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Review and Hands-On
ANDS
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Nhigh influence blogs such as TechCrunch and niche bloggers in both the mid- and long-
tail that are focused on entrepreneurship and business (hardware) communications.
Grasshopper’s marketing strategy depends heavily for intelligence on its Social
CRM program. Jonathan routinely engages with people on Twitter and other brand
outposts where they talk about Grasshopper, entrepreneurship, and similarly related
topics. Based on the content of these conversations, Grasshopper’s Social CRM pro-
gram connects people who are looking for information with those who have it: the
firm’s brand evangelists.
Having looked at a number of platforms, Jonathan concluded that most impor-
tant to him was a Social CRM toolset that fit the workflow of a marketer, and one
that automated the capture of the conversational information. His starting point in
influencer discovery is typically a blog post, a tweet, or a forum post, which he finds
based on specific key words that appear in the conversations. From that starting
point, Jonathan needs to turn this raw data—the conversations and possible contact
links—into an actual contact. Going forward, he also needs to keep track of their sub-
sequently published content and the associated metrics underlying his developing rela-
tionship with this person.
BuzzStream, the tool Jonathan uses, manages the process for him, automatically
bringing back the information that he scans before creating an actual contact. Once
done, supporting metrics and outreach tracking built into the platform complete the
picture. Social CRM platforms like BuzzStream increase outreach efficiency, which in
turn allows the development of more and stronger relationships with the influencers
that matter to Grasshopper.
For more information on Grasshopper, see the following:
http://grasshopper.com
Review and Hands-On
This chapter defines the new role of customers and stakeholders—the recipients of the
experiences associated with the product or service you are providing—and then con-
nects those customers and stakeholders into your business. Social CRM is the larger
analytical process that wraps all of this and helps you understand how to respond in a
dynamic, conversation-driven marketplace.
Review of the Main Points
This chapter explored the more participative role of the customer and the tools that
support the new expectation of an opportunity to talk back to the brand, so to speak,
and shape future experiences and interactions. In particular, this chapter covered the
following:
• Social CRM is a business philosophy. It refers to the tools and technologies
used to connect your customers and influencers into the forward looking,