How CRM Applications Use Social Media to Monitor Relationships
Because Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and other social Web sites don't offer the ability to manage customer relationships internally, CRM software should still play a pivotal role for service-oriented companies. Effective CRM systems give existing service professionals three powerful ways to extend their reach into online communities:

• Tracking searches of keywords or trigger phrases. Twitter, Facebook, and most blogging platforms offer basic search functions. However, new CRM software modules can track and log searches to a master database. Agents can associate entries with individual customer accounts.
• Logging followers of customers and tastemakers. Social media tools give companies unprecedented abilities to peer into the lives of their customers. CRM software can filter conversations between customers and their friends to discover opportunities for growth or for service recovery.
• Reacting to trends before they hit critical mass. "Company sucks" Web sites and message boards flourished as customers reacted to businesses that didn't care about their needs. Complaints travel faster and farther in today's connected society, requiring customer service professionals to resolve problems clearly and in public.

Managing Relationships with CRM Applications and Social Media
Many leading CRM applications can help existing service desks monitor social networks. Just as many call centers have adapted to interacting with customers over chat, service departments can expect to engage customers through social media by:

• Connecting with customers on their preferred platforms. The world's best phone support may not matter to a customer who communicates almost exclusively online.
• Building a company-wide database of customer ideas and comments. Companies can leverage a growing knowledge bank to gain new market ideas or to clarify mass communication.
• Offering closure. Because social media platforms often allow customer to make their interactions public, customer service agents can use CRM software to own a solution and enjoy the benefits of instant, positive attention.

Maintaining a Focus on Customer Relationship Management
As many customer service leaders have already discovered, it can be hard to make the distinction between CRM software and the social media they have been redesigned to track. Experts recommend shopping for tools that can:

• Focus on a single tool. Consistency among CRM systems allows agents to participate in social media without the distractions of advertising or unrelated messages.
• Focus on the totality of a customer relationship. Reviewing a customer's blog posts and tweets can help provide added context before offering solutions.
• Track customer interactions, even on foreign territory. Open APIs and proprietary control systems log messages and maintain quality control.

CRM software that interfaces with social media Web sites also can help clear the most important hurdle of all: network security. Few network administrators in large corporations allow unfettered access to third party sites. CRM software opens the right kind of access without the threat of data privacy breaches. By pairing business-friendly access to the social web with the knowledge-based needs of marketers, CRM software developers offer essential innovation for any company serious about staying relevant to younger customers.

Sources

Briansolis.com

CRM Mastery

IT World

The Social Customer Manifesto

Web Strategy

ZDNet Blogs

About the Author
Joe Taylor Jr. is an internal business consultant for a Fortune 500 company, who writes about finance, culture, and design. He holds a bachelor's of science in communications from Ithaca College.