Social CRM
Social CRM
55
Table of contents
Foreword
Executive summary
Introduction
B
1.1
1.2
1.3
4
5
6
8
8
10
11
12
D
3.1
18
18
18
12
13
19
20
22
22
23
28
40
40
42
28
29
34
34
35
36
6.1
6.2
6.3
44
44
44
44
45
45
45
46
47
H
7.1
7.2
7.3
48
48
48
49
Conclusion
About
Acknowledgements
50
51
52
Foreword
Markets are conversations was the prophecy of the Cluetrain manifesto1 at the end of the
last century. In this forward-looking book on marketing, published when the Internet was in
its infancy, the authors were already highlighting the inexorable move towards a rebalancing
of the power struggle between a company and its customers.
DIGITAL IDENTITY
Ten years later Paul Greenberg, regarded as one of the pioneers of CRM, defined the emergence of Social CRM as the companys response to customers seizing power and dominating the conversation. We have come full circle: consumers have taken control. Brands are
the subject of thousands of simultaneous conversations and must fight to make themselves
heard.
Stanislas Magniant,
In the extremely fluid and unstable world of social media, Social CRM is not the latest marketing trend or simply an elevation of traditional CRM, kitted out with a fashionable adjective.
It is the adaption of companies organization and brands communication to a new Customer
Relationship Management landscape. E-reputation and community management still very
new and evolving disciplines are generally perceived as communication-related functions
and activities. Social CRM goes further: it has made its way into the heart of current thinking
in Commercial Management, Customer Services, Communications, IT, etc.
Twitter account
@ msl_group
Mail
stanislas.magniant@consultants.publicis.fr
Sites :
www.mslgroup.com
Social CRM is changing the scale and perspective of brand involvement in social media.
What was once a Communications department issue is now becoming an organizational
challenge for any company that claims to be customer-centric. Social CRM is the connection between social media and a companys internal and external communication systems.
The question for companies is no longer whether to engage with social media, but rather how
to engage with it. Companies that have already started implementing Social CRM strategies
rapidly see the impact on their internal processes.
DIGITAL IDENTITY
Eric Lvy-Bencheton,
Social CRM aims to solve the fundamental dilemma of how to make human-scale marketing
scalable.
The combined expertise of Atos Consulting and MSLGroup in Communications and Management Consultancy sheds a new light on Social CRM strategy implementation and its impacts.
Compte Twitter
@scrm_elb
Atos Consulting
White paper translated from the French Social CRM : vers la Relation Client augmente,
published Nov. 2011.
Eric.levy-bencheton@atos.net
Sites :
www.fr.atosconsulting.com
http://www.pearltrees.com/t/social-crm/
id3058044
Social CRM
http://cluetrain.com/book/95-theses.html
Once a company designs how it will engage with customers, it needs the
organizational capabilities to deliver: adding staff, building a social-media
network infrastructure, retooling customer care operations, or altering reporting
structures (McKinsey Quarterly
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_print.aspx?L2=16&L3=20&ar=2834)
Executive summary
The recent explosion in social media usage, combined with the transformation of the consumer into a
consumactivist, has permanently changed the relationship between a company and its customers.
These days, the customer experience is often made public: consumactivists no longer hesitate to use
social media to voice their views. Their views have a major impact on the purchasing decisions of others
within their social circle and companies are unable to control them.
This loss of control means that companies must change in order to stay in touch with their customers the
question is not whether they should change, but how.
Following the example set by customers, companies have positioned themselves on the social media
landscape. This is creating a large number of access points for consumers, who do not hesitate to make
themselves heard.
There is a very small window to adapt: we are facing a tidal wave that is moving much faster than previous
Customer Relationship Management evolutions during the 1990s or the more recent emergence of the Web.
You only have two to three years to act.
We are facing a huge new phenomenon, but also new opportunities: when the social media virality principle
is utilized to its full extent, what you lose in terms of control, you gain in terms of quality and frequency of the
relationship.
Who has not dreamt of obtaining better information, improving customer segmentation according to
personal influence, and working on the effectiveness of Communications strategies?
Who has not dreamt of continuously securing business opportunities, and more qualified ones? Who has
not dreamt of improving their customer service handling by capitalizing on new social channels?
In order to survive the rapid upheavals created by social media and to capitalize on these opportunities,
companies must ask themselves serious questions and update their technology accordingly to ensure they
are ready for this new revolution - Social CRM.
Social CRM
INTRODUCTION
More and more companies are taking a stand on Social CRM. There is a proliferation of press articles and blog postings
on the subject1. But it is still difficult to find a definition of Social CRM that everybody can agree on. This is no doubt the
nature of great changes: we experiment before we theorize.
The document you are now reading is intended to be practical rather than academic. To delineate the subject more
clearly, we offer a frequently-used definition of Social CRM to make it easier to understand the initiatives in this area and
how to get the most of it. It is Paul Greenbergs2 definition, a recognized authority, speaker and experienced practitioner
in the field of CRM3:
Social CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow,
processes and social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. Its the companys response to the
customers ownership of the conversation.4
No trace of the words Web, social network, blog or 2.0 in this definition. But Social CRM is unequivocally linked
to the explosion in content production by Internet users and to the relationships established between them via social
media. It has merely detonated an inevitable phenomenon: markets have become conversations and, in the future,
conducting a relationship with customers will mean entering this realm in order to engage in a dialogue with them.
