Every day, our REVStaffing blogging team scours the Internet for the latest – and only the greatest – social media news and tools for Realtors. This week, we found a terrific piece by Gahlord Dewald over at Thoughtfaucet, and it’s definitely worth sharing. We are huge users and supporters of social networking sites, including Facebook, and we believe that every tool has at least some utility for some people. So let’s take a look at his idea.
Dewald maintains that social networking sites like Facebook are not customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Why does he suggest this? Because, he says, “they lack any sort of direct business intent or business process system.” We hold, and DeWald agrees, that Facebook IS useful for business; “[It’s] a great way to communicate with people, [and] to listen to people.”
But DeWald makes an incredibly valid point; read his proposed scenario:
“You log in to get some business task accomplished, post a bit of content, respond to a customer, make a connection of some sort, and within 15 minutes you’re tagging (or untagging) photos of yourself from the latest party or conference you attended. You’re blown off course.”
You may be thinking that this doesn’t happen to you, but guess what? It does. Why? Because, as DeWald points out, “Social networking sites are designed and built to get you playing with media created by people you like about people you like (most often, yourself).”
A traditional customer relationship management tool is different, and it’s what a lot of us in the real estate world are accustomed to handling. We like DeWald’s explanation of the three components of any CRM system, derived from the name:
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Customer: There’s got to be data in the system that represents a customer. You’d probably argue, as we would, that Facebook has LOADS of data about customers.
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Relationship: There’s got to be data in the system that represents the relationship between the customer and the organization. We hold that Facebook provides adequate info about the relationship between you and your customers, and that you can extrapolate positive points from and about that information that anyone else might find lacking in meaningfulness.
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Management: Business processes and objectives are baked into the way the system works.
And while we also agree that “The barrier to entry for a customer to “friend” an organization on Facebook is quite low,” you do retain the ability to calculate the true business value of anyone who “friends” your Facebook business page. You also determine the persistent viability of those “likes.”
For those in the real estate field, we assume that people will continue to “like” you, even after they’ve sold their old house and bought their new one. The viability of Facebook as a CRM tool (not the only, or even the ultimate, solution) is that it provides you with an easy and advantageous way to maintain your “likability.” It’s one of a variety of one-stop ways in which you can stay in touch, either individually or en masse, with old, new and prospective clients.
And in that way, you actually do derive benefits from Facebook to fulfill the “management” part of the CRM definition. At the bottom line, we agree with Dewald’s final assessment that, “Social networking sites are a good way to deliver satisfying customer experiences. They are not…a good way to manage your strategy for delivering satisfying customer experiences.”
Tune in next week: We’ll be discussing the viability of Top Producer as a CRM tool!
REVStaffing‘s virtual assistants are professionals users of a vast array of CRM tools. If you’re not yet a client, give us a call for a free needs analysis; we’ll be happy to discuss your unique customer relationship management needs AND your social media needs, too! Be sure to visit our website, and “like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.
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