- How Social CRM Engages the Customer
- Social CRM Benefits
- Social Media Has Taken Off in the Current Marketplace
- More and More People Are Using Social Media
- Social Media Is Replacing Traditional Media Sources
- Meaningful Challenges Still Apply to Social Media and Social CRM
- Sample Customer Profile
- Ensuring the Impact of Social Media on Customer Relationships
Social Media Is Replacing Traditional Media Sources
It is clear from these statistics that Social Media has become a way of life that will only grow in importance in the future. In 2011, Social Media became the number-one channel for marketing spending by major organizations, according to the HubSpot “2012 State of Inbound Marketing” report. It also found that the top marketing channels from a generation ago, such as print, display, outdoor, and television, have moved near the bottom of the list for channel investment. Simply said, with the increased investment in and interest of the world in Social Media, its communities are fast becoming the number-one way for business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) organizations to exchange information internally and externally with their customers and prospects.
How hot is Social Media? Consider these findings:
When ISM conducted research for a major pharmaceutical customer, they learned that “Over 80% of Internet consumers search online for health information, trusting peer-generated Social Media content more than pharma company websites and what their physicians say.”
This was a shocking discovery. It’s not a stretch to say that soon, if pharma and physician are removed from this quote, it could apply to just about any industry. This means that more than 80 percent of consumers will search online for information pertaining to an organization, and they will trust peer-generated content in Social Media communities more than information on an organization’s website or so-called experts in that field. In several industries, including travel and healthcare, this behavior is already taking hold.
Every minute of every day:1
- Facebook users share 2.5 million pieces of content,
- Email users send 204 million messages,
- Apple users download 48 thousand apps,
- Google receives 4 million search queries,
- YouTube users upload 72 hours of new video,
- Twitter users tweet 277 thousand times,
- and Amazon makes $83,000 in online sales.
The influence of Social Media continues to increase:2
- 46% of web users look toward Social Media when making a purchase
- 8 out of 10 SMB (small and medium businesses) use Social Media to drive growth
- 3 in 5 SMB say they’ve gained new customers by using Social Media
- 67% of Twitter users are far more likely to buy from the brands they follow on Twitter