Beyond the communication dimension, Social CRM revitalizes the entire relationship between companies and their
customers. This is based on a deep-seated change in brand attitude (highlighting transparency, sincerity and even a
certain form of modesty) and on new types of relationship that place particular emphasis on this idea of a conversation.
A company that wants its engagement with Social CRM to succeed must first ask itself some searching questions about
processes, organization, technology, and financial and human resources. This is the philosophy and strategy element
of Paul Greenbergs definition. There is no room for improvisation: just as there are firmly established methods and
processes for managing telephone calls or incoming e-mails, there must be methods and processes for Social CRM.
Augmented Customer Relationship Management does not mean having a Facebook page or Twitter account purely for
one-way communication, or to imitate competitors.
This document uses analyses of flagship initiatives to highlight the innovative nature of Social CRM by demonstrating
how it can transform or complement other CRM channels.
First we will see that Social CRM is already a reality, done by some companies on a daily basis. We will explore the
reasons that motivate companies to enter into these new conversations with their customers. This will enable us, as a
second step, to understand what Social CRM is changing in terms of the practice of Customer Relationship Management. Finally, we will discuss the various best practices that are beginning to emerge in this field and the traps to avoid.
In the course of our analysis, we will strengthen this overview of Social CRM by including the views of SCRM experts
and practitioners, companies, tool editors, consultants, academics, etc. Together they will provide, if not the keys to the
door, then at least the tools for reflection so that your organization too can successfully engage in fruitful conversations
with customers.
Social CRM
http://www.google.com/trends?q=%22social+crm%22&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
http://the56group.typepad.com/about.html
Author of CRM at the speed of light, Social CRM 2.0 Strategies, Tools, and Techniques for Engaging Your
Customers, McGraw-Hill, 2009 (4th edition).
CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow,
processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order
to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment. Its the companys response
to the customers ownership of the conversation.
http://the56group.typepad.com/pgreenblog/2009/07/time-to-put-a-stake-in-the-ground-on-social-crm.html
http://www.cluetrain.com/book/index.html
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social
networks
Blogs
Facebook,
Twitter,
Google+,
Linkedln,
Viadeo,
...
Wordpress,
Tumblr,
Blogger,
Posterous,
...
Forums
Multimedia
sharing
platforms
PhpBB,
Bbgraph,
...
Youtube,
Dailymotion,
Vimeo,
LastFM,
Flickr,
...
Collaboration
tools
Quora,
Yahoo Answers,
Wiki-Answers,
Wikipedia,
Delicious,
...
Social CRM
1
Social CRM
a reality today,
an imperative for tomorrow
1.1/ A fundamental trend
there are plenty indicators that quantify a companys use
of social crm. According to a survey conducted by IBM
in October 2010*, nearly 80 % of companies have a social
74%
65%
60%
Promote events
52%
50%
48%
46%
Brand monitoring
46%
Customer research
43%
Recruit employees
43%
Employee-to-employee interactions
41%
40%
Provide support
40%
38%
37%
Training/education
35%
Customer-to-customer interactions
27%
*S
urvey questioned
351 executives from
8 large industrialized
and emerging countries
(USA, UK, France,
Germany, India, China,
Brazil, Australia).
** Note :
n-351. Not shown in
figure. I dont know 9 percent and Others 2 percent.
Source :
IBM Institute
for Business Value
analysis. CRM Study 2011
Social CRM
This survey of 351 business leaders from the major developed and emerging countries also gives some idea of
how working with social media is perceived. Nearly 70%
of the executives who took part said that their company
Percentage of companies
with a profile on a social site*
79%networking sites
Social
79%
55%
Microblogging sites
52%
Wikis
48%
Blogging sites
45%
36%
31%
18%
3%
37%
8%
41%
7%
45%
7%
45%
10%
52%
12%
55%
Have a profile/presence
14%
Dont know
http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/about/press-releases/20110118surveyscrm.html
*N
ote :
Numbers rounded
to equal 100 percent.
Source :
IBM Institute
for Business Value
analysis. CRM Study 2011
Social CRM
1
1.2/ A necessity
It is easy to explain a companys keen interest in social
media, whether this is expressed through true integration
with CRM or, as is most commonly the case to date, by
a desire to achieve this. Whether they like it or not, it is
in the interest of all companies to engage in Social CRM
80% of French Internet users use at least one social network (uniform distribution
across socio-professional categories and age profiles)
74% of Internet users have a more positive image of brands that engage in conversations
on social media
Sources : https://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics and The Comscore 2010 Europe Digital Year and Mdiamtrie
* Source :
emarketer 2009
* * Source :
Mdiamtrie 2009
10
Social CRM
1.3/ A threat?
When companies start to take an interest in Social CRM
they often wonder how they can use social media to open
up a new channel of communication and exchange about
their brand. They do not realize that customers have not
waited for them: they have already started the conversation on the new open forum - social media. If companies
and brands do not answer, there is a danger that they
will simply be excluded from discussions that affect them
more than anything else.
