Spinning, Spinning, Spinning - The Social Evolution of Customer Relationship Management

The world is spinning, or should that be the world is full of spin?

Traditional CRM has morphed into a far more interesting, and in many ways challenging, activity.

From a PR perspective, the brave new world of CRM looks like this:

Source: GetSatisfaction.com

This means that 77% of customers search on social media sites for coupons and incentives and 60% of users have regular interaction with companies through social media.

There is however one basic flaw in the above; it is the customer who initiates the conversation not the PR company. The above infographic is a very PR-centric perspective of the world -  a world that has rapidly moved on.

And as Mike Boysen explains:

"This is what PR people don’t seem to understand. Our CRM customers still have to do their jobs. CRM is not about PR – it will never be about PR. But, they do need to understand why customers may be making new demands of them. This social customer infographic clearly explains it. It needs no further explanation as far as I’m concerned. It’s simply time to move on. Some will be consulting, others will be flipping burgers."

Source: Mark Tamis

It is the collaborative action of customers that is the most important dynamic.  Company buzz is built by customers and PR attempts to influence this conversation can only go so far.

Often the best ideas for innovation come for the customer and not from within an enterprise. Similarly customers needs and support can be gauged by what is shared in social media conversations.

To put it bluntly, a company that does not engage through social media, is not nimble enough to quickly innovate and respond to the needs of the customer, or fails to monitor the Buzz,  is dead in the water.

Reference:

11 Search Trends for 2011
Social Media Marketing Trends for 2011 – Part 1   Part 2
Bing Social

Related articles

• 4 Metrics to Measure Your Best Leads (hubspot.com)
• Redefining Customer Experience: CRM, VRM and "Disruptive Technologies." (customerthink.com)
• Get Satisfaction's take on Evolution of Social CRM [infographic] (hardknoxlife.com)

We Consume, We Collaborate

The Harvard Business School describes the Collaborative Consumption movement as:

“A socioeconomic groundswell that will transform the way companies think about their value propositions.”

Ted describes the presenter, Rachel Botsman,  as:

"... a social innovator who writes, consults, and speaks on the power of collaboration and sharing through network technologies, and on how it will transform business, consumerism and the way we live."

P2P file sharing and online technologies are transforming the way we share and trade, and on a scale that was never before dreamed of.




WHAT'S MINE IS YOURS from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

When all is said and done, the Collaborative Consumption model is a logical extension of the social media revolution.

This infographic shows the rise of collaborative consumption, including figures from LendingClub, a US p2p lender.

There are four fundamental forces that are reshaping global consumption behavior: the global recession, the re-emphasis on community, broader environmental awareness, and online networking technologies.

Online sharing can contribute to profit making.  Businesses such as EBay and new Zealand's premier site, TradeMe, have already harnessed the power of collaborative consumption or to put it in simple terms "sharing".

Related articles

• Conspicuous Consumption to Collaborative Consumption (collings.co.za)
• The case for collaborative consumption: Rachel Botsman on TED.com (ted.com)
• A Collaboration Conversation (startupblog.wordpress.com)