Page 58 - Social Media Marketing

c h a p t e r 2 : ╇ T he N ew Role of the C ustomer ╇ ■ collaborative social program, pay specific attention to the design of the reputation
management system. Developer communities such as Intel’s Black Belt program are
well worth study. Look too at support communities such as Dell’s or Best Buy’s—both
built on the Lithium Technologies platform, known for its specific capabilities sup-
porting reputation management and expert identification. All of these are great “best
practice” applications to study and compare as you go about creating the design speci-
fications for your own community or other social application.

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Figure€2.1╇â•I‰ntel’s Black Belt Program

Customer Relationships: CRM Gets Social

In the traditional sales cycle, CRM (customer relationship management) forms a data-
driven understructure that powers an overall customer life cycle. Based on historical
transactions, the insights into what a customer may need next, or when a particular
customer may be ready for an upsell, offers are generated based on past transactional
data and the larger purchase or use patterns that exist across the entire customer base.

On the Social Web, where the customer is now becoming an integral part of the
sales process, CRM is being adapted to support this new role of the customer. Think
here specifically about the Social Feedback Cycle and the role of a brand ambassador,
or an advocacy program that plays out in social media. In each of these, there is a spe-
cific development process—from tire kicker to car owner to loyal customer to brand
advocate—that can be understood in terms of available behavioral data. Posts on social