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How are Social Media and CRM Impacting Your Business?

The phenomenal growth of technology and connectivity across the globe has added a new and unusual dimension, to traditional marketing and brand management principles.


The phenomenal growth of technology and connectivity across the globe has added a new and unusual dimension, to traditional marketing and brand management principles. I’m referring to the growth of the Internet as a virtual communications hub.

The Internet transcends geographical, cultural and social barriers to global engagement. Not to mention, the onslaught of social media, with tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, to name just a few.Globally, the incidence of consumer engagement through virtual media has shown a dramatic increase, in the past two years; from 29% to 34%, according to a recent Forrester study.

Traditional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) techniques are no longer adequate to address customer engagement and brand metrics – brand loyalty, building, monitoring and performance.If you’re starting a new small business or managing an existing company, brand and customer loyalty measurement should take into account ‘social CRM’ (SCRM).

SCRM leads to a more-realistic assessment of return-on-investment (ROI) of conventional and new-age marketing and branding tools and techniques.

Measuring the Impact of Social CRM

Business analytics using conventional Key Performance Indicators (KPI) cannot be used in measuring the impact of SCRM. On the other hand, the lack of a comprehensive framework in evaluating the returns from SCRM means vital data pertaining to online engagement is excluded in assessing the overall effectiveness and ROI of the entire marketing cycle.

In order to measure SCRM and its effect on branding and marketing initiatives, entrepreneurs must understand the basic elements of social media; then develop tools and methodologies for real-time, effective measurement of SCRM and finally, link these with other traditional brand metrics.

A fivefold analytical framework incorporating brand metrics and SCRM is discussed below. The key elements include:

  • Build brand loyalty through systematic approaches and research
  • Embed social media while designing brand architecture and portfolio
  • Measure brand effectiveness by identifying and capturing customer insights across multiple platforms (offline and online)
  • Monitor brand recognition through customer satisfaction indices
  • Promote and build your brand through social media tools

 

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