Research: CRM & Social Media Study

Attracting and retaining customers, and growing customer relationships, have always been top priorities for business. But in a globalized economy it is more critical – and challenging – than ever to build vibrant customer relationships across geographies, industries and at all levels throughout organizations.

An independent market research firm recently completed a groundbreaking global survey of companies and how they use social media technologies to attract and retain customers. Several key themes emerged:
- Social media technologies have the potential to transform the way companies build and manage relationships with their customers.
- Apathy, fear and uncertainty – more than costs – are preventing companies from formally adopting social media technologies.
Social media technologies are invading the workplace undetected. Companies know this, but most have no formal plan to manage them.
- Companies that understand the impact of these trends can improve their competitive position in the market. Those that do not adapt to rapid changes or move fast enough to respond to those changes will lose customers and fall behind in the market.

Social media technologies are reaching a turning point – no longer lingering outside the domain of IT departments. Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, wikis, instant messaging, live Web chat, short-text blogging such as Twitter, and user comments such as product reviews and submissions to sites such as Digg have combined to create a powerful means of communications, collaboration and knowledge sharing for large and small businesses.

The study by Coleman Parkes Research revealed the following data:
- More than 75 percent of companies worldwide admit that social networking will come into the business undetected if not proactively managed.
- Approximately 60 percent of respondents say integrating social media technologies is not on the agenda.
- Only 18 percent of respondents have any kind of strategy in place to integrate these technologies within the company for employees.