By M. Isi Eromosele

Companies are building foundations for social media strategies but Social CRM strategies are not yet fully realized. The operational components necessary to effectively implement a Social CRM strategy are more challenging and to address them, companies would have raise their social media maturity level.

For companies to unlock the full potential of social media in trying to transform their customer relationships, they need to rethink their CRM strategy, even as they build a strategic and operational framework that provides both structure and flexibility. Companies would need to progress from isolated social media projects and social media programs that encompass multiple initiatives within a function to a wholesome Social CRM strategy.

Social media programs often have a defined mission, set of guidelines and some degree of analytics. A Social CRM strategy takes social media programs a step further, moving beyond the domain of a single function, such as marketing, to implementing a cross-functional network of integrated communities with customer-facing responsibilities.

This integrated approach treats the customer holistically and facilitates sharing customer insights derived from unstructured data captured through multiple social touch points as well as structured data from customary channels. These insights enable companies to improve the customer experience and can result in the development of innovative new models for customer engagement.

To help with their transition to a Social CRM implementation, companies can:

• Blur the line between marketing and customer care. Improve alignment of social media initiatives originating from marketing and customer care functions to better support customers
• Think global; Act local. Develop customer engagement strategies collaboratively and share ideas that enable the integration of individual functions
• Build virtual communities. Establish communication and collaboration tools internally to facilitate easy connection of employees which facilitates cross pollination of ideas and knowledge
• Improve ROI and mitigate risks with sophisticated customer analytics and insights. Social CRM  is the practice of continually capturing and analyzing customer data from social interactions to develop viable insights that can improve all aspects of the customer relationship

The majority of companies believe social media’s potential to reinvent customer relationships is so promising that they are aggressively moving ahead with initiatives, despite the lack of new strategies and support frameworks.

The above has resulted in the launch of social media programs that now need to be reevaluated for their overall value to the customer. Understanding why customers want to engage with a company through social media is the first step toward the value proposition for a Social CRM strategy.

The implications for business are significant. The transition to Social CRM is not merely an adoption of new operational models or technologies. It is a philosophical and cultural shift. Social CRM is a strategy of stewardship of the customer relationship, not management. The sooner companies embrace the fundamental precept that the customer is now in control of the relationship, the sooner they can exploit this shift and unlock the full potential social media holds.

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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