CRM and Social Media

After having established a brand strategy and competitive positioning of a product or service and having defined the sales process it is very important to find a system that could help the company to manage its customer relationships and all the useful information (see figure below). This system should allow the company’s representatives track the steps each account goes through.

While using CRM “an enterprise might build a database about its customers that described relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing service, and perhaps the customer directly could access information, match customer needs with product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements and know what other products a customer had purchased.” Williams, 2006

In your everyday life, while using the internet, you provide valuable information for different companies through the sites you access. After studying the CRM topic more thoroughly, I could see how often the information that we provide is used without us actually realizing it. For example I am a usual user of the IMDB.com website, when I search for movies to watch. Through their platform, IMDB gathers the information about all the movies I searched, the genres of films I prefer, the languages I understand (through the movies I watch) etc. This information gave IMDB the possibility to offer me suggestions about movies that could attract me. In this way IMDB creates a personal approach to each of their customers, building a strong and efficient CRM.

At the same time, using social media has already become a strong trend nowadays. It is a very powerful tool in the life of any company and when handled properly, it can bring huge benefits to the business. Companies benefit from this tool by being able to connect with the consumers, receive their feedback, separate them into groups according to their needs and approach them in a more suitable personal way.

All these advantages create high value for the businesses but also for the customers who have the freedom of sharing reviews, have access to more information about certain brands, companies, and can influence in a way the activity of the company.

“While still associated with teens and twenty-somethings, social networking is quickly catching on with older generations. Many experts are now saying that in order for businesses to stay competitive, they must start using social networking tools to stay in the game.” AllThingsCRM

Therefore it easily perceived that social media could be a very useful tool for companies, being able to link to the CRM of the company. The important question here is how can social media be integrated within CRM?

While the social media tools are countless, this project will address the most popular ones like: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. “These sites can not only provide another way to connect with an audience, but also help provide deep insight into their lives, likes and dislikes wants and needs, and also help to connect with potential customers.”  CRMSocialMedia

Therefore companies create free accounts on Twitter and Facebook where they get involved in two-ways communication with their customers. 


Finally it is clear that a strong CRM is also a strong competitive advantage if used effectively. Social media is a very helpful tool when building the CRM. 

Now that I found out more about the topic of CRM, I believe it is an extremely interesting and also important topic, which must not be neglected by any company. An advice for you: take care about what information you provide without realizing it!