Social CRM: The Role of Social Media in Managing Customer Relations

Abstract

The advent of the web 2.0 in general and the social networks in particular has altered the consumer behavior with brands, consumer becoming the protagonist of his relationship with the companies. The consumer is no longer passive, but someone who belongs to an interactive user community, whose opinion influences the decision making of others and the company. And companies, therefore, need to understand how to structure content and branding strategies where clients not only communicate with the company, but each other, in real time: the social media. Social networks, as currently represent the opportunity to get the engagement of customers and prospects in a way that can not be achieved by other means, become a single source of information that must be integrated into the software of the company, allowing the conversion of conversation into a transaction. So having a database of clients with personal information is no longer enough, and is required to obtain qualitative features that enable the company to know more about consumers and provide, as a result, a greater brand value. The Social CRM is a tool that incorporates the information obtained from the social networks to the traditional CRM, to ensure that the company is better informed about its customers and gets a much more solid basis for decision making, customizing the offer and adding value to the customer.