How To Not Fail At Social CRM

Social CRM can be a powerful tool to interact with customers like never before.  Businesses are jumping into the space lured by the prospect of increased brand loyalty at affordable prices.  They effectively have no choice but to engage their customers through social channels now.  Unfortunately, many don’t recognize the risks involved and pursue a half-hearted effort.  Such as approach can bring tremendous damage to a brand’s reputation in the blink of an eye.  It is better to not engage the customer at all, then to engage in a way that increases customer frustration.

There are few best practices for Social CRM, as every business must pursue a strategy appropriate for them.  However, the following are common themes in the numerous epic fails in Social CRM.

• The customer service process must be clearly defined.  The social media team is often far removed from the customer service team.  Thus, defined processes must exist to quickly obtain the answer from the appropriate personal.  A speedy reply is critical as engaging the customer only to leave them hanging later is the worst situation.  It is also important that multiple personal don’t duplicate their efforts while attempting to answer the question.  Additionally, the level of service provided must be defined if different rate service plans are offered.  Customers with the basic service plan will seek higher tier service through interaction via social channels.
• While automatic or semi-automatic responses are tempting to conserve resources, customers will see right through canned responses.  All communication must be authentic.  There shouldn’t be any attempts at upselling the customer either.
• With the plethora of social channels, it is easy to be stretched thin.  Rather than having a presence on all platforms, determine which will yield the most beneficial interaction with your customer base and devote the necessary resources to succeed on that channel before expanding.  A presence in fewer fields is better than apathetic efforts in many.
• Only 5% of problems posted to companies’ Facebook pages are answered sufficiently.  71% of consumers don’t get an answer after posting via twitter.  These stats indicate significant room for improvement in this field.  It is critical that posts are answered sufficiently and promptly.  While tempting to ignore vocal complainers, remember that these complainers are often influential and their criticism spreads like wildfire.

A well-devised process involving a cross-functional team of experts can power a highly effective Social CRM program.  Unfortunately, many businesses enter this space without properly considering the significant risks. Social media amplifies successes and failures and lightening speed.  Thus, it is imperative to enter this space fully committed, for it would be better not to participate at all than to do so with a passive effort.