Social media is a large part of your marketing strategy and you need to know how to properly leverage it to reach your marketing goals. With the help of social CRM tools like Rapportive and Gist you can better understand your customers, increase engagement, and provide better customer service.

What is social CRM?

As with traditional customer relationship management (CRM), social CRM or SCRM is about managing and fostering relationships with customers, modified for the engaging nature of social media. Paul Greenberg defined SCRM as a business strategy, supported by technology, which encourages open-ended communication and leads to a mutually beneficial business relationship. Social CRM tools collect demographic and psychographic information on customers and prospects based on their social interactions. The data is then passed on to you. Please note: SCRM should be used in conjunction with, not in place of, traditional CRM.

How do I apply SCRM to my current social media strategy?

You may already be doing SCRM in a less organized, more time-consuming way. Do you monitor social networks looking for mentions of your brand or for industry keywords? Do you send links as replies to promote your brand? How many times have you been accused of being a spammer?

Integrating SCRM tools will make your marketing and public relations efforts much simpler. Instead of continually monitoring comments about your brand, you will have a tool to collect information for you, making your marketing/PR efforts more efficient.

How do I get started with SCRM?

Start by choosing a SCRM tool that provides a free trial. I recommend testing a few options until you get the hang of things. Once you are more experienced with SCRM, you will be able to decide which tool fits your specific needs.

Does social CRM work for B2B marketers?

In B2B relationships, SCRM would allow you recommend your product/service as the solution to a prospect’s business dilemma. How do you know they are having that dilemma? You heard about their problem through their social network. Check out these 4 steps to more effective social CRM B2B relationships.

B2B social CRM is still in the growth stages, but is expected to capture 30% of the software market by 2012.

Is there anything else I need to know about SCRM?

There’s a ton more to learn about SCRM and this post is full of great resources to get you started. You will also learn a lot as you implement your own program, but there are a few more things that I will share…

•  Remember the basic principles of CRM. The customer is still your top priority; you’re just using social networks to manage the relationship.
• Social CRM is about two-way communication. As with all social media platforms, you will be engaging and communicating with customers, not speaking at them.
• Not all tools are right for you. There are a variety of SCRM tools available and some have more capabilities than others. Do you research and take advantage of the free software trials before committing to one.
• Be SMART. As with all marketing programs, be sure to set SMART SCRM goals.