TechBytes: Five reasons Facebook will have a major impact on CRM
Facebook has been getting a lot of attention for recent updates which make it more of a direct customer engagement tool. The attention is deserved, because Facebook is on its way to becoming a vitally important CRM platform. Here are five reasons why.
Everyone is doing it
Facebook is a lot like TV — nobody admits to spending their precious personal time with something so trivial, yet almost every household has at least one TV and cable and satellite providers make billions of dollars a year. No matter what type of retailer you are, a large majority of your customers are already on Facebook. That includes Gen Y — recent comScore data shows millennials spend almost an hour a day on the Facebook app.
Nobody else is duplicating it
No social network offers the same full personal experience as Facebook. It is the one virtual spot where you can connect with and keep up with friends, browse a targeted newsfeed, click through personalized ads, and tell everyone what you’re doing.
Facebook already engages consumers in a way no other social media entity matches, making it uniquely suitable to expand into a full-fledged CRM tool. As for Google Plus, nobody is hanging out there.
The data speaks for itself
Google may offer a deeper dive into what consumers are searching for, but Facebook delivers an unparalleled range of detailed customer data. A review of a consumer’s Facebook activity can reveal who and what they like, as well as where they go when they go, and what they do when they get there.
Very often, there are handy pictures and videos to help illustrate how consumers spend their lives. The results of search keyword analysis are typically not quite so revealing.
Celebrities are cool
One of the new Facebook customer engagement features is an update that allows retailers to work with “influencers” such as celebrities. Retailers are now allowed to place certain types of branded content on the Facebook platform, including ads and sponsorships involving celebrities.
While Facebook will still prohibit certain “overly promotional” branded content, such as pre-roll digital ads, retailers are now able to leverage assets including text, photos, links and videos specifically mentioning or featuring a celebrity.
Like it or not, we are living in a true “celebrity culture” where famous people have millions of social followers and can set fashion trends by simply wearing a certain item in public. Being able to more fully tap into this consumer fascination with fame on Facebook will make it that much more of a valuable CRM tool.
Messenger is cool, too
The most important CRM-related upgrade Facebook has made so far is the introduction of “chatbots” in its Messenger app. The new chatbots can automatically perform CRM activities such as sending receipts and shipping notifications, as well as live automated messages.
There is also the intriguing possibility of integrating Messenger with Facebook’s artificial intelligence-based “M” personal assistant, opening the potential for fully automated and intelligent customer service. Consumers are increasingly interacting with retailers via mobile devices. Facebook now offers the opportunity to deliver sophisticated services in real time, without the need to download any new apps or leave the Facebook platform.