Social CRM has helped a large number of businesses to connect with their audiences, engage them and provide great customer service. It has helped businesses to cut down costs and improve relationships with customers with immediate solutions and intuitive conversations. Yet, most businesses make common mistakes that often result in subpar functioning of CRM. These mistakes range from underutilizing social CRM to spamming customers with messages on social media. In this article, let us take a look at the 5 common mistakes that you may be making, and how you can avoid making these mistakes to utilize your CRM in a better manner.

1. Setting Social CRM on Autopilot Mode –

While it is always exciting to invest in automation technology, there can be a time when it is too much. Many businesses schedule posts and even customer interactions and let social CRM take care of all customer interactions. For example, using AI to answer every query a customer may have without providing human interactions can be devastating. Scheduling all social media posts and never engaging properly with audiences in real time can be equally awkward. Make sure that you do not overemphasize automation when it comes to customer interactions. Use the tool only to your benefit, and not to escape the actual demands of providing excellent customer service or marketing communication.

2. Underutilizing Social CRM –

On the other end of the spectrum, people often invest in social CRM and simply let it fester on their systems. They never schedule posts, ignore customer interactions on social media and do not explore all the features offered by their CRM. Underutilization of CRM is one of the major reasons why it is not always successful for businesses that implement it. It is important to understand all the features your CRM boasts of, and use every one of them that adds value to your strategy. After all, you have purchased the social CRM to make use of it, not to ignore it like every other technology you may have invested in.

3. Spamming Followers and Customers Relentlessly –

Some businesses get the automation and optimal usage of social CRM right. However, they often get over-excited and engage with customers more than necessary. There can always be too much of everything and that is never good for fetching great results. Businesses communicate with their audiences so much that it may sometimes feel like one is spamming them. Avoid over-communicating with your audience and make sure that you follow restraint on social media as you would in real life. This helps your customers to develop respect for your brand and approach you when they really do need help and answers.

4. Not Finding the Right Language and Tone –

If businesses get everything right, right from optimal usage to frequency of posts and communication, they often do not use the right language to communicate with their audience. Every audience is different and on social media, you need to find that weed spot that appeals to your target audience. Being overly corporate to an audience that may better be served slightly informally, or being too friendly with an audience that expects staid communication can all be problematic. Make sure that you study your audiences properly before using social CRM to communicate with them. This will help ensure that you strike the right note with your customers and audience.

5. Not using insights derived from social CRM –

Of all the mistakes that businesses make while using their social CRM, not using insights should probably be on top of the list. Social CRM, like other automation tools, provides valuable analytics and insights to businesses. However, most businesses do not make use of these insights and rely on other sources to derive their insights. Consequently, social communication tends to be out of touch and strategy usually will seem out of place. As a result, CRM does not fetch the kind of results that a business may expect. To avoid this, make sure that you use your CRM to derive insights and use those insights when required.

Use your Social CRM Wisely :

As you can see, social CRM is not used correctly by most organizations. Some may end up automating all the processes that customers may feel the social engagement of that particular business is on autopilot mode. Others may simply invest in social CRM and not use it enough. They may lose interest in the tool once investing in it. Others may get over-excited and spam their customers with irrelevant messages. Few others may get everything right but may stick out like a sore thumb simply because the language they use on social media doesn’t connect well with the audience.

Finally, a number of businesses simply do not make use of analytics and insights are drawn from social CRM to improve their marketing and customer service. Avoiding these mistakes can help you derive the best from your CRM.

If you would like to learn more about how you can use your social CRM effectively, Contact Us today.