Social Media Marketing

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c h a p t e r

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SOCIAL CRM

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Oil and Water

Beware: some businesses and organizations will fi nd that, like oil and water, the princi-

ples of social business simply “do not mix” with their own existing practices. Whether

it’s a case of “not invented here” or “we know our customers best” or most any other

reason, some organizations will fi nd it tough to listen openly to their customers, and

tougher still to rebuild their internal communications channels to support receiving

customer conversations and then applying them constructively to their next generation

of products and services.

If you’re familiar with Yelp and Amazon’s ratings, you’ve no doubt asked your-

self “What if someone says something really ugly about me or about my business or

organization?” For many fi rms who would otherwise be interested in social media

marketing, one of the roadblocks to the adoption of social technology is the idea that

“If my business participates...any (negative) conversations will grow louder.” But this

assumption isn’t quite right, and in many cases is the opposite of what actually hap-

pens. Here’s why: When you participate in the conversations that matter to you, any

negative conversations can actually be reduced over time. And, when they are not, it’s a

pretty clear indication that a serious social business program is in order!

Brent Leary

Brent Leary is co-founder and partner of CRM Essentials LLC, a CRM consulting/advisory firm

focused on small and mid-size enterprises. You can follow Brent on Twitter (@BrentLeary) and

read his blog here:

http://BrentLeary.com

How’s that? It works like this: At the outset, recognize that customers talk about

their experiences, including those that involve your products or services. If they love it

or hate it and it matters to them, they’ll talk about it. If the conversation is negative, it

may be that they don’t understand how to use your product correctly, for example, or

that it doesn’t work as well as they’d like. Once you’ve gotten that feedback—through

your listening program—your next step is pretty clear: Reset their expectation or

explain the correct use of the product or make the actual product better. If you do

these things—giving credit to your customers for their ideas and including them in the

collaborative change process that results—the negative conversations will decrease over

time. Failing to address the expressed concerns or not participating at all are the sure

roads to a m p l i fi e d negative conversations.

The many review sites that are now popular have accelerated the feedback

process and, in general, raised the stakes for businesses of all types when it comes to

the impact of conversations around brands, products, and services. Over the past few

Brent Leary

Brent Leary is co-founder and partner of CRM Essentials LLC, a CRM consulting/advisory firm

focused on small and mid-size enterprises. You can follow Brent on Twitter (@BrentLeary) and

read his blog here:

http://BrentLeary.com