Page 253 - Social Media Marketing

Two mothers facing the same cold and flu outbreak at school are very likely to compare 231
notes through an online forum, or as part of a conversation in a discussion space like
Blogher’s “The Juice” that was referenced in Chapter 3, “Building a Social Business.” ■ ╇ S ocial C R M and B usiness D esign
When I was a kid, parents of school age children would sometimes deliberately send
healthy younger kids over to a sick child’s home in order to “catch” chickenpox. Pox
parties, as they were called, served to “inoculate” before the days of actual vaccines.
(The thinking being that it is much better to catch chickenpox as a child rather than to
catch it as an adult.) Rather than “parties,” parents now use social media—forums, for
example—to compare notes on vaccine programs, cold remedies, and general health
and nutrition with regard to their families.

What all of this adds up to is an opportunity to participate—something you
may already be doing in some form through a social media marketing program—that
leads to an opportunity to learn and adapt your products and services according to the
experiences and desires of your customers. This is the entry to Social CRM, a more
formalized process by which these customer conversations are picked up and used to
drive change and evolution of your business. Paul Greenberg provides the following
definition of Social CRM: the link to the complete discussion leading to this definition
is included in Appendix A, “Terms and Definitions.”

“CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technol-
ogy platform, business rules, workflow, processes and social character-
istics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in
order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent
business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s
ownership of the conversation.”

Paul Greenberg, July, 2009

Note in Paul’s definition the recognition that it is the customer that owns the
conversation, and that the conversation is happening in public. From the perspective of
a marketing manager or chief executive officer, entrepreneur, or associate director, this
ownership and visibility make all the difference. It essentially mandates a response, in
particular when the conversation is negative.

From a business perspective, the essential point is that an intelligent, relevant
response is now a typical expectation—even perhaps a requirement—in many Social
Web settings and certainly from the perspective of your customers. This is the connec-
tion point between the Social Web, social media marketing, and social business: The
experience created in the presentation, delivery, and use of a product or service drives
a conversation. This sequence implies a connection between that conversation and the
business or organization that created it. Social CRM provides a framework for measur-
ing, connecting, and leveraging this entire conversation cycle.