The Anatomy of A Social CRM Profile Using SocialCRM Tools

Service-Push’s new suite of Social CRM Products for Salesforce.Com illustrates how to link Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook information about your customer right within Salesforce.Com. Attached are a high level suite of features:

• Lookup Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook information regarding your Contacts.
• Automatically Monitor Customer Conversations.
• Seamlessly Create Leads from Twitter
• Import Twitter Conversations into Lead or Contact Records.
• Import Facebook Profile information into Lead or Contact Records.
• Track Lead Source Information as a Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin Source.
• Track company conversations.
• Lookup Company Fan Pages.

Realtime Twitter Support & Lead Generation with SocialCRMTools

Here is a preview of how to provide pro active and realtime Twitter Support and Lead Generation by monitoring Twitter Conversations within Salesforce.Com. The new features in the SocialCRM Suite of tools allows you to monitor the conversations on key search terms, and then create support cases or leads in SFDC. To learn more visit http://www.socialcrmtools.com or http://www.service-push.com.

A Video Demo of Microsofts CRM Social Accelerator (Twitter Monitoring)

So Microsoft has been a little behind the Twitter bandwagon.  It wasn’t till just over 1 month ago when they officially launched a Twitter Channel which is currently being used for Marketing purposes.  However, it looks like they are making strides in the Social CRM space by announcing last week that they are introducing Twitter capability into their Dynamics CRM application.  The application will allow you to monitor, manage, and support social conversations related to your brand’s conversations.  Microsoft also has announced the ability to integrate other social networks like Facebook at a later time.   The application will be available for free for Microsoft Dynamics CRM users at http://crmaccelerators.codeplex.com/.  One of the highlights of the video above is their ability to provide comprehensive Social Conversation analytics and dashboards right from within the CRM environment.

It seems like the Social CRM craze has not caught on to all other vendors.  While companies like Oracle have introduced a Social CRM offering, they have yet to integrate Twitter or Facebook into their applications.  However, I can certainly see it happening real soon.  One of the budding opportunities in this space will be Free Social CRM applications as this business matures.  We are already seeing various apps make a big mark in this space like CoTweet.  Applications like CoTweet are not only being utilized by Corporate Customers like Jetblue, but the tool also seems to be an excellent fit for small businesses.  One of the challenges with Cotweet will be their ability to synchronize their data with Enterprise CRM.

CoTweet Video – The Free CRM Tool for Twitter Interactions

Check out this video demo of CoTweet in action. John Perez of http://www.service-push.com (A Social CRM Consulting Firm) demonstrates how you can support your customers and twitter conversations using Co Tweet. Can co tweet replace traditional ticketing systems for small businesses? Visit http://www.service-push.com and http://www.socialcrmtools.com for more information on Social CRM Tools, Information, and Strategy.

Video: Clara Shih Speaks Social CRM

Preparing for A New Kind of Customer Relationship in the Facebook Era (Web 2.0 Expo – Clara Shih) from Steffan Antonas on Vimeo.

Clara is an author, blogger, and entrepreneur who created Faceconnector (initially Faceforce), the first business app on Facebook. Clara talks Facebook, Twitter for Sales and Marketing in this 40 Minute presentation.

Video: Social CRM – Customer Support with Twitter & Salesforce.Com

Here is a video Demo showing you how to monitor support issues within the Twitterverse from within your CRM system. This demo illustrates Salesforce.Com monitoring Technical Support Issues occuring in Twitter, all the while seamlessly creating support cases from the Twitter Conversations. This is a set of upcoming features for an application called Social CRM Tools that will be available soon on app exchange.

Video: Traditional vs. Social CRM (What is The Difference?)

Inspired by an article by Brent Leary, I decided to give some concrete examples of how Traditional CRM approaches measure up with Social CRM approaches. In this 1 Slide Summary John M. Perez of Service-Push.Com walks you through examples of Prospecting, Business Process Automation, and Storage of Customer Information in your CRM system. He presents 2 examples of these CRM attributes in a Traditional CRM Strategy vs. a Social CRM approach. Recommending that a good blend of both will be required in order to implement a successful CRM Business Strategy.

Video: Social CRM Tools – Salesforce.Com Integration with Facebook

Do you want to get more social with your existing and new customers? Traditional CRM is all about traditional data like Name, Email, Address, etc. Today’s prospects and customers are having conversations on Facebook, Twitter and Social CRM Tools is here to help.

This is a demo of an application called Faceforce.Com that was written by Clara Shih. It demonstrates the ability to integrate your contacts in your Saleforce.Com system with their Facebook information. This is ideal to keep track of your customers business and personal interactions. This feature will be incorporated in Social CRM Tools. Coming soon in July 2009.

