The purpose of this assignment is to examine your understanding of social CRM an
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Question
The purpose of this assignment is to examine your understanding of social CRM and how it can be a critical part of an Internet marketing strategy. Complete the following assignment: Read the Forbes article titled Is Google Getting into the Social CRM Business? Please respond to the following question, from the Discussion Questions on p. 314 of Chapter 11: Based on your understanding of social CRM, describe an example you have recently seen in the market. How is Google’s move to allow messaging among Google + users a move toward social CRM? Your completed assignment should be at least 1 page.Explanation / Answer
Social CRM:Social CRM is about moving from fans and followers to customers and advocates.The customer is actually the focal point of how an organization operates. Instead of marketing or pushing messages to customers,brands now talk to and collaborate with customers to solve business problems,empower customers to shape their own experiences and build customer relationships, which will hopefully turn into customer advocates.
some important points to consider when thinking about social CRM.
So now that they’ve laid some groundwork, let’s move on to a bit more context for both CRM and social CRM.
Arguably the most important aspect of CRM is that middle part – relationships. Some small businesses and start-ups have realized that Google, as a communication platform, is great for managing relationships. Gmail is an excellent resource for email and contact management. You can even use custom fields within each contact to document notes on past interactions or tag the contact as a lead. From there, you can do basic segmentation for an email campaign.
Along the same lines, Google Calendar and Tasks are excellent tools for managing opportunities. And because the Google Apps work together, information logged in one App is tracked in the others. For example, when two Gmail users exchange emails, Google can connect them in Google Reader. This could be useful for companies in learning more about their customers’ interests. Android, Google’s mobile operating system, positions the company especially well to deliver on the ubiquitous mobile deployment requirements in CRM.
Give the people what they want
Though Google CRM does not yet exist, the demand does. According to Google’s blog, CRM is the #1 most searched-for term in the App Marketplace. While enterprise applications such as supply chain management and enterprise resource planning are typically adopted by large enterprises, CRM is commonly used by the smallest of organizations.
Demand for cloud-based CRM is particularly robust; cloud adoption in CRM outpaces other application categories. According to a press release from Gartner in December 2010, the on-demand CRM software market grew from less than $500 million in 2005 to $2.3 billion in 2009. That’s an average annual growth rate of 49%. In business, it’s all about the numbers, and for CRM the numbers are looking pretty good. It might be time for Google to capitalize on this booming segment of enterprise software.
Build or buy?
So how would Google go about entering the CRM market? They could develop a CRM system from scratch by assembling the building blocks we mentioned above. Google has plenty of developer talent, and massive infrastructure to support new applications. Without too much trouble, Google could extend its personal productivity apps to target basic CRM opportunities.
However, a more likely route is through acquisition. Google has proven to be highly acquisitive. In 2010 alone, Google acquired 11 social media-related companies. Why is this significant? Because “social” is a highly buzzed-about word in CRM. The addition of a social layer to their existing collaborative apps positions Google well to capitalize on that buzz.
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