Today almost anybody you want to do business with is present on Social networking sites and owns an iOS or Android device. Both mobiles and networking sites provide ample access to data, which is not available otherwise and critical feedback on your product or service. Businesses sensed a serious marketing opportunity here and decided to take their Customer Relationship Management initiative social, with an objective to deepen, improve and strengthen relationships with customers by being where they are and naturally interacting with them.

Social customer Relationship Management is not a new concept aimed to replace the traditional CRM. It’s basically an upgrade of how we manage our customer relationships in today’s time, where consumers are smarter, more informed and vocally empowered. In order to fully understand why businesses are adopting Social Crm over traditional CRM, you need to be fully aware of the numerous benefits it offers to businesses.

Data :
One of the main objectives of any company to adopt customer relationship management is to ensure repeat sales and customer loyalty to brands, as the cost of generating a repeat sale is much lesser than the cost of generating a fresh sale. Keeping this in mind social CRM provides marketers with ample personalized data about their existing list of customers as well as prospects, making it easier for them to cater to these customers’ demands proactively and to maintain a strong bond with them.

Leads :
Social CRM makes it easier for marketers to generate more leads through referrals of their existing list of customers and capitalize on these, as personalized information about a customer’s interests, preferences, dislikes and behaviour patterns are easily available.

Feedback:
Daily one to one interaction with customers help brands get genuine feedback about their product or service in real-time. Feedback is easier to generate because it comes naturally to customers on social networking sites. Companies save a lot of survey and marketing money due to this.

Trust:
In the past, brands could rely on their reputation and market saturation to educate their customers because if you were the biggest player in the market, customers would rely on you for information. Over time that trust has shifted from institutions to individuals. Social CRM provides brands the opportunity to establish relationships and build trust with not only the customers but also the people they trust.

Communities:
There are many brands that are widely admired and enjoy unswerving loyalty and high levels of engagement from their fans. For instance take Harley Davidson or as a matter of fact the top motorbike companies in the world. These are brands that are appreciated by people world over, even those who know nothing about motorbikes or have no desire to own the product. Social CRM help brands create sustainable and flourishing communities online for their loyal customers and fans to interact with each other and to rub off their enthusiasm towards the brand on others. This promotes brand loyalty and repeat sales and generates referrals and new leads.

Social customer relationship management has been the talk of the town for quite some time now and has generated enough debates and arguments on various blogs and publications. It is only a matter of time before it gets adopted by businesses universally.