Companies like Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest and LinkedIn, and even Reddit, have changed — forever — the ways that people communicate with one another and the ways they share all kinds of information, including advertising.
Of course we are still in the early days of this revolution so social media companies will come and go, just like technologies do. But one thing is certain: Businesses that don’t think about social media strategies that will help them create long-term relationships will have a harder time finding success.
The bottom line: Businesses can use social media efforts in the context of customer relationship management so that they can nurture relationships over the long haul. The bottom line: CRM + Social = Power.
Here are 5 ways to make your customers give you what you want that I believe businesses can leverage the power of social media and make great use of the data they collect.
1: Make your marketing relevant (and you’ll increase your conversion rate).
One of the reasons you want to learn about your clients and customers is so that you can better target your products and services. This helps you put them into the “correct” channels so they receive more accurate messages and less spam. Ultimately this makes customers and prospective customers more receptive to your outreach.
Let’s say you have a user who fills out a form to sign up for your company newsletter. Perhaps in the form there is a field asking the user if she has small children at home, or is expecting a baby. If she answers yes to either, you have the opportunity to send her coupons for diapers a few months down the road, or send her housecleaning services or information about college savings plans. She appreciates the focus of your efforts — and that you’re not sending her ads for online dating services!
2: Make your social efforts another collection point.
Your business’ website is no longer the only place to collect data about your customers. In the past, the verbiage went something like: “If you want to download our whitepaper, fill out this form” or “If you want to know about my newsletter, sign up here.” But thanks to social channels, you can make it more fun. You can use apps to create games or contests for users to enter in exchange for a little bit of information.
In the past it was very expensive to create contests and custom apps but thanks to third party apps, these options are within reach of virtually any small business.
3: Extend your social reach.
Up to this point we have focused on Facebook, but there are lots of CRM opportunities on other social channels, too. We use a variety of social channels to drive traffic to our other collection points.
For instance, you can tweet a link, post to LinkedIn, add a link to a YouTube description, add links to email and even Instagram photos.
It’s also important to make it easy share your CRM data collection points. If your fans are eagerly filling out your forms, chances are, their friends might want to as well. Make it easy for them to share the forms, comment on your posts, and invite others to participate.
4: Organize and leverage all that data for customers.
Now that you have earned your users’ trust, use the helpful data but don’t abuse it! To quote Uncle Ben from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Using a CRM tools, or even an EXCEL or Google doc spreadsheet will allow you to map the data and visualize it. You can even pretend you are building an infographic (of course you can also actually build one — infographics are great for SEO) so you can get a better picture of who your customers are.
From there, segment your customers. Maybe you have one group that wants your newsletter and one that is interested in new products. Organizing this data will help you figure out what kinds of products and services to consider offering.
5: Social media can be used for CRM even if you collect minimal information.
Another one of my favorite Facebook features is Insights. You can learn so much about your users even if all you ask them to do is Like your Page. You can find all sorts of demographic information — age groups, gender, cities, languages spoken, etc.
I hope these tips help you understand how important it is to get your message to the right people, and to put out relevant, funny or engaging information. If you do, you will create loyal lifelong customers because you are always, or at least often, showing them or offering them things they want to see.
To your success,
