Evolution of Social CRM (Infographic)

I have been fascinated by the rise of sites like GetSatisfaction. They use community, reputation and social media to help businesses transform their customer service. In many ways, it’s a little like crowdsourcing your customer engagement – and to be honest – I am surprised not to see more businesses using this approach.

But what does it look like in reality?

This infographic from the GetSatisfaction team shows – particularly from a customer service point of view – how putting a bit of social connectivity into the CRM mix can change how you engage with those valuable peeps – your customers.

Now, for my money, this is just one flavour of Social CRM, but it certainly rings true for GetSatisfaction. But what about your business? Is there a social dimension that you are tapping into? Is this something you are considering for 2011? I have a feeling you want to get on the front foot with your strategic social media thinking sooner rather than later.

Comments

[Marc]

Hi Gavin

I think in the second part of the illustration (Old Guard versus New Guard) the Service and Support in Old Guard was always an arrow from the customer outwards. You never really heard of Service/Support unless something broke down and you needed to contact them.

So, if you reverse that arrow, New Guard starts to look very much like Old Guard, except for the hope that customers might actually be engaged enough to flow a little information backwards.

The "Why Social CRM is More Influential" section doesn't actually tell you why Social CRM is more influential.

All up when you look at it critically, it looks much more like an evolution than a revolution. The minute technology made it easier for companies to converse with their customers, companies began using it. No big deal, and although I think a couple of years ago you might have needed to prod some companies to do it, in 2010 it's a no-brainer.

=) Marc

[Andy]

Thanks Gavin for featuring our infographic!

Andy Wibbels (Dir of MarCom at GetSat)