The most important thing is to listen actively and to respond: companies must abandon the fantasy of controlling
conversations about their brand. Nowadays, consumers
themselves decide which platforms they want to use to
voice their comments. These platforms come in various
forms, as the diagram below shows.
At one time, people would first approach a companys customer services department if they had a problem or question.
Today, this behavior has changed. When customers experience a product for the first time or make their first purchase,
their instinct is increasingly to approach community platforms
on the Internet to share that experience and ask for help or
advice. Customers are gradually becoming accustomed
to using Facebook or Twitter to get support or register a
complaint. Not taking this into account could be fatal for
companies1.
*F
or example, Rupert
Murdoch bought
MySpace for nearly
600 million dollars in
2005 but it was sold for
barely 35 million in June
2011. Facebook tops the
social networks these
days, but will Google +
change the landscape?
Social CRM
11
2
Social CRM:
an opportunity for companies
2.1/ Companies must play an active role in the debate,
not just be a part of the ecosystem
Social CRM is a response to the behavior of consumactivists. It puts the customer back at the heart of corporate
strategy, using social media as the vector to this new
approach. It goes much further than Social Marketing. It
no longer encourages loyalty purely through transactions
or marketing, but also through relationships and conversations. This new approach rests on four pillars: engagement,
conversation, participation and content distribution.
From transactional...
Personalized
marketing
Mass
Marketing
Brand
Push
12
Social CRM
This revolution in conventional customer interaction channels must be seen as a real opportunity to reinforce the
customer/company relationship. The information made
available through these new channels is far richer and
more immediate, due, without doubt, to the inherent virality effect of social media. It represents an enormous pool
of opportunities for all functions within a company.
A dissatisfied customer who is not dealt with by a company will stimulate churn within the community.
By contrast, a dissatisfied customer who is helped by
the company as part of an effective conversational relationship will produce the opposite effect by talking about
his or her experience. This may therefore prompt some
dissatisfied customers to return as satisfied or even loyal
customers.
Social customer
Traditional customer
Churn rate (%)
* Sources:
Nielsen Trust and
Advertising Global
Report and
Mdiamtrie Fevad
* * Satisfied Customers
Tell Three Friends,
Angry Customers
Tell 3,000, Crown
Business, 2008
Social CRM
13
14
Social CRM
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
* Source :
Harris Interactive
for Rightnow
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1691476/consumer-affairs-the-new-advertising-department
Customers who are satisfied with the customer service they have received
will not hesitate to tweet about it.
13 sep
drnorth dnorth
@KLM Thanks - I just got through on the phone line and its being sorted out
now. Thanks for the kind attention.
Il y a 4 heures
2
ties: customers achieve an optimum level of satisfaction
because their expectations have been heard and acted
upon, while the company gains a better understanding
of its customers and strengthens its links with them. Now
more than ever, customer service is developing into the
spearhead of marketing via social media1.
1 sep
07 aot
Il y a 19 heures
Reply
Retweet
BJ_Emerson
BJ Emerson
Checkin History
A history of what youve been up to... click the [x] to delete unwanted checkins
Thu Jan 7
11:49 AM
Thu Jan 7
4:16 PM
Salesforce has worked with Disney to create a system that will enable them to store Facebook
applications in the cloud. Disney fans can then install these from the Disneyland page. Salesforce
does not develop the applications. It supplies the infrastructure to media agencies and they exploit
it for their own purpose. Were always amazed to see the creativity of our customers! In the case of
Disney, for example, fans can use an application to prepare for a visit to a park, share their souvenir
photo album, etc. The aim is to create a relationship with the brand in the true sense an experience.
Alexandre Dayon, Executive Director CRM, Salesforce
Social CRM
15
2
Social media can be used to gain a clearer understanding
of an individuals profile, their history and their environment. This enables companies to create a closer and
Content distribution
Social CRM is a lever of choice for the acquisition of
new customers. Brands can use social media to provide
information about the launch of new offers, events and
competitions, and can count on their friends and followers to relay their message. Audiences are increasingly
attracted to the sites, blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter
accounts of brands, increasing the visibility of the brands
products and services. At one time, launching a viral
marketing campaign was like throwing a bottle into the
sea: companies could not keep track of how their cam-
16
Social CRM
Social CRM can increase customer loyalty and facilitate a closer relationship. Customer loyalty
means market share. Companies that dont go down this route will lose out in terms of sales.
We are still on a rising trend where the practice of Social CRM is concerned. It hasnt reached
its peak yet.
Alexandre Dayon, Executive Director CRM, Salesforce
* Source :
JC Williams Group
* * Source :
E.Marketer
Social CRM
17
3
Revolutions sparked by Social CRM
Social CRM requires companies to re-examine the traditional concept of CRM. This involves a change in attitude. It
takes the form of three paradigm shifts in the organization
and management of customer relations and is geared
Companies sometimes tell us they fear what they perceive as the instability of the main social
media in terms of terms and conditions, confidentiality agreement, user engagement, etc. Today,
this risk is declining due to large social medias movement towards activities monetization.
