Boosting Business With Social CRM Strategies

It is hard to imagine that just a few years ago no one had heard of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any of the other new and cutting edge social networking sites. Now, thanks to this technology, businesses can connect instantly with all their customers, plus have their message relayed to countless new clients. Social CRM, more completely known as customer relations management, provides opportunities to strategically provide information for your customers in a marketing campaign that drives business and sales your way.

The problem that most businesses experience is that this new technology is, not to state the obvious, really just too new. Most business is still based on the older marketing strategies of a very static type of campaign for marketing, reaching new customer and even staying in touch with existing and established customers. Social CRM doesn't mean just sending out a Tweet or making a comment on a Facebook page every now and then. It is a way to systemically harness the communication potential of all the social networking sites to promote your business and provide useful, relevant and timely information to customers.

A good way for a small to large business to get started with harnessing the potential of social networking is to hire a consultant or company that is experienced with the intricacies of social CRM. These companies will sit down and discuss your goals, your current marketing programs as well as your current online presence. They can then make recommendations on how to reach more of a target audience by approaching your marketing from a social media perspective. Since you have the benefit of their experience you don't have to learn how to use each platform or social networking site on your own, you can use the resources provided and have a jump start on the competition.

Giving customers useful and helpful tips, advice and information in your postings on social media websites is a perfect way to get your name out there. Not only will your contacts receive the information but so will all of their followers, friends and clients, so you actually end up reaching a huge audience. If the information is relevant and useful, these new people will join your direct social network, and will typically go to your website. They may also pose questions and interact with you online, again allowing you to reach people that you simply couldn't before.

Getting sales leads from social CRM campaigns is just one advantage of using technology to your advantage. Another great feature is the use of specialized blogs to promote your business without coming across in a heavy sales pitch way. If you Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn catchy phrases or cool ideas from your blog you can get people that would not typically arrive at your website bookmarking it and making it one of their favorites. This in turn helps your standing in the major search engines including Bing, Google, and Yahoo. With your website closer to the top you will continue to get more and more hits, perfect as a secondary benefit to your social networking program.

If you haven't considered the importance and significance of social CRM development for your business, organization or agency then you are missing out on part of the market. Keep in mind that social networking continues to grow and getting in as soon as possible will help you carve out your own market share in this global economy.