May 27th, 2009
Transforming customer relationships with social media
* Jennifer Leggio is on vacation
Guest editorial by John Yaggie
Social media technologies have the potential to disrupt the traditional ways companies build and manage relationships with their customers. Customer relationships built on trust and loyalty are central to a company’s reputation and value in the market. Unfortunately, customer relationship management (CRM) efforts today often focus on transactions instead of relationships. Many companies interact with customers in a narrow way that focuses primarily on the exchange of data, not building long-term relationships with customers.
Emphasizing the “relationship” aspect in CRM requires changes-whether in the contact center, the online sales process, or in other marketing channels. It requires a commitment from organizations to become more open and transparent; and, means giving customers an independent voice in the relationship. It also means adopting new technologies to enable a richer interaction.
Social media technologies change the way customers relate to companies and each other. A growing number of consumers use the freedom provided by these technologies to express both their satisfaction and frustration with products, customer service and their experiences. And, today’s tech-savvy consumers are asking for a richer approach to customer service than they’ve been receiving.
Earlier generations of customer applications and business intelligence systems were highly complex, difficult to integrate and not intuitive. Social media technologies are intuitive and easy-to-use. They support self-expression, interaction and collaboration in ways that are proving natural and comfortable.
A true customer relationship exemplifies the same qualities as a personal relationship. It includes giving each party a voice to fully express needs and preferences. Social media provides that flexible and fluid context that allows for structured and unstructured communication; and, gives the customer an equal voice in the service process.
Getting started with social media technologies –>
Jennifer Leggio, aka "Mediaphyter," writes about the "social business" side of social media - including enterprise, security and reputation issues. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
For daily updates on Jennifer's activities, follow her on Twitter.
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