Businesses could be forgiven for treating the idea of "social CRM" with a certain amount of scepticism. It's sometimes hard to distinguish the hype around social media from the genuine value it can bring. But social CRM isn't a gimmick, and it doesn't ask businesses to "forget everything they know" or "reinvent a business".
Social CRM simply adds a social dimension to the way businesses think about their customers and the relationships with them.
Social CRM opens up a channel of communication that wasn't previously trackable, measurable, plannable or improvable. Adding the critical social media channel to an existing CRM system, combines everything already known about each customer, prospect and lead with new information about their social media activity. And when a customer chooses to contact a business via Twitter or Facebook, the conversation can be tracked and managed in as much detail as there would be for a telephone or email enquiry. This enables businesses to act faster, respond better and anticipate customers' needs.