Social media are increasingly becoming part of the global ecosystem of a new, booming economic
industry: Social Business. As a business community, this industry will rely on a certain number
of predictable behaviors that all players in the ecosystem will be able to use as a foundation on
which to build relationships. The convergence of objectives and interests between companies that
are starting to engage with social media and social media that are becoming more and more like
companies is rapidly proving the skeptics wrong.
Eric Levy-Bencheton, Partner, Practice Sales & Marketing / Customer Relationship Management,
Atos Consulting
18
Social CRM
3.1.2/ A
N ENDLESS FLOW OF
INFORMATION USING IT WILL BE
COMPLEX BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE!
Existing technologies are capable of gathering social information and linking it to customer information. But how will
this data be used?
The challenge for companies is to know how to make
sense of the data and capturing the tweets or comments
that have the most significance for the company.
Existing applications and powerful semantic text recognition technologies are on hand to overcome this challenge.
But we still need to know how to define the relevant elements to be traced and the ad hoc processes, so that this
raw material can be structured into a logical system geared
towards action. We are facing a qualitative leap in customer information that will enable us to collect and exploit a
wealth of contextualized information.
Social CRM
19
3
3.2/ Social influence as a factor in listening to the customer
Immensely popular? Totally unappealing? Suggestions for
improvement? Companies have no idea what will trigger
their next brand buzz. Fortunately, tools are available to
help them identify the messages that may be circulating
on the subject*. But beyond the tools, companies should
be demonstrating their willingness to listen. All they need to
know is: who should they be listening to? A study published
social graphs:
the pattern of social relationships between people4
Direct
Relationship
Person
* See chapter 5
20
Social CRM
Social
Link
Indirect
Relationship
http://mashable.com/2010/04/15/social-media-influencers/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/21/tech/main6418458.shtml
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/17/levchin-and-gurley-say-that-next-big-company-will-capture-the-interest-graph/
If the same individual is registered on different social media, he will appear at the center of several social and interest
graphs. This emerging area is based not only on our networks of friends but also on people who are like us, and it is
hoped that it will provide a wealth of data to strengthen and enrich Social CRM processes in the coming years.
social
graph
INDIVIDUAL
My relationship network
interest
graph
People with the same tastes
and interests
Social CRM
21
3
3.3/ Social influence as a factor in augmented customer segmentation
3.3.1/ P
ARTICIPATION: A SOCIAL
INFLUENCE CRITERION
Social influence scoring values the most active and visible
users of social media. So the first thing to consider is the
phenomenon of participation inequality on social media.
1%
of individuals start
conversations
9%
contribute to
the conversation
90%
follow
the conversation
Twitter as an exception
There are many reasons why Twitter is a unique social networking site, but one in particular
stands out: the exceptional levels of participation of its community of users.
Several studies, including BarracudaLabs (2010), show this difference in levels of participation
by comparing different social networks:
- 27% of users had posted at least 10 tweets between June and December 2009, equivalent
to an increase of 29% during this period
- only 34% of users had never tweeted.
Guillaume Vincent, Consultant Practice Sales & Marketing / Customer Relationship Management,
Atos Consulting
22
Social CRM
It is important not to under-estimate the impact and benefits of passive audiences. These audiences bring members of the community together who constantly demand
high-quality interactions and whose participation impacts
on other members of the community.
Encourage
contribution:
reward
contributors
set up a contribution
monitoring system
Participation
Promote
contribution:
g ive extra
prominence to the best
contributors
s hare the responsibilities
of the community
Feeling of belonging
Which lead
strategic market?
Strategic
segmentation
Marketing/usage
segmentation
CRM segmentation
Segmentation effectiveness
(means vs value)
Social CRM
23
3
For a long time now, we have been observing that a number of companies are integrating social influence into the
way they deal with customers. Until now, this weighting
has only concerned a limited number of people in welldefined circles, such as media celebrities (journalists in
particular) and political figures, etc. The development
of social media means this trend is now extending to all
contacts within companies, allowing full advantage to be
taken of social influence circles across entire communities.
Evaluating this influencing power by listening to and analyzing consumers via social media and taking into account
consumer-activist power, will improve traditional segmentation techniques.
This is illustrated in the diagram below:
Number
of relationships
Number of
messages and
distributed
content,
responses,
value added
for the
community;
comments,
etc.
Position on the
social graph
Little
influence,
expert channel,
connection,
leader/guru,
etc.
24
Social CRM
Social CRM
25
Customer:
Silver
Influential
Social
influence
score
(simplified)
(simplified)
Not very
influential
Bronze
...
gold/
VERY
INFLUENTIAL
silver/
VERY
INFLUENTIAL
Bronze/
INFLUENTIAL
gold/
INFLUENTIAL
...
27 possible levels!
Consolidation is necessary to reveal 3 or 4 strategic consumer segments.
26
Social CRM
Very
influential
Gold
Traditional
relational
segmentation
could present strong entry lead opportunities. The difficulties and expertise would lie in combining and weighting
these two factors from the new customer segmentation
model.
