Next week, there will be an opportunity for communicators to dig deeper into the challenges and opportunities created by the rise of social media.
This conference created by Luke Brynley Jones – @lbrynleyjones, founder and blogger of oursocialtimes.com, is taking place in Brussels for the first time on Wednesday 26 September, for more information go to: Social CRM 2012.
The name itself raises questions that marketeers are dealing with everyday. What is the impact of social technologies on our marketing, and how can we adapt our strategy to make the most of these tools? More practically, how can move to a ‘social’ form of CRM, where a brand can connect to its customers through a multiplicity of channels?
The opportunities sound endless, however the hype around these tools has confused more than one business executive. What is needed now is practical examples of real challenges and real successes – not the promises of extraordinary opportunities that more often than not fail to materialise. Through a combination of presentations, workshops and Q&A, a group of experts and marketeers will look for solutions to their own specific needs. They will share their first hand experience from brands such as eBay Europe, BNP Paris Fortis, United Biscuits and many others.
ZN is supporting the event as an outreach partner and I will be presenting some thoughts on these topics. My starting point will be that the Internet and social CRM are redefining the relationship between companies and individuals; it is their mindset and not resources that is key to face this challenge. I will describes how ‘Hyperthinking’ can serve as a powerful tool to meet the demands of a new customer base and take advantage of an ever-changing world.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Anyone considering these issues should doublecheck their own assumptions with the help of “Are You Building Facebook’s Empire, Or Your Own?” by Tara Hunt, alias @missrogue (I put the link behind my name to stay out of Phil’s spambox).
Tara’s a digital idealist, but a lot of this article rings true to me nevertheless – eg,
“However, instead of business adopting groundswell thinking, most businesses sought out the tools without the new attitude, seeing them more as a new, cheaper way to get to market rather than a better way to do business altogether.”
She sees this as a problem for society to harvest the benefits of social media, and she’s right.
But businesses should also take note – if they keep their old paradigms, seeing social media as just a marketing trick rather than a better way to do business, their long-term future probably ain’t good.
SocialCRM, therefore, isn’t just ‘CRM with Klout scores’ – it has to be seen as part of a wider strategic rethink.
Hi Mathew,
Thanks for the comment. Just read through the article, and I agree with your comment (actually more than with the article itself – I don’t share her expectation that the web was designed to make our lives better. My understanding is that the web happened because it happened and it makes some people’s life better, others not). The question for business communicators, however, is how to leverage these tools and make them work for their specific business goals.
The starting point, as you rightly said, is mindset (paradigms) – not technology. Hence my attempt at defining this mindset with the word ‘hyperthinking’, but it doesn’t matter which word you use (although it does to me 😉 as long as you understand that the right mindset comes first. Second comes the strategic framework, which is key to make any of these tech initiatives work. Hopefully this conversation will continue next Wednesday.
Phillip, I’d love to attend, but time and distance are a barrier. Will you be streaming the event and if so, will I be able to pose questions and provide input? I’ve been involved and interested in the way brands connect to consumers for quite a while now and while Customer Relationship Management systems or ‘CRM’ reflects the brands data store, a competing concepts of Vendor Relationship Management or ‘VRM’ is emerging and putting consumers in control of their data. This is a perspective I hope is being examined at the event as well.
Hi Steven – Sadly we’re not streaming this event, but there will be a live Twitter feed, so you can participate via the stream on #SCRM12. I’ll be checking for questions and posing them for virtual attendees.