This document provides an overview of social CRM software. It defines social CRM as combining social media management capabilities with traditional CRM to help brands better engage customers. The market for social CRM software is growing rapidly and was predicted to be worth $9 billion by 2018. The document discusses key features of social CRM software like enhanced customer profiles, social listening, sentiment analysis and social selling. It also provides common use cases for social CRM in sales, marketing and customer service. Finally, it offers tips on gaining executive support for social CRM initiatives.

1. A Publication From
BUYER’S GUIDE
SOCIAL CRM
SOFTWARE

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Social CRM combines the capabilities of social media management with traditional
customer relationship management (CRM) software to help brands better engage
their customers. The movement started with web-based clipping services in public
relations departments, but these small teams using primitive techniques quickly
proved an inadequate match for the velocity of modern social communication. This
need led to the startup of standalone social analytics tools, and the rapid fusion
of social and business processes triggered a flurry of acquisitions by major CRM
vendors like Salesforce and Oracle in 2012 and 2013.1
Some firms have predicted
the overall market will be worth as much as $9 billion by 2018.2
Although vendors and thought leaders have made great strides in defining and
standardizing social CRM software, there is still a lot of confusion about available
products and features. This guide will help you better understand the capabilities of
social CRM, how it can benefit your company, and how to choose the best solution.
Introduction
Table Of Contents
2 Introduction
3 Defining Social CRM
4 Products and Features
5 Common Uses and Strategies
7 Creating Executive Buy-In
10 Comparable Products
11 How to Choose the Best Solution

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In the most general terms, Social CRM can describe any CRM system with
integrated social media features. The utility of systems, however, is largely
influenced by the depth and breadth of social integration. In other words, simply
linking social media data to account profiles is much less useful than a system
that incorporates social analytics and social selling features.
Traditionally, businesses have organized customer interactions around a set of
predetermined channels. To that end, the practices and technologies of CRM
systems have largely been sufficient, but the rise of social media (along with other
web-based media and crowdsourced venues) has complicated this structure and
given new power to customers. As notable CRM author Paul Greenberg said,3
“The
customer [now] controls the business ecosystem and the conversation.”
Business are taking notice of this change, and most have adopted their own social
media strategies, if not specific social management solutions. But social CRM as
a strategy doesn’t just involve being present on social networks; it’s a complete
fusion of sales, marketing, and service with the rich, unstructured conversation
—and data— pulsing through comments, statuses, shares, tweets, and likes at an
impossible rate. It’s about bringing business to the customer.
Defining Social CRM

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There are a few different ways to package social CRM software. Some solutions
are full-featured CRM platforms with built-in social functions and data, such as
Nimble’s intelligent relationship platform. In other cases, a business can piece
together a solution by selecting a standalone social management tool (like
Hootsuite or Sprout Social) that integrates with their existing CRM. The best
solution for your business will likely be the one that provides the most seamless
integration between social media activities and your teams’ existing systems.
Common Features
As with any software, features will vary from vendor to vendor, ranging from
simple social profile access to sophisticated analytics and social media
monitoring capabilities. Here are some of the most common features, some or all
of which you may find in a social CRM solution:
• Enhanced customer profiles: Agents can use data from social media
accounts (demographics, job title, location, interests, communication history,
etc.) to build more comprehensive understanding of customers. A 360-degree
view of each customer’s needs and interests can enable more targeted
marketing efforts, better product suggestions, and less redundant issue
resolution.
• Social listening: Identify brand mentions and customer trends by monitoring
comments, posts, hashtags, etc. Listening can be used to figure out what your
customers and prospects are interested in, what troubles them about your
brand, when they’re having issues with a product or service, who your biggest
influencers are, or even to point out sales opportunities.
• Sentiment Analysis: Social CRMs with sentiment analysis use natural
language processing to identify emotions and attitudes your customers
express on social media (when a customer is ranting about poor service, for
example). Sentiment analysis helps companies with a large customer base
process and interpret the high-volume of unstructured data associated with
social media.
• Social selling: Pitching directly to social connections isn’t always effective,
since not everyone who posts about a product is ready to buy. Social selling
tools can help you pinpoint prospects who are closest to making a decision,
and discover recurring signals so your efforts aren’t wasted. Some social
CRMs can even suggest specific ways to engage a prospect based on their
demographics and browsing history.
Products and Features

