The Intriguing Realm of Social Media, Social Intelligence and Social CRM

How many of you have complained on a company’s social media platform, and got a response? If you haven’t used the social channel so far, you might be in for a pleasant surprise. Companies are getting increasingly friendly with social networks and using them day in and out to interact with their customers, and for customer relationship management. A few times when I've reached out on social networks, my issues were resolved in no time. Companies are laying a lot of impetus on their "social reputation"

 

The past decade has seen one major change in the field of corporate communications. It is no more company-centric but rather consumer-centric. The focus is on saying what and how, the consumer wants to hear. This new development means that marketers need to know their consumers, listen to them and understand them. The need to interact with consumers on their preferred channels at a time convenient to them has forced corporations to embrace social media networks. It is a huge cultural shift enabled by the collaborative philosophy of Web 2.0. 

 What is Social Intelligence?

Since social media is driving CRM, companies have to develop social intelligence to interact with the consumers to make a real impact. It is not just about meeting consumer expectations, but differentiating experiences, having the ability to rise above the noise out there. Over the years, traditional CRM has quietly evolved into social CRM because of an increasing use of social media in corporate communications. How does a company achieve social networking maturity and harness the tools of social CRM- is a common question many small businesses wonder about. The process is complex: from establishing a mere presence, to managing online communities and finally getting benefited via Social ROI.

•  By leveraging social customer insights gathered from numerous touch points in social interactions, a company can implement a sound social CRM strategy that will drive decision-making, maximize performance and surpass the competition.

•  By aggregating information from social platforms, mobile and external data, a clear picture of potential clients or people of interest can be attained, leading to smarter marketing. This valuable information can also complement internal operations. 

• By encouraging and facilitating meaningful social interactions, strong relationships can be established. Marketers must remember that Push marketing is not the ideal conversation for social media. Consumers have specific objectives when they interact with brand. It could be incentives, entertainment, problem-solving, knowledge, and so forth. Unless those objectives are met, these interactions will not lead to any results.

•  By aggregating data from multiple social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram etc) with mobile, and external data  like surveys, national stats etc, one can find a whole lot of information about any one person.    

  
It is indeed intriguing to know how much data is available out there that can precisely pin-point people of interest to a company that has access to the right tools and tactics to derive that data.With a 360° view of a single customer, social CRM attains a new height allowing marketers to position their products much more effectively and participate in the customer’s decision making process.  

The changing world of marketing with Mobiles

According to eMarketer, mobile now accounts for 23% of the time spent with digital media. That’s up from just 4% four years ago. By 2016 45% of the world population would have owned a smartphone.

 2013 was an important year for content marketers. They’ve recognized the newly-founded popularity of mobiles in the digital world when they were asked to start designing content for mobiles and using marketing tactics that catered to mobile users. It is true. Most of us are only parted from our mobiles for the time we sleep, or a few hours we can’t technically use a mobile. Whenever we can, we do tend to be with our mobile – be it in public transit, during lunch breaks, while gobbling down that burger, on treadmill, in grocery store or driving, and what for - using whatsapp, FB, Twitter, clicking pictures on Instagram, listening to music, watching a film, the uses are endless! 

However a study indicates that 60% of the time spent on mobiles accounts for games and social media with Facebook accounting for the biggest chunk of time and attention. People are sending millions of text messages using apps like Whatsapp across the world rather than using telecom-operated text messaging. Smartphones are making it easier for people to communicate be it using an app or facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, to name a few. 

If users are spending all that time on their mobile, do they really read what they see? Yes, but the attention span has reduced greatly. Users love new information but in bite-sizes. Info-snacking is the new trend, or unless it is collaborative information.

Another important fact to be taken into consideration is that with all these social platforms and increasing usage, people are no more anonymous as they used to be a few years ago. There is so much personal information available on a multitude of these platforms that connecting the dots is not an issue any more.

What's in for Content Marketing?

This extraordinary social usage presents an excellent opportunity for content marketers to reach out to consumers in new ways, and to get to know their consumers much better than before. So, what are the points to be considered when including mobiles and social media to manage your consumer relationships?

• Content is what creates brand. Content is what is mostly being searched on Google. Consumers are always looking for content, and if your site or social platform has useful and original content, it will drive traffic.

•  Content must be driven by context, or else it will be of no use

• Content marketing for mobiles is not the same as content marketing for websites. The design element is very important. Mobile-friendly sites are a top priority. Every page on a corporate website must be optimized for mobile users.

• Social platforms are mostly accessed on mobiles which means that less content meets the eye than before. Marketers must create shorter content, but increased frequencies of messaging from different platforms/ channels.

• Home page is losing relevance. Social feeds will bring your consumer directly to the post/linked page. Home page is skipped unless someone is accessing the website directly. This means, each page needs to have the pertinent information to make the visitor stay longer.

Do not underestimate the important of content and the way mobiles are taking over the consumers` lives. With social media now primarily being accessed on mobile, it becomes all the more important to drive brand-related conversations that can get consumer attention. This is possible through extraordinary and relevant content; content that makes the brand a leader in the marketplace!