Have you seen the on YouTube? If not, you should check it out. The stats are astounding and fairly eye opening. Social Media is the wave of today and the future…
The manner in which we reach customers today is changing, and at a very rapid pace. Social media has made the world a smaller place by connecting people all over the globe. With a few clicks, a potential customer can ask friends and family or complete strangers for a referral or suggestion which they will use when making a purchase. From dining out to purchasing a new product, customers can turn to any number of social networking sites for information and input that will impact their dining or shopping experience. If you haven’t put your hat in the social media ring, then now is definitely the time.
Building an effective marketing campaign using social media is only half of the effort. Listening to customers and their opinions about your product provides a wealth of additional information that can be used to further improve marketing and sales efforts. Businesses can track this and other customer resource management (CRM) data in specialty software such as Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011. By engaging with customers on social media and learning how they make choices, you can react quickly to fine-tune marketing efforts, turn leads into purchases, and improve the customer satisfaction, creating customer loyalty.
Here are three quick reasons to socialize your CRM
- Social media marketing – this generation doesn’t read junk mail, places little trust in corporate advertising, and goes straight to the web for information and advice. Get with the times and use your website and social media to attract and engage your current and potential customers. will track, manage and optimize search-engine marketing efforts. It will also identify the impact of keywords and optimize keyword placement. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will also help you measure marketing campaign results against corporate goals or other metrics. That way you know what works and what doesn’t.
- Improve Sales – . You can create automatic emails to be sent to customers about opportunities and generate leads from your customer base. Once you have opportunities in the pipeline, easily create and customize special pricing offers for each type of sales opportunity. Using all the lead and sales data collected, easily evaluate information behind the deals that are won and lost so you can continue to expand sales.
- Customer service is critical, so is customer loyalty – with a 360 view of the customer, you can engage the customer to resolve issues when they arise and guide your customer through a more satisfying shopping experience. . Providing consistent customer service will create brand and product loyalty.
Combining your CRM with social media is not only necessary, it’s becoming a significant part of the way in which we conduct business. Customers are driving the market more than ever before and social media is a way for businesses to reach and impact customer purchasing decisions. For more information about optimizing your CRM and social media marketing, contact Sikich today.
By Jim Drumm with Sikich,