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1. Gain better knowledge of customers and
prospects
Use the data accrued through social listening and enhanced custom-
er profiles to draw valuable insights about your target audience on
an individual and/or collective level. Sales and marketing strategists
can use this data to add relevance to the products and content they
present.
2.
3. Form new relationships, retain old ones
Lead generation is one of the most promising aspects of social
CRM—the ability to find and connect with new opportunities based
on behavioral or linguistic triggers (mentioning a certain phrase, or
adding a certain interest to their page). This increases the volume
of leads entering your funnel, which is good for business. But social
CRM can also help businesses retain current customers through
faster issue resolution and by anticipating churn before it happens.
Common Uses and Strategies
Create value-added customer engagement
Social CRM isn’t just about following your customers on social
networks and getting them to like your company page; it’s about
adding value to the relationship in both directions. You can add
value by resolving a complaint mentioned in customer’s post, or by
offering a discount to new followers. The customer adds value to your
businesses by pledging their loyalty and (hopefully) spreading the
word in their virtual community.
Social CRM is most frequently used within sales, marketing, and service
departments, since these roles require the most direct engagement with
customers and prospects. High level decision-makers can also use social CRM
tools to measure larger audience trends and monitor brand reputation.
There are a number of strategies organizations can employ to yield higher return
on investment:

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4. Monitor and improve brand reputation
Historically, businesses have relied on a designated specialist or a se-
lect few individuals to monitor social media activity—perhaps a pub-
lic relations manager or a social media expert. While these individuals
still have an important role in the company, the best way to improve
your social reputation is by connecting strategy with action. Social
CRM is about gathering information, engaging with the customer, and
acting on their needs. Done successfully, this helps your brand gain
community advocates, rather than simply advocating for itself.
Almost half of all consumers who complain about a brand or product
on social media expect a response in 60 minutes or less.4
Giving your
service reps direct access to issues reported on social media could
stop you from losing business to competitors.

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Creating Executive Buy-In
CEO
Your CEO’s main function is to
maximize the value of the company,
but it’s likely they have their hands
in several different pots at any given
time. CEOs are mostly concerned
with big-picture plays, which means
they’ll want to know how social
CRM can improve the company’s
core business model. We’ve already
discussed the ways that social
CRM feeds into better marketing,
Despite the relatively wide adoption of social media for personal use, there are still businesses that
have yet to even implement a social strategy for sales or CRM, let alone a social CRM system. Though
CRM software has become relatively ubiquitous, many companies still struggle with creating buy-in,
particularly when poorly designed or implemented systems require excessive manual data entry.
Compare social CRM systems early on, particularly versus more traditional CRMs that you may
already be using. While the conventional wisdom may hold that “no one ever got fired for choosing
Salesforce”, it’s important to remember that the robust functionality provided by enterprise CRM
systems can be a double-edged sword; with additional complexity frequently comes additional
maintenance, implementation, and training expenses. Cutting corners to reduce these expenses
usually results in poorly integrated system used by poorly trained people who must manually input
large amounts of data. It is this perception that you’re up against.
If you’re leading the initiative on software procurement, you’ll need to build a compelling business
that “sells” social CRM to its future stakeholders in the company. To ensure successful adoption and
long-term ROI, it’s important to get leadership on board first. That means they need to agree with
need for a social CRM solution and the value it will add after implementation. Here are some selling
points for specific executives to get you started:
WHEN TALKING TO YOUR sales, and service performance.
But you can also show your CEO
what competitors are doing on
social media, and explain how
social CRM can give your company
a strong upper hand. According to
TNS Global, more than 80 percent
of U.S. businesses are trying to
leverage social media for growth
and have increased their budgets to
accommodate new social strategies.5

