[wfyoung]

Why is any Social Media Strategy not the same as your CRM strategy?


O.K. So I'm not a genius. I can't type for shirt. I'm not all a twitter. People bore me. I can however read and I just read a book titled “The Facebook Era” by Clara Shih. While I did'nt realize that it was going to be a pitch for Salesforce.com I did realize that in a little line, on the cover of the book, just below the author's name it says “creator of Faceconnector (formerly Faceforce)” At first blush the words were rather benign and insignificant until I was about half wat thru the book.


Why isn't our CRM strategy our Social Media Strategy and why aren't they completely integrated?


I'm not pitching anything. I'm just a car guy dipping my toe in water. I'm throwing this out there because it's already been thought of so it's not like I'm able to take credit for it.


Why don't our CRM systems integrate completely and seamlessly with social sites? Where are the applications like:


Vinspace for vinsolutions, c'mon Matt, you know you want it!
Autoface for Autobase
Dealer Speak for Dealer Peak
Higher Peer
DealerSpoke-it
iMagicbook
DealersPocket


I want to open my clients “file” and see all their posts from Facebook right there. I want to be able to post on their wall and respond, not pitching but people-ing. For some people when I open their file I can see their tweets and probably know exactly where they are at that moment. I know their age, hobbies, interests, location, networks they belong to and all of their friends.


Can you say super laser like, between the eyes, I was just looking for that, marketing?


This happened to me the other day by accident. I get a facebook update on my Blackberry from a bar that I am a “fan” of about a particular local artist performing there that night. Moments later, I get a response to an automated e-mail “Thanks for purchasing from us...” in which the customer states he was overall fairly satisfied but there was a small problem that was scheduled to be fixed the next week. Normally this is the sort of e-mail that gets lost in the sea of communication that we all swim in everyday however this happened to be the artist that was playing that night at the bar I am a “fan” of. I replied to him almost instantly acknowledging his comments bla bla bla. Then wished him luck performing tonight. He replied and was of course a little dumb founded but very impressed. That night I noticed he became a “fan” on our Facebook page and who knows, maybe tweeted about us. Presto! I have differentiation, uniqueness and the start of a real "relationship".


My point is the information is out there. I just want it organized, time-lined, cross refrenced and sorted to make sense all under one tab.


There is enough brain power on the forum to actually get auto retailing industry IN FRONT of others instead of always playing catch up. Hey, while we're at it let's make it open source so everyone can make it better?

[mattwatson81]

I think this is a great idea. I think we first have to figure out what all it should do. I have been thinking about it off and on for a while now. Here are some high level ideas:

1. Be able to take a customers name/email/phone/address and find their social website profiles
2. Be able to communicate with customers on social networks and show that communication history in the CRM
3. Be able to pick up all the followers and fans on facebook and twitter and import them as customers/leads/names maybe in the CRM?
4. Post the dealer's messages to social networks. Like dealer events, specials, incentives
5. Monitor social networks for mentions of the dealer's name looking for positive or negatives
6. Monitor social networks for potential leads based on what people say. For example: "My Ford F-150 just broke down. I gotta get a new car"
7. Append CRM customer demographic info based on their social profiles.
8. Monitor potential leads to see what they are saying after you find their profiles. You just sent them an email and they tweet: "The dealer didn't offer me enough for my trade so I can't afford to buy a new car"

Anyone else have any ideas on this new frontier?

[Alex Snyder]

I really like this idea! With some of those CRM's being Internet-based, it would be fairly easy to connect accounts. twitter would be very easy to do, but facebook might take some more work.

Lots of work or not, I think this is a great idea and want to see it happen. We've finally started training our entire sales staff on how to use facebook to work directly with their customers and going to a CRM/SM integration would make a lot of sense for the direction we're heading.

There would have to be an opt-in from the customer though.

[Alex Snyder]

Originally Posted by mattwatson81

1. Be able to take a customers name/email/phone/address and find their social website profiles - NO
2. Be able to communicate with customers on social networks and show that communication history in the CRM - YES
3. Be able to pick up all the followers and fans on facebook and twitter and import them as customers/leads/names maybe in the CRM? - NO
4. Post the dealer's messages to social networks. Like dealer events, specials, incentives - YES
5. Monitor social networks for mentions of the dealer's name looking for positive or negatives - ABSOLUTELY
6. Monitor social networks for potential leads based on what people say. For example: "My Ford F-150 just broke down. I gotta get a new car" - YES
7. Append CRM customer demographic info based on their social profiles. - YES
8. Monitor potential leads to see what they are saying after you find their profiles. You just sent them an email and they tweet: "The dealer didn't offer me enough for my trade so I can't afford to buy a new car" - MAYBE....if they've opted-in

Anyone else have any ideas on this new frontier?

OPT IN!!! Without getting customers to opt-in you're heading down a slippery path that the government will probably close down one day.

Of course, there are a lot of dynamics that would need to go into this feature. If this were created, it would not be overly popular today (as a CRM feature), but I can see it growing some stout legs down the road.

[wfyoung]

Opting in of course.

Really what I'm thinking is that you only have integration if they have become a fan on your dealer fan page or are following you in twitter or the like.

Can you imangine, instead of that boring letter in the mail that costs what, a buck now including paper and all, you simply have a post on their facebook page that says " Happy 1st annevisary of your new car!". Or a tweet that simply says "Happy Birthday from Checkered Flag" at 12:01 am the day of their birthday, before anyone else.

Confirm their appointment with a Myspace post?

Have them tweet their glowing review of your store?

It is flippin exponential.

Not only are you communicating in the method that people are actually using and that they prefer but it is probably being read by all their friends also.

Maybe I was wrong. Can I still copyright the term Social CRM?

[wfyoung]

This is a perfect project to try to develop in Google Wave.

Will someone send me an invite? wfyoungiii@gmail.com

I figure our IPO will be in one year.

[wfyoung]

It is possible. Here is a Demo of Faceconnector in action.

http://salesbookapp.com/faceconnecto...rce%20Demo.swf

[Brent Palen]

Originally Posted by wfyoung

This is a perfect project to try to develop in Google Wave.

Will someone send me an invite? wfyoungiii@gmail.com

I figure our IPO will be in one year.

Umm...I hate to burst your bubble but I think someone has already came up with the "Social CRM" word. They even bought the domain.

SocialCRM :: Social way to keep track of the businesses you do business with

[wfyoung]

No bubble here!

[JoePistell]

Love the concept. I'm a buyer if someone figgers it out.