• by Steve Beck , July 6, 2010

Sixteen years ago, Harrah's Entertainment set the gold standard for how to create game-changing Customer Relationship Management systems. At the time, it was the most talked-about case history in CRM history. The challenge was that while CRM worked for big companies, it was not an option for the others.

Flash forward to 2010 and CRM has evolved from the elite to the everyman, a democratization process spawned by social media and new open social technology platforms. In this new era, the challenge focuses on getting customers to love your company, which requires businesses to place more effort on the "R" in CRM while worrying much less about the "M."

So now the question is, how do I get started? Here are some suggestions:

1. Understand Your Customer's Digital Ecosystem

Establishing consumer relationships begins with understanding the customer's likes and dislikes and then developing a stronger connection based on these preferences. Understanding their social behavior will help you determine how to best develop meaningful relationships. Some questions worth asking include:

• What social communications tools do they use most? Twitter? Facebook? Niche forums and communities?

• Where do they most commonly share opinions, reviews and recommendations about your product/service category?

• What are they most interested in as it relates to your category? What are their unmet needs? Where do they go to get or give help?

• Who and where are the influencers? What do they blog or Tweet about that earns their following?

• What kind of videos get most viewed in your product category and why?

2. Ask for Advice

One of the greatest motivations for participating on the social Web is helping others. A study by Keller Fay and Bazaarvoice found that 90% of the people who write product reviews do so to help others and 80% to help the brand. Ask people for their help and ideas, as it will provide you with valuable insights on how to improve your brand while bonding with customers in ways that are likely to make them some of your best word of mouth advocates.

A Communispace Corporation study of 20 private online brand communities found that:

• 82% of the community members said they were more likely to recommend the company's products since joining the community;

• 76% felt more positively about the company;

• 52% said they were more inclined to buy the company's products.

All these benefits came from listening to customers, treating them like valuable insiders and recognizing and thanking them for their insights and ideas. Similarly, don't just ask for their advice, but share your insights with them to make the relationship a two-way street.

3. Make it Easy to Share

The most valuable and underused social CRM strategy is the consumer recommendation. Anywhere from half to 75% of people rely on customer reviews before making a purchase so don't shy away from featuring this ultra-social strategy on your sites. Even if you fear that some of the reviews might be negative --you need both represented for the customer to believe the reviews and share them with others.

Next, give customers the tools to rate, recommend and share information about your brand on your website and in their social networks. Add buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Stumbleupon and others and, when possible, provide a way for people to rate and recommend your product, thereby shortening the decision-making process. The easier you make it for them, the more likely they will act.

4. Advocate for Your Customers

Active, credible advocates are the most effective marketing strategy so it is important to create brand ambassador programs to help the most loyal customers tout your brand's virtues. The way to do this is to create a culture and movement that provides extraordinary value to your customers. When doing so keep in mind that creating campaigns that get customers to share word of mouth recommendations about a brand are rarely sustainable and, while incentives may provide a blip in buzz, relationships built on genuine liking spark ongoing advocacy, credibility and brand preference.

Companies have their eager eyes transfixed on social CRM. The issue is that they don't quite know how to equate success yet. I believe social CRM should include both acquisition and retention behaviors and be tightly integrated with the entire digital ecosystem. And ultimately, companies will need to marry their CRM and social CRM systems to more effectively measure, mine, predict behavior and optimize customer campaign and relationship strategies. So keep a close watch for the Social CRM / traditional CRM mash-up. It's coming to a brand near you soon.