By Michael Dodd, BroadPoint Consultant
At first I was skeptical of Twitter. From what I read, the term “micro-blogging” seemed to me to be a fancy word for SMS message (even less so, seeing as you cannot exceed 140 characters). When I first started reading about Twitter in the New York Times, the thought of “Tweeting” seemed rather silly and solipsistic, not to mention somewhat unprofessional. However, 5 years ago I felt the same way about the blogging and Instant Messaging. But once these 2 social fads matured, they became an invaluable tool for professional internet communities.
Discussions about integrating Social Networks in Dynamics CRM is not a new concept. If you Wikipedia Social Media, you’ll find that almost anything in an online, user created context can be considered “Social Media” which can be used in a networking context.
And as history will show, it’s the simplest uses of web-based media that makes it into long lasting, mainstream networking channels (Newsgroups, IM, blogs).
So it came as no shock when I discovered that the new addition to the Dynamics CRM Accelerator for Social Networking’s primary focus was on Twitter. My skepticism in the use of Twitter as a CRM worthy social networking tool revolves around the fact that is has a distinct lack of structure. Yet it’s simplicity is undeniably its biggest asset.
So, despite my skepticism (and due in no small part to a recent update to my iPhone’s IM+ application which now includes Twitter integration) I decided to kick the tires. After all, how can I criticize that which I have not yet tried? It seems I have a duty to embrace all new forms of web based media.
Well, it’s been 2 months since I started using Twitter and I’m still skeptical.
How do you begin to use that information effectively?
Organizations that fit the B2C model probably have the most to benefit.
When used properly, social media can be a targeted approach to getting instant feedback from your clients.
First and foremost, anecdotal data (narrative text), it is subject to interpretation, bias, and inconsistencies. But the nature of Social Media anecdotes presents a number of potential pitfalls when used in the context of CRM:
1.) Visibility and transparency: Your are just as transparent as your clients. Transparency allows for more agile communications, but may also expose aspects of your business that are better handled 1 on 1.
2.) Anecdotal data from a social media source can prove difficult to compile/analyze: Whether verbose or succinct, it is difficult to aggregate Text data and even more difficult to report on it. How would you filter this data and under which CRM entity would it be stored? How will the user be able to relate this data to a pertinent CRM record? How will you organize the wealth of data that comes from LinkedIn discussions or Facebook status updates? Who will maintain this data?
3.) Reliability: Anecdotal data can be skewed by your own personal interpretation. So the key questions when it comes to integrating this data into Dynamics CRM is who will have access to this data and how will it be used? As a business process, who will be responsible for making decisions on such matters?
4.) Inconsistent Updates: Obviously, people using social media feel different things at different times. What they expose in a tweet one day may be recanted the next. Moreover, the nature of social media does not require one to be vigilant in their documentation. I may hate the service at XYZ restaurant and then Tweet about it. But the next day, I may have a splendid experience with XYZ Restaurant, but I have no obligation to update my view point the next time I tweet. How can such "Mood Ring" data prove a reliable source of personal information?
5.) One’s Social Persona is not their Professional Persona: People behave differently in their social life. Some tend to be bolder in what they Tweet than what they would say in person. And they don’t always think in a professional manner when they post on social media site the way they do when they write an email (or a blog article). It’s nice to know the social demeanor of your customer, but is this really going to be useful in a professional setting? Moreover, Is the information divulged in a social context appropriate for your next conversation? Finally, albeit public, would you customer feel comfortable that you’re monitoring their social (internet) life?
6.) Finally, will your company is your engagement in your client’s social media going to be a two-way street? If so, how do you present yourself in such a forum, knowing that you’re also speaking for your company when you speak with your client.
I would take a step back and think hard about using Social Media in your business endeavors. Twitter may not be the best place to gather insight into your clients. While it seems like an clever method of personal business intelligence, you need to consider:
Is it reliable?
Is it appropriate?
Is their significant ROI over traditional intelligence gather (face to face
Some people will take their clients out to lunch or to dinner and have good time, share personal information. But would they really want you to leverage that information in a professional setting? Moreover, how would that person feel about passing that information along to your entire company in CRM? This information could easily be misused by the wrong person.
Potential Challenges:
1.) Whimsical: Sometimes, it takes me up to a half hour to construct a Tweet. Sometimes less than a minute.
2.) Responses and tweet “chains”
3.) Tweets can be hard to analyze: For eg, “AT&T frustrates me to no end”. How would one respond to this tweet? Can we afford to spend the personnel hours to continue to follow this tweeter for more information? What if the user was simply having a bad day and takes it out on AT&T?
4.) Analysis of “soft” data can be subject to interpretation.
5.) What type of algorithm can dictate a meaningful tweet (eg, data that can be acted upon to increase sales, maintain satisfaction, solve an issue, gain insight, find useful suggestions, etc.
6.) Volume can be distracting.
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