Social CRM
27
4
Getting to grips with Social CRM
Companies adopting a Social CRM approach are taking
a strategic step and will need to consider the necessary
Opting for social CRM is without a doubt a long-term commitment. As Loc Le Meur, founder of Seesmic, points out:
Social CRM should be a daily and ongoing practice. It is
not a series of campaigns that need to be implemented.
To consider it as such would be a gross error of judgment.
Long-term Social CRM is proving more worthwhile than
several one-off marketing and advertizing campaigns.
Companies need to find the right balance between steadfastness and speed - a balance which is at odds with firmly
entrenched procedures. A flexible approach to social support is essential.
28
Social CRM
http://manifestoproject.com.au/christopher-carfi-the-social-customer-manifesto/
Companies facing potential re-organization of their departments (Customer Services, Marketing, Communications,
IT) should think about the social media strategy they are
going to adopt so they can make suitable adjustments
to the measures they plan to implement. This will vary for
different companies depending on the level of social media
maturity they have reached and how willing they are to
open their doors to it.
Social CRM
29
4
SOCIAL MEDIA MATURITY SCALE
OF COMPANIES
Strategic
Engaged
Connected
Experimental
Pre-social
No move
towards
social
media.
Some
experimentation
with main social
media. Usage
focuses mainly on
communication
using the push and
passive approach.
Transition to a
phase of active
communication,
although it is still
not conversational
and lacks an overall
strategic vision.
Start of relational
and conversational
usage of social
media.
These companies
have managed
to exploit social
media on an
industrial scale in
a coordinated and
integrated approach
to augmented
Customer
Relationship
Management,
involving customers
in all the key
departments of the
company, i.e. Sales,
Marketing and
Customer Services.
Each company can have its own Social CRM policy relevant to its internal characteristics
(organization, culture, resources, targets, global Communications and Marketing strategy, etc.)
and external ones (expectations, conversations, support, etc.). There is no such thing as a single
practice that can be applied to all companies and no set rules in terms of organization. The existing
corporate structure and culture can be used as a starting point to determine how the various steps
can be optimized and the strategy developed at a pace appropriate for the company. It is unrealistic
to simply ignore previous structures and start afresh. Functional departments within companies
will all have to go digital to accommodate the dominance of digital media in the job people are now
doing. The steps should thus be implemented cross-functionally.
This means integration of Social CRM, conversations, Internet users and new interactive media at
the very heart of company relational processes. Both the tool-related and the internal strategies
need to be defined.
Social CRM
30
We started using Social CRM as a pilot scheme with Air France Music in March 2010. We
organized this project in an ad hoc way and it is being implemented by the Communications and
Brand Services departments. Our official Facebook page was created a little later, in July 2010,
much more straightforwardly. It now has more than 400,000 followers.
Our community management system is a 50/50 joint ownership project run by the Communications
and e-Marketing departments. To manage it, we have set up a social media hub at corporate level
which will comprise of four community managers. What is important at this stage of the process is
voluntary participation. Although we still do not have an official structure on paper, we soon expect
to start making a fair amount of progress in terms of organization.
Marina Tymen, Community Manager / Press Relations Manager
Corporate AIR FRANCE KLM
The following table shows how Social CRM processes are distributed across a company:
Communication
Marketing
Sales
Customer services
Increasing
brand reputation
and visibility
Improving
retention rates
Generating
qualified leads
Monitoring
online
conversations
Understanding
customers in real time
and tailoring offers to
their precise needs,
based on the Social
Graph
Increasing
contact avoidance
by transferring
knowledge
to communities
Managing
and measuring
e-reputation
Encouraging
experience-sharing
and feedback,
rewarding influencers
Capturing sales
opportunities by
identifying leads in
community real time
Capitalizing on
customer knowledge
to enhance and correct
support services for
customers
Utilizing
brand ambassadors
as word-of-mouth
potential
Monitoring consumer
reactions to improve
the effectiveness of
marketing campaigns
Using
communities
to develop lead
identification programs
Reducing
response time
to crisis situations
and complaints
Some of the Social CRM challenges posed in the different departments of a company
Social CRM
31
Best Buy started to follow the discussions it was generating on forums and blogs from 2007. I
joined the company in February 2008 and we opened our first forum in September of the same year.
To establish the ethical rules on publication quickly and efficiently, we forged links with our legal
departments (HR and PR) and received a great deal of support.
We now have about 15 community connectors who communicate online, completely
transparently, for the Best Buy account, including in French and Spanish. We listen to the majority
of questions from our customers online and sometimes even produce short videos with our
responses. For example, we had a number of calls from customers in Latin America who wanted
to find out about arrangements for delivery or pick-up from stores. So we made a short video
in Spanish with our response and have since noticed a decrease of 50% in the number of calls
received on this matter.
The Twelpforce* teams use the same customer monitoring tool as the CRM team and are physically
located within the other customer service teams, which is important. We also use other monitoring
tools to follow conversations about Best Buy, some of which are free and others not. To join the
Twelpforce team, the following requirements generally apply:
a minimum of 6 months experience working in a contact center, plus 4 weeks training on
procedures and some experience of face-to-face contact with customers in our stores. The
members of the team come from a variety of backgrounds and are aged between 20 and 50.
