How has social media, given a better voice to customers in recent years and impacted how marketers are facing CRM, lately.

Abstract

CRM (Customer relationship management) is the relationship between the brand and the customers and is an essential business practice. This research aims to define the advantages of incorporating social media into CRM plans for businesses and how the relationship between marketing and its customers can be better after the advent of social media, once marketing is more than just attracting new customers, but also about keeping the existing ones and building loyalty relationships. A survey among the general public was conducted to collect customer perspectives on recent changes in how companies use social media to conduct their CRM and marketing strategy. Interviews were also conducted with customer service managers to address how management sees these changes in the corporate environment. A comparison between generations showed that, surprisingly, some millenniums still use traditional channels, such as phone lines, when needed to contact companies, even with the boom of the internet and social networks. Also, customers are looking for new products and services primarily based on brand reputation. From the customers' perspective, companies that are not engaged or lack presence can leave a bad reputation between them. Social networks can help businesses collect, store, and analyse data easily, giving important information to target marketing or profile customers. There are many ways in which social media strongly influences CRM. Furthermore, companies can observe more powerful social media influences as these platforms continue to develop and more advanced technology merges other aspects of CRM.