David Myron, CRM Magazine Companies of all sizes are able to benefit from social media. If your organization isn't, then it's probably because of one or more of these 10 mistakes. Learn the from unfortunate stories that have appeared in the pages of CRM magazine, or run the risk of becoming one of them.

1. Top 10 Reasons Your Social CRM
Efforts Are Failing
David Myron, Editorial Director – CRM magazine

2. The Challenge: High SCRM Failure Rate
 Companies are flocking to social media because:
 Customers and prospects
 Promote and protect their brand
 Low cost and easy to get started
 But 50% of companies are failing at SCRM (Gartner)
 Many still stuck in experimentation stage

3. What’s at Stake?
SCRM Tech Investments
Time
Brand Reputation
Customer Satisfaction
Revenue

4. Why are Companies Failing?
1. Wrong Culture
2. No Compliance Policy
3. No Established Purpose/Goals
4. Lack of Managerial Support
5. Insufficient Staffing
6. Unwilling to Listen to Customers
7. Can’t Effectively Respond
8. Poor Internal Communication
9. No Plan for Influencers/Advocates
10. No Progress Reports

5. 1. Wrong Organizational Culture

6. 2. No Compliance Policy
• Collaborate with
marketing, IT, and legal.
• Establish rules of
engagement for
consistently representing
your brand in a
professional manner.
• Share with staff.
• Enforce adherence.

7. 3. No Established Purpose/Goals
You can’t measure
success without defining it
first.
•Promote your brand •Improve sales leads
•Protect your brand •Support a community
•Build relationships •Garner feedback
•Provide customer support •Send product alerts

8. 4. Lack of Managerial Support
Once the business case has
been identified:
– Allocate proper resources
– Invest in employees
• New hires
• Training
• Promotions
– Communicate plans and
successes

9. 5. Insufficient Staffing
• Build a dedicated social
media team.
• ID skillsets needed.
• Find out who has them.
• Hire the right people.
• Train employees.
• Compensate fairly.

10. 6. Unwilling to Listen to Customers
• Customers will talk
about you, whether you
like it or not
• Don’t avoid the
conversations
• Listen/respond
• Don’t control, influence
• Bad comments will come
– Don’t have a knee-jerk
reaction, but be ready to
respond quickly.

11. 7. Can’t Effectively Respond to
Customers
• Enable valuable ideas to Example:
float to the top.
• Be willing to replace,
repair, and change your
products/services.
• Communicate plans to
customers.

12. 8. Poor Internal Communication
Don’t only listen for bad comments.
Knowing and sharing what customers LOVE about
your brand will aid:
•Employee morale
•Product development
•Efforts against viral attacks
•Sales, marketing, support resource allocation

13. 9. No Plan for Influencers/Advocates
Reward most valuable with:
•Product plans
•Test samples
•Ability to provide feedback
Be mindful of those who
want discounts/freebies.
•They’re motivated by money, not a love
for your product or company.
•They can easily be bought.

14. 10. No Progress Reports
• Continually measure
results.
• Conduct a gap analysis.
• Make adjustments.
• Continue to track results.

15. In Summary:
1. Fix Your Culture
2. Create a Compliance Policy
3. Establish Purpose/Goals/A Business Case
4. Get Managerial Support
5. Hire, Promote, Train, and Compensate Employees
6. Listen to Customers
7. Effectively Respond to Customers
8. Communicate Successes Internally
9. Engage Influencers/Advocates
10. Measure Results

16. If you want to know more…
Visit www.destinationCRM.com and
subscribe to CRM magazine.
Attend the Customer Solutions Expo (featuring
CRM Evolution, Customer Service Experience, and
SpeechTEK conferences) at the New York Marriott
Marquis (August 19-21).
Twitter: @CRM

17. Thank You
David Myron
CRM magazine
Email: dmyron@infotoday.com
Twitter: @dmyron