Gina Debogovich, Best Buy Community Manager
32
Social CRM
the overall social media strategy (for example, the Communications or Online department, as in the case of Air
France). It must also maintain regular contact with the departments that can provide input on customer knowledge
and that can benefit from social media feedback, such as
the Marketing department.
A Social CRM project has more chance of being successful if it is multi-disciplinary and managed
by several individuals working in different functional departments across the company. It is
important for companies to reach a certain level of dialogue and integration between departments
including Communications, HR, Marketing and General Management. So Communications could for
example manage the Facebook fan page and HR the Twitter feed, while Marketing could administer
the database and manage e-mail requests and media investments, etc. If companies do not
organize themselves properly, they risk wearing customers down. The worst Social CRM practice
is still incoherence. A bad Social CRM practice increases the risk of brand disloyalty on the part of
customers. Customers become a blur for companies faced with very large quantities of collected
data. This is why it is necessary to identify specifically those customers that the company really
needs.
Thierry Spencer, co-founder of Testntrust
Social CRM
33
4
4.3/ Evaluating the effectiveness of Social CRM
4.3.1/ WHO STILL TALKS ABOUT ROI?
In 2011, measuring the effectiveness of Social CRM to
justify investments in the new contact channel became
one of the key issues for companies. A recent survey
carried out on 140 international companies has confirmed
this trend1.
Henry Ford explained that the two most important factors of all do not appear on the company balance sheet:
his reputation and his workforce. Social media are in
harmony with the Fordist vision - they are a projection of
human relationships. The notion of Return On Investment
(ROI) is not relevant because relations are not quantifiable
in the same way as a financial investment.
34
Social CRM
4.3.2/ D
ELIVERING THE RIGHT INFORMATION TO
DIFFERENT AUDIENCES
Firstly, it is essential to provide information in a way that
is appropriate for each audience. This is a stratified ROI
concept inspired by the research of Jeremiah Owyang1
(Altimeter Group) and can take the following form:
Role
Business executives
Metrics
Business metrics
Specific data
(examples)
Profit generated,
reputation rating, cost
reduction assessment,
etc.
Business stakeholders
(management, employees,
suppliers, investors, etc.)
Scope of conversations,
impact of ambassadors,
resolution rate of issues,
etc.
Operations
(community managers,
developers, agencies, etc.)
Customer
and prospect
engagement data
(optin, etc.)
Social CRM
35
4
4.3.3 RETURN ON OBJECTIVE (ROO)
AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPI) AS TOOLS TO MEASURE SOCIAL ROI
The Return on Objective helps companies that are
genuinely customer focused to improve their operational
evaluation of the quantitative and qualitative impact of
Social CRM.
Instead of measuring the success of a campaign by focusing only on additional profit generated, ROO allows companies to better anticipate the overall Social CRM gains
based on the conversational and relational impact as well.
Ultimately, it is the strategic planning stage that is crucial if the ROO for
Social CRM is to be measured properly. The objectives the company wishes
to achieve must be clearly identified, as well as the type of information to
be collected and analyzed. This will enable companies to focus on KPIs
designed to help them anticipate whether their Social CRM strategy is likely
to be a success or a failure.
Guillaume Vincent, Consultant, Practice Sales & Marketing / Customer Relationship Mangement,
Atos Consulting
* Ibid
36
Social CRM
Examples of KPI:
Identifying with the brand
-V
olume of online posts and print-offs
- D evelopments before, during and after Social CRM
campaigns
Share of Voice
- N umber of times the brand is mentioned on social
media
-C
omparison with competitors
Brand equity
- Loyalty
- Reputation
-P
erceived quality
-B
rand associations
-O
ther assets
Customer experience and satisfaction
- Satisfaction rates compared with other contact channels
-L
ikeliness to recommend (Net Promoter Score)
Propensity to buy
Churn rate
Examples of KPI:
SEO
-D
evelopment of referencing on search engines
-V
olume of traffic on a company website
-V
olume of traffic on social media
Scope and development of conversations:
- Number (and growth in the number) of followers, fans,
subscribers
-N
umber of connections on third-party software
-N
umber of interactions
-A
udience participation
N umber of clicks, shared threads, mentions, responses, assessments, comments, retweets, votes,
downloads, participants, favorites
n
Social CRM
37
4
URLs are traced to determine the turnover generated by
using Twitter and to analyze the most attractive offers
based on the opinion of consumers. Dell research has
also shown that its Twitter account @ DellOutlet has
helped increase its visibility on the international stage.
6 500 000 z
7 000 000
6 000 000
5 000 000
4 000 000
3 000 000
2 000 000
1 000 000
0
2007
500 000 z
2008
3 000 000 z
2009
2010
Sou ce
Che C en EBG 2007
38
Social CRM
Examples of KPI:
Cost per lead compared with other channels
Cost of customer data acquisition compared with other
channels
Creation of community content:
-n
umber of notes and assessments (User Generated
Content)
- forums, wikis
number of issues resolved by customer support
services
number of issues resolved by the community
n
Social CRM
39
5
Social CRM technologies are mature
Once a company has defined its Social CRM objectives,
tools will need to be implemented in accordance with the
strategy.