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CFO
WHEN TALKING TO YOUR How can it reduce costs and grow
revenue? How soon can we expect
to see ROI? What are the upfront and
long-term costs of ownership? These
are questions your chief financial
officer will ask. First of all, social
CRM isn’t always an added expense.
For example, if you’re moving from
an older, on-premise CRM to a
cloud-based solution, social CRM
may actually reduce expenses by
replacing high-maintenance IT
infrastructure and expensive system
upgrades with a single, monthly
subscription cost. Social CRM will cut
costs associated with long service
calls, hold time, and workflow
redundancy by allowing reps to
target requests and opportunities
before they reach the call center. You
can expect to see a revenue increase
on several counts:
• Higher volume of incoming leads
through expanded social influence
• Higher percentage of qualified
leads through data-driven social
marketing
• More opportunities to identify
point-of-need and offer relevant
products
CMO
Your chief marketing officer will
undoubtedly be interested in the
ways social CRM can help your
company better leverage its brand to
create trust and advocacy in virtual
communities, not to mention the
obvious benefits to lead generation
and market analytics. According
to the Pew Research Center, 74
percent of online adults now use
at least one social networking site,6
and an overwhelming majority of
WHEN TALKING TO YOUR these users expect brands to have
their own social media presence.7
In the absence of said presence,
consumers will discuss, question,
and (sometimes) denigrate your
brand, and you’ll never even know.
Research shows that, on average, a
dissatisfied customer will share their
experience with 9 to 15 people.8

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Product: Microsoft Dynamics CRM and
Microsoft Social Listening
Founded in 1834, Marston’s is one of the
UK’s leading pub brands and the world’s
largest brewer of cask ale. They have
1,700 pubs in the UK and roughly 13,000
employees. Despite their longstanding
reputation in the region, Marston’s was
threatened by a rising tide of British pub
closures and needed to reposition itself.
They decided to launch a social media
initiative that would help them analyze
customer trends and quickly respond to
needs or complaints.
Case Study: Marston’s Pubs9
The Solution:
Marston’s chose Microsoft Dynamics
CRM with the Microsoft Social Listening
module, deciding that a CRM-centric
solution would give them the ability to
not only capture information, but to act
on it. “What’s important for us is not just
to know the quantities of what people
are talking about, but the nature of what
they are talking about,” said Marketing
Director Beck Johnson. “Segmenting our
insight is very important . . . we have to
be able to understand the customers’
different occasions for coming and how
Marston’s is delivering.”
Johnson and her team enjoyed a
number of strategic benefits after
adopting Microsoft’s social CRM solution:
• Confirmed trend that customers are no
longer frequenting their local pub
• Used social CRM tools to encourage
customer feedback while customers
are still onsite
• Personalized communication with
every customer
• Social media conversations can be
mined for insights to help improve
service and food quality
• Help desk team also moved their
work to Dynamics, replacing outdated
manual entry
• Marston’s awarded the Convergence
2014 Europe Customer Excellence
Award
“What’s important for us is not
just to know the quantities of
what people are talking about
but the nature of what they are
talking about,”

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Comparable Products
Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM is one of the more popular customer relationship
management systems on the market today. It offers a wide variety of powerful
features, and as a result, is one of the more complex and expensive systems
available. Smaller, more agile companies might be better served by one of the
niche products below:
Nimble Batchbook
Salesforce
Zoho Hootsuite
Sprout Social

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If you’re curious about any of the social CRM products or
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Sources
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forbes.com/sites/forrester/2012/06/05/the-social-crm-arms-race-heats-up/
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http://www.ireachcontent.com/news-releases/global-crm-market-social-crm-2018-forecasts--research-
data-216156581.html
3. Greenberg, Paul. “Time to Put a Stake in the Ground on Social CRM.” The56Group. Accessed April 2, 2015.
http://the56group.typepad.com/pgreenblog/2009/07/time-to-put-a-stake-in-the-ground-on-social-crm.
html
4. Baer, Jay. “42 Percent of Customers Complaining in Social Media Expect 60 Minute Response Time.”
Convince&Convert. Accessed April 2, 2015. http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-
research/42-percent-of-consumers-complaining-in-social-media-expect-60-minute-response-time/
5. Weiss, Geoff. “This is How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media.” Entrepreneur. Last modified February
13, 2014. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231515
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org/data-trend/social-media/social-media-use-all-users/
7. Brookbank, Alex. “What Consumers Expect From Brands on Facebook.” CoupSmart. Last modified January
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8. “3 Truths Every CMO Needs to Know About Social Media and the Customer Experience.” ExactTarget.
Accessed April 2, 2015. https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.exacttarget.
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&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEMjqH8sa-GOerZ5JgU_kIeivSpAQ
9. “Marston’s Gets Social with Microsoft Social Listening.” Microsoft. Last modified December 11, 2014. https://
customers.microsoft.com/Pages/CustomerStory.aspx?recid=11712