Idea for Topic

In thinking about a current topic of interest in the world of Customer Experiences and Insights two topics caught my attention.  The first being CRM (Customer Relationship Management) which concentrates in building strong relationships with the consumer.  The second topic that intrigued me was Social Media and how businesses leverage this growing network of hundreds of millions of users world wide through the use of Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo! Answers, Yelp, etc.

Customer Relationship Management

  CRM in my opinion is a growing field with many implications and possibilities but how effective are CRM efforts, programs, and research?  CRM may produce unique strategies and programs in order to attract and retain customers but do they actually work and if so how is their success measured?  

            Looking at the more positive side of CRM, what are the greater opportunities that it can uncover and leverage for businesses?  For example, the intense rise of social media such as Facebook and Twitter have opened the door to many marketing opportunities and could there be a open door for CRM in this market?  I don’t see why not, you can easily inform customers of company changes, updates, and promotions and further more, gain insights about them through feedback and/or updates.  Data mining strategies and technology have been a strong anchor for the CRM process. 

Numerous of companies attempt to drive out as much data from customers as possible through tracking customers click streams on the internet, what they buy at the grocery store, and their hotel accommodation preferences at check in.  All of this information is gathered, stored, and further analyzed to attempt to better understand the customer.  But with endless amounts kilobytes of data, how exactly do you interrupt it and created a successful program to leverage what you have learn about the customer and again how are you going to measure it? 

An article by the Journal of Marketing Research Vol. 41, No.3 (Aug.,2004), pp. 293-305. Published by the American Marketing Association.  The Customer Relationship Management Process: Its Measurement and Impact on Performance, written by Werner Reinartz, Manfred Krafft, and Wayne D. Hoyer. This articles attempts to basically conceptualize and operationalize CRM processes, implementation and how effect the CRM process actual is.   The authors construct a research model to examine the effects of CRM and it’s activities with the economic performance of the business.  Their results indicate that there is an opportunity in the implementation of CRM processes, CRM doesn’t necessary work better in some industries versus others, in addition that many CRM technology deployments do not perform to expectations.  Other findings were also made about CRM in this article but not mentioned here. (Citation 1) 

Overall there is an obvious opportunity for CRM in the future and it will be interesting to see how this topic continues to grow and develop.

Social Media and Business

  Social media is arguably one of the biggest social and communication movements since the Internet.  With networking sites such as Facebook having more then 500 million users and Twitter with now over 75 million users, it is quite obvious that there are endless business and marketing opportunities.   You Tube, Blogs, and Yelp also have millions of users that share information, opinions, and various other information between each other such as videos. Not only can these colossal sites be a new stage with how businesses connect with customers but more importantly gain valuable insights from them as well.  Businesses can find out what customers likes’, dislikes, wants and needs are.  These sites also give businesses the opportunity to connect with new customers in a way they couldn’t before.

            An Article in Business Horizons Volume 53, Issue 1, January-February 2010, Pages 59-68, Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media by Andreas M. Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, give valuable insights into the world of Social Media. In the article they visit the history of social media and its grow, what social media is and what it isn’t and furthermore the opportunities and challenges of Social Media.  I included a table from the Article because it demonstrates a better understanding of the continuum of Social Media and our level of involvement and disclosure.

            

            The article continues by describing different Social Media outlets such as blogs, content communities (You Tube), networking sites (Facebook) and offers opportunities and challenges for each.  The article concludes with advice pieces for companies using Social Media and how to go about being social, basically your do’s and don’ts. (Citation 2)

            Overall companies have various opportunities in using Social Media to their advantage but there are also implications to doing so.  How exactly does a company leverage Social Media sites such as Facebook, without running into privacy barriers and possibility hurting their brand image?  Can virtual game worlds be a avenue for non gaming companies such as Wal-Mart or Target? In my opinion there is still a great deal to be uncovered in Social Media and how companies can leverage it. 

Citations: 

1. Reinartz, Werner, Manfred Krafft, and Wayne D. Hoyer. "The Customer Relationship 

     Management Process: Its Measurement and Impact on Performance ." Journal of 
     Marketing Research 41.3 (2004): 293-305. Google Scholar . Web. 10 Oct.
     2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/30162340?seq=10>.

2. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social 

     Media ." Business Horizons 53.1 (2010): 59-68. Google Scholar . Web. 10
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