Social CRM is the business strategy of engaging customers through Social Media with goal of building trust and brand loyalty. Loyalty is defined as attitude towards a brand that inclines a customer to repurchase it and/or recommend it to others.
Social CRM and Social Media are more about building trust and managing loyalty with customers than about managing relationships or transactions, which are focus areas of “traditional” CRM.
Social CRM is something pundits made up so they would have something to talk about. Social Media is a developing communication channel that can be used within a relationship marketing/management strategy. To call it Social CRM and describe it as a strategy is, in my opinion, an overstatement of the facts.
Thanks for your comments James Hipkin:
I agree with you that Social Media is a developing communication channel. But we need to define it appropriately so that we can effectively leverage it for marketing/management.
Social Media is going to impact every aspect of business, especially Marketing. So a good definition of Social CRM and recognition of what it can deliver will go a long way in leveraging Social Media.
Thanks again for your comments. Much appreciated.