93% think social media presence is essential for companies

In a 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, 93 percent of Americans said they believe a company should have a presence on social media sites and 56 percent believe that a company is providing them with a better service by doing so. Of course, in addition to using external social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube—popular choices for business managers in CustomerThink’s 2009 survey— companies can run public and private online communities to help create a more collaborative experience. This is part of Customer Collaboration Management (CCM), a third wave of customercentric thinking that has been spurred on by social media technology. Keep in mind that managing collaboration is just one pillar of the customer-centric enterprise. It’s still important to also manage customer information (CRM) and experiences (CEM) effectively. Marketers sparked the initial wave of enthusiasm for social media, seeking to gain insight or influence customers. But now customer service/support executives are increasingly moving beyond basic discussion forums to “CrowdService”—robust communities that harness the “wisdom of crowds” to create a better customer experience while also increasing agent productivity.
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