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c h a p t e r2 :THE NEW ROLE OF THE CUSTOMER■happens as a result of their participation whether through time, financial contri-
bution, or the investment of personal social capital—recommending to a friend
that he or she consider supporting The Women’s Fund, for example—thereby
completing the engagement cycle.- Internally, The Women’s Fund undertook a web-based extension of its Social
CRM system to connect its staff with donors, board members and supporters,
completing the collaborative cycle.
Taken together, The Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade County is tapping Social
CRM in a straightforward and sensible, strategically sound manner. Their work is a
solid example of how Social CRM can be applied by local nonprofit organizations.
For more information on the The Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade County and
The Cunningham Group, see the following:
http://www.womensfundmiami.org
http://www.thecunninghamgroup.com
SoHo Publishing
Soho Publishing, LLC, a local B2B publishing firm, began business in May of 2005.
The main product was the Milwaukee-based Magazine Soho. In March of 2009, Soho
launched Sohobiztube.com, a multimedia delivery platform for marketing, promoting,
and positioning small entrepreneurial businesses.
Rather than the personal brands of small business founders, which typically
form the story in small business write-ups, the focus of the companies featured in
Magazine Soho is on the brand, products, services, and employees—everything but
the founder. After all, in keeping with the social aspects of customer and employee
ownership, these companies need to focus on why they are in business and what they
are promising to their clients and customers. In May of 2009, Soho Publishing, LLC
held Milwaukee’s first, one-day social media seminar to further drive home the ideas
of a true customer focus and where it could take a small business with a great idea and
solid, customer-backed execution.
Cd Vann, Publisher of Magazine Soho, doesn’t consider herself a social media
advocate, thought leader, or guru. She is a business owner who wants to take advan-
tage of new media strategies and apply them to her work. Sohobiztube.com, a related
site, gives customers—Magazine Soho clients—a way to easily contribute content that
highlights products and services. The result is a strong B2B connection linking these
businesses to their marketers through social channels.
It was in this spirit that Cd created Sohobiztube, a Social CRM and publishing
platform that pulled customers into the consumption and curation stages of engagement,
and in doing so enabled small business owners to recognize and tap into their customers
as a source of direction for their respective businesses, just as Cd had done with hers.