Traditional CRM is about collecting and managing customer data, while Social CRM is a
strategy for customer engagement. Therefore, while traditional CRM is sales driven, Social
CRM is conversation-driven and sales become by-products. Social CRM seeks to favor word-ofmouth and turn your customers into ambassadors, amplifying your communication. To be more
reactive, this requires organizational changes, specifically the promotion of close collaboration
between your customers, suppliers, partners and yourselves in order to provide an answer
matching their expectations. In particular, this change requires an internal social layer around
customers processes. This will improve customer centricity, but also allow your company to
adopt a conversational approach to the development of products or services, paving the way for
co-production and co-innovation. One question remains though, are you able to listen to them,
understand them and redirect them to the right person?
Anthony Poncier, Poncier.org/blog/
In a world dominated by Customer Relationship Management, we are not going to get involved in an Old versus
New debate. Social CRM and traditional CRM tools are
designed to be merged.
40
Social CRM
The development of social media has led to a cultural change in the way
people communicate but more important than that, has raised customers
expectations. In order to match these expectations, youll have to evolve and
integrate this cultural shift into the core of your companys strategy.
Anthony Poncier, Poncier.org/blog/
Social CRM
41
5
5.2/ O
verview of existing technologies
Despite the fact that Social CRM is still an emerging market, software developers have understood its importance
for companies. Their products meet the various requirements in terms of functions and objectives.
FUNCTION
Description
OBJECTIVES
Listening
Collecting
Redirecting
Interacting
Measuring
42
Social CRM
There are already lots of offers on the market and these are
fairly homogeneous. For analytical purposes, a distinction
can be made between generalist suppliers and specialist suppliers.
Generalist suppliers
Companies choose a generalist supplier when they wish
to implement a multi-platform approach that would allow
them to adapt their strategy in line with changing requirements.
Specialist suppliers
Specialist suppliers enable companies to install any
module proposed by the chosen supplier according to their
objectives.
Companies choose a specialist supplier when they know
exactly which Social CRM strategy they wish to implement;
there is little requirement for an interactive platform and
implementation is single-stage.
MATURITY
The majority of these suppliers implement analytical strategies, leaving substantial room for further development in
the area of real-time measures.
The choice of tool also depends on the level of Social CRM
maturity that the company has reached:
STRATEGY
FUNCTIONS
OBJECTIVES
Listening / Collecting /
Measuring
Level
Level
Obtaining an
overall picture
of the contact.
Listening / Collecting /
Redirecting / Measuring
Level
Creating community
platforms
Listening / Collecting /
Redirecting / Measuring
Creating interactive
platforms
Listening / Collecting/
Redirecting / Managing /
Measuring
Level
Social CRM
43
6
Essential elements
of a Social CRM strategy
6.1/ The 5 fundamentals of Social CRM
6.1.1/ RECIPROCITY
6.1.2/ REACTIVITY
Sundays and public holidays are of no importance to Internet users - they post information on social media whenever
they want. The speed at which the message spreads varies
depending on the nature of the conversation, i.e. whether it
is negative, sensitive or simply amusing.
Maintaining this conversational aspect and keeping the exchange of views flowing means that expectations in terms
of responsiveness are higher on social media than on other
channels. It is therefore crucial that companies set up a Social CRM tool as soon as possible to allow them to detect
situations with potentially high virality (mass propagation),
so that they can respond with minimum delay, including
outside office hours. The aim is to avoid the development
of controversial debates and to deal with crisis situations as
soon as they arise.
In this respect, the mobile tools on smartphones are proving to be the preferred method for companies to stay
connected to their communities and to empower their
employees.
44
Social CRM
6.1.3/ CONSISTENCY
6.1.4/ TRANSPARENCY
At Dell, the CEO sometimes interacts personally with users. Involving the
CEO allows trends to be detected through interaction with Internet users.
This can speed up the decision making process.
Loc Le Meur, Founder of Seesmic
Social CRM
45
6
6.2/ T
he truth about
a few Social CRM myths
Like any innovation, Social CRM is often misunderstood or
sparks resistance from those opposed to change within
the organization. This lack of understanding and resis-
MYTH N4: ONLY THE COMMUNITY MANAGER CAN BE TASKED WITH SOCIAL CRM
Maturity analysis of the organization is needed to determine team requirements, i.e. composition and training
46
Social CRM
efine your improved strategy, which should combine the benefits of social media with those
D
of your current CRM approach (in terms of target, objectives, budget, etc.) Type of interaction
framework:
L istening, Discussing, Assisting, Empowering, Capitalizing on customer knowledge
Consider the exact strategic and operational objectives needed to evaluate the Return on
Objective (ROO)
Determine the most relevant KPIs and means of measuring the effectiveness of your Social
CRM according to your objectives
nalyze the changes that Social CRM will trigger within the company in terms of employees: training,
A
creation of new positions - will it be necessary to recruit and what type of person is required, etc.?
5
6
Develop a plan for Social CRM-specific organizational change using diagnostic procedures for the
various elements of the plan:
Human (corporate culture, sensitivity to social media, management of distributed content, etc.)