Video: Social CRM Selling Tools – Salesforce.Com & Twitter Integration

Do you want to get more social with your existing and new customers? Traditional CRM is all about traditional data like Name, Email, Address, etc. Today’s prospects and customers are having conversations on Twitter and Social CRM Tools is here to help.

This is a prototype demo of an upcoming Social CRM Tool that will integrate your Salesforce.Com’s Contacts, and Leads seamlessly with those Customers and Leads who have Twitter. This demo shows you how to do a look up of a customers twitter profile, and seamlessly import it into Salesforce.Com’s Contact, and Lead Records. The application imports Twitter information like Bio, Picture, Website URL, into Salesforce.Com so you can constantly stay up to date and connect with your customers online while working withing your CRM system.

Increasing Sales Using Social Media

The days of Joe “The Cold Calling” Salesperson are over! Avoid spending valuable selling resources on cold calling prospects that are not eager to return your call. Instead, engage those very same prospects in other ways using Social Media Networks, Groups, and Tracking Tools. While there is the never ending debate on whether Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies can truly increase your sales, you can bet that Social Media is here to stay and it will not be going away. In this blog I will review 3 techniques your sales team can employ to attract new prospects, retain existing customers, and effectively sell to new leads using Web 2.0 Tools.

Using Linked In Groups

If your a sales person who is not yet on LinkedIn, then shame on you! Sign up now. Never the less, whether your in the HR Industry, the Tech Industry, or in Finance – there is a group out there for you. LinkedIn provides a great way for professionals to interact, share advice, network, and communicate with those you have a common professional interest. Groups such as Salesforce.Com’s Professional LinkedIn Network, and Zoho CRM’s LinkedIn Group have been an invaluable resource to my business and networking goals.

So what does this have to do with Sales? For example, in one of the groups I joined – there was a thread I noticed where there was discussion about looking for a new email marketing solution that integrates well with a specific CRM system. It just so happened that I worked with a solution in another company, so I got in on the thread and mentioned the solution to the individual. They privately replied and asked if I knew of anyone at the company of the Emarketing Solution company that I recommended. I referred them to the sales person at the company who also was on LinkedIn so I did a formal introduction through LinkedIn because the eMarketing Sales rep was already part of my network. While this was not my sale, it was a referral and the Lead Source of the Sale was a LinkedIn Group Discussion Conversation. Not a Cold Call, Not A Webinar, or A Conference.

Using Twitter Tracking Tools

So you think your too mature for Twitter as a Senior Sales Rep? Think again! Twitter has changed the control of a company brand from the company right back to the consumer. With just a couple of tweets, the product or brand your selling could be the biggest hit or the biggest flop in the eyes of millions of Tweeters around the world. Tracking conversations on Twitter around a specific topic, product, company, brand, or service you are selling could be your next big deal!  There are dozens of Twitter Tracking Tools, and there are three in which I recommend to utilize. Another worthy mention is TweetDeck which allows you to monitor real time conversations in the Twitterverse while also sending you alerts. Using a combination of these tools combined with your CRM system, you can help you to track key questions, conversations, or comments based on a relevant term. So if your selling a CRM Solution, you may want to track daily conversations of Twitter Chatter around the term “#CRM Solutions” using the “#” hash tag prior to the term. This way, when someone in the Twitterverse says “Does anyone recommend a good CRM Solution for small businesses?” – you can engage into that conversation immediately.   Some other examples are using your actual product or service as a keyword to either generate a lead, or close an existing sale!

Google Alerts & RSS Feeds

For everything else happening outside the standard social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn I would recommend using Google Alerts to track, monitor, and stay up to date with keyword terms, products, or whatever it is your trying to sell. Google Alerts tracks pretty much everything that is published on the web. However, getting the results in an email from Google Alerts can be inundating. So I recommend you utilize Google Alerts and set it up to be utilized as an RSS feed to track your keyword terms. Then you can easily configure your RSS Reader to track those relevant sites publishing content related to your keyword terms. You can learn how to do that in this tutorial.

Conclusion

There are several more strategies to employ, but these are the most sales oriented strategies that I have seen work most effectively. Be sure not to exclude your existing customer base from these strategies as well. Applying the above along with following your existing customers on their Social Networking profiles can only strengthen your relationships and potentially increase your sales. In my next series I will talk about how CRM tools should be integrated into the Sales 2.0 framework such that the above strategies can be seamlessly integrated into anyone of your CRM systems. Feel free to email me or let me know what strategies you have utilized to increase sales.