results out of their social media efforts, and they want them now.”
McCloud says a common theme of the discussion was that world-class companies don’t get far without an integrated strategy for CRM. Panelists were Jeff Davis, Product Sales Specialist, Cisco Systems; John Lawson, CEO, ColderICE; Russell Walraven, Director of Marketing, Kabbage, Inc; and Jerry Williams, President and CEO, Upward Wave.
A “social media strategy” has become a red herring. Companies who do social media well blend it into their customer-driven strategy, and it becomes one of many channels to engage the customer. Williams says insights gained from interactions through social media should be shared across the organization, from sales and marketing to customer care, in order to deepen relationships and maximize ROI.
“Forget about B2B or B2C, it’s all about people,” says Lawson. Social channels are not simply a medium for pushing messaging and content – they are receivers for listening to what’s being said about the brand and what customers are doing. People want to do business with those who better understand their traits, needs, and wants; and companies who tie social activities back to the customer record build a better understanding. One challenge, says Walraven, is to continually adapt to new social channels that are being adopted in the marketplace at an increasing rate.
Companies should be conscious of their customers’ level of trust, says Davis. A great majority of people trust the recommendations of their friends, compared to a small minority of people who trust the advertising of companies. Social media allows people to connect over recommendations, and the net effect can be positive or negative on the products and services they consume. Ultimately, using social channels to listen enables companies to recognize and respond to feedback (praise or criticism) appropriately.
All panelists agreed the greater challenge lies in the measurement of return on social media investment. Marketers have wrestled with this concept through other channels before. Where once it was linking Tide sales to TV commercials, it’s now linking ‘brand love’ on Facebook to soft drink sales. Innovative methods are continually emerging that prove ROI. A large financial institution, for example, identifies customers who changed jobs on LinkedIn, then proactively engages in a conversation to help transfer their 401ks. (This panel discussion itself, in fact, was promoted through social channels, with sign-up rates measured through a dedicated url.)
Companies that prove they can delight customers and increase acquisition, retention, and share of wallet through social media will be the ones to make long-term investments in those channels. When that happens, social media becomes an effective tool, not just a toy.