Minimizing the Distance

Today, the convergence of social networking trends with CRM is accelerating. Many business leaders have been caught off guard by the strong demand from their customers for social networking solutions that allow them to enhance customer service and improve their customer experience. The convergence has been so rapid, in fact, that many companies are now addressing tactical social web and business issues instead of developing a grand strategy. It’s not a big mystery as to why. Your customers are out there searching the web, chatting with other fellow customers in forums, posting on Twitter, developing their own groups, and writing stories about your company and products. If the current economy has taught businesses anything, it’s that we all need to be more proactive in building stronger and deeper customer relationships.

While it’s tempting to cast off social networking as a disruption to your business, it is hard to argue with the numbers powering this trend. As a business leader, it’s time to embrace this reality and take appropriate steps. Done right, these social innovations can deliver substantial bottom line benefit. To boil it down – engaging customers in online communities will lower overall support costs, speed innovation, and assist with acquisition and retention activities. We’re reading great success stories everyday about companies like iRobot in searchCRM.com and Verizon in the New York Times providing high levels of customer service, while cultivating their strongest advocates and lowering supports costs. Many companies are already integrating their RightNow and other CRM systems directly with online communities to deliver these results.

These enterprises have been successful developing a customer community strategy by focusing on 3 key factors:
1. Focus on developing a vibrant community around your super-users. Research has proven that there tends to be about 1% of your customers – your advocates – that draw in the rest. Use a reputation management engine to ensure you can identify and engage these super-users. They will make sure you have a vibrant community to deliver business results.
2. Employ proven best practices. You’ve got to consider why your customers, partners, and prospects will engage. These “social dynamics” are well established – put those best practices to work instead of learning on the job.
3. Measure and Act. Online communities must be monitored and tended to – not established and then left on auto-pilot. The key is to be able to measure proactively, and act swiftly to course correct when needed.

Customers like helping customers. Let them direct how their community works. That’s what will keep them coming back, recommending products improvements, and telling their friends. Forward-thinking companies like Sony, PayPal, and AT&T have focused on these principles by not only ensuring customer experiences are strong, but providing customers with a voice in their company – using social interactions to driving customer support and innovation. Simply put, value is delivered through social web programs when they are built with clear business objectives in mind. Don’t get left behind!

If you’ve already deployed a vibrant community, I’d love to hear your stories and best practices.