Surprising Benefits of Using a Social CRM System

Most businesses are obliged to maintain a presence on at least the four major social media platforms, those being Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. In some cases, it also makes sense for some businesses to establish a presence on Pinterest or on Snapchat. However, when you need to aggregate your customer information which is being funneled through from your email system, your website, and all social channels you have a presence on, it can quickly get to be a nightmare.This is why it's quite likely to be beneficial for your company to have a CRM system in place which has a social component to it. Below, you'll find some of the biggest benefits of having such a CRM system in place, although these particular benefits seldom get much discussion or airplay.

More effective segmentation of your audience

One of the biggest keys to effective marketing is segmenting your audience, because all your marketing initiatives should be driven by the concept of your ideal customer. You will generally find that different segments of your target audience should be approached with different marketing strategies, and that a significant level of personalization should be involved in all cases.Segmentation allows you to use social insights which will match up individuals with certain marketing strategies more effectively. A good CRM system will bring together detailed demographic information, including an age category, income bracket, and prospect likelihood. This in turn allows you to create several variations of your ideal customer, so that all your marketing initiatives can be much more effective.

Identifying good and bad vibes

Some of today's social media CRM's are packaged with monitoring tools which can identify tone and sentiment from social media posts. When you're able to analyze feedback you get from your target audience, you can make modifications to your marketing direction on the fly, before losing customers. This can actually be a lifesaver when it comes to preventing the loss of loyal customers, or others who are legitimate prospects.This kind of tool also allows you to identify positive sentiment which is being shared among your followers, so that you can expand on this kind of successful marketing strategy. You can produce similar marketing messages in the expectation that they will be well received also. Whether feedback is good or bad, it can be extremely useful for you to have access to it and to act upon it, either to make modifications, or to expand upon the success of an earlier campaign.

Coordinate marketing, sales, and customer service

Your marketing team will generally be the individuals responsible for managing social media initiatives. They will be the ones who write posts, create content calendars, and work to foster engagement with followers. However, other departments in your organization will also have an impact on social media events relative to your company. As an example, when a prospect sends detailed questions about a product ad you have recently run, that's time to bring in sales personnel, so as to capitalize on a potential lead.If you find that a customer has posted a particularly unpleasant review about your products or services, this is something that should be referred to your customer service department. When you have a CRM system with a good social component, it will help keep all of your departments working together, and on the same page. Since everyone will have access to the same information being fed in from social media, your entire business operation will be in sync, and able to respond more effectively.

React quickly to business situations

Consumers are notoriously impatient when it comes to expecting responses from a business. Nearly 40% of all consumers say that they feel it's important that a business responds within one hour to any kind of query they present to a company. A person in your company dedicated to monitoring such queries and responding to them, would certainly have difficulty beating the one-hour deadline, if he/she had to monitor at least four social media platforms all at once.This is a perfect opportunity for your social CRM system to step in and make everything easier. Since all customer reviews and comments can easily be managed by your social CRM system, customer service representatives can put out responses very quickly. If you can't satisfy a customer in this way, it's very possible that you might lose them as a prospect.On the other hand, if you jump right on it, it's far more likely that they will stay interested in your product or service, and perhaps eventually make a purchase. For those individuals who are already loyal customers, prompt responses will cement the relationship and promote customer loyalty.

Listen in on conversations

If you have ever wondered about a conversation going on in a room when you're not present, you're very much like most people in that regard. If your company has a CRM system with a social component, you will be able to monitor conversations and exchanges between individuals which are discussing your brand online, even if you're not part of the conversation.A social CRM has the capability of picking up on relevant hashtags or mentions about your company, so that you can stay abreast of the context which your company comes up in online conversations. It may be that your CRM system is monitoring a community conversation which is very flattering about your products or services, and that would be a good time for you to join in on that group. Once you are on the inside of the group, you can express your gratitude about the complimentary exchanges, and you can reach out to individuals to thank them personally.You might also discover some very interesting exchanges by monitoring hashtags. You may have recently used a catchy hashtag to increase visibility of one of your products online, and then you find out that someone has used the exact same hashtag on another platform. You might even find that the user is a social media influencer who has given your product much love online, and has become something of a supporter.This will provide you with a perfect opportunity to reach out to that influencer and thank them for the reference to your product. It may also provide you an opportunity to open up a broader relationship with that individual, so that you can reach even more followers.