Strategic (vision, engagement of senior management, approach to management, etc.)
Technological (CRM tools, CRM system architecture, platform used, process, etc.)
Choose
the tools that will support your Social CRM strategy
Social functions to be integrated into the existing CRM tool: listening, assistance, conversation,
management, analysis and performance measurement
Launch trials early on, during the continuous Proof of Concept stage adapted to social media
Social CRM
47
7
Social CRM tomorrow
Although Social CRM is still in its infancy, it is preparing for
a series of changes as a result of evolving techniques and
practices on the part of consumers and companies.
and the history of his relationship with the brand can be difficult to decipher. In this context, identifying and rewarding
the customer becomes a crucial issue.
48
Social CRM
the extra mile with the launch of its Social Media Listening
Command Center. This mechanism for listening to consumers on social media is expected to track an average of
22,000 posts about Dell every day. These posts will then
be analyzed and segmented according to aspects such
as subject matter, tone (and what it says about the customers feelings) and geographical location1.
The aim is to allow each employee to have a social radio enabling them to
listen to customers conversations on social media. This is what the control
center does in nine languages soon to be eleven all over the world. ()
All company departments are soon going to be using social media and
community tools
Manish Mehta, VP Social media & communities, Dell2
http://mashable.com/2010/12/08/dell-social-listening-center/#view_as_one_page-gallery_box483
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4ooKojHMkA&feature=player_embedded
of social media, which has been linked to expectations identified amongst generation Y employees.
Social CRM
49
Conclusion
The world is changing and these new paradigms made
possible by technology mean consumers can get their
revenge: they are taking control once and for all. Companies owe it to themselves to be reactive by fitting into this
new social ecosystem, even if this means losing control in
terms of their relationships with customers and prospects.
But the shift from a purely transactional approach to one
that focuses on relationships and conversations - improving customer experiences and increasing sales - will
enrich relations. So what a company loses in terms of
control, it is able to win back in terms of relationship
quality.
This evolution - which could also be described as a
revolution - transforms companies and really puts them
to the test in the face of the emergence of social media.
All areas are affected. The need for Marketing, Sales and
Customer Service jobs will certainly be questioned, and
these will perhaps become the first positions to come
under scrutiny. But more generally, it is the entire management structure of the company that must be reconsidered. Companies must take the evolving and technological
landscape of CRM into account and adopt a coherent,
alert and engaging social media strategy.
Atos Consulting and MSLGroup are your partners in this
transformation. They will provide the auditing tools you
need to develop your company in line with its Social CRM
maturity level as well as the methodology for enhanced
customer segmentation. They will also help you implement
specific organizational models.
Strategy &
organization
E-reputation
Online monitoring
Opinion analyses
Dialogue plans
Social media marketing
Maturity analysis
Social CRM
Social CRM strategy
Segmentation
Competitive benchmark
Social CRM
Coaching
Transformation &
Technology
A
ugmented customer
knowledge
Social marketing
Social contact center
S ocial CRM technology
advice
Steps taken by Atos Consulting and MSLGroup in the field of Social CRM
50
Social CRM
About
What Atos Consulting
and MSLGroup can offer
MSLGROUP Social Hive is the global social media practice of MSLGROUP, pooling 150+ dedicated
operatives across North America, Europe, and Asia, with second to none expertise in social media
counsel, online PR, Community Management, social media analytics and social media marketing.
MSLGROUP Social Hive is a strategic and trusted digital advisor to our clients. A pioneer in influencer
marketing, word of mouth, real-time insights and heritage in third party advocacy. Were able to
cross-pollinate ideas and help our clients in the Conversation Age.
Social Hive is part of MSLGROUP, the Publicis Groupe PR, Corporate Communications and Events
global network.
Atos is an international information technology services company with an annual turnover of 8.7
billion Euros and 78,500 employees in 42 countries. Serving a global client base, it delivers hightech transactional services, as well as consulting, technology, systems integration and information
management solutions. Atos provides technologies that support the development of its customers
and help them achieve their company vision and goals. Atos is the official international information
technology partner for the Olympic Games. The Group is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and
trades as Atos, Atos Consulting & Technology Services, Atos Worldline and Atos Worldgrid.
Atos Consulting is the consultancy branch of the Atos Group.
Social CRM
51
Acknowledgements
We give our heartfelt thanks to all the experts and
professionals who have shared their experiences
with us throughout this document:
rdric Cavazza, Social Media Consultant / Expert,
F
fredcavazza.net
Alexandre Dayon, Executive Director CRM, Salesforce
nthony Poncier, Social Media Consultant / Expert,
A
poncier.org/blog/
Gina Debogovich, Best Buy Community Manager
dric Deniaud, Social Media Consultant / Expert,
C
mediassociaux.fr
ann Gourvennec, Web Director, social and digital
Y
media, Orange group
Loc Le Meur, CEO, Seesmic
erge Real del Sarte, Director of e-Reputation and
S
Community Management, GINGER Group
Thierry Spencer, Founder And Director Of Testntrust
Marina Tymen, Press Office, Air France
52
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53
Notes
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