| The term Social Media was first used by Chris | | | | a dime a dozen, out there on the web. Select only |
| Shipley, who is the Co-founder and Global Research | | | | those which pertain to your kind of business and |
| Director for Guidewire Group. It refers to media | | | | depending on the nature of the audience you want |
| which is circulated or distributed among social groups, | | | | to address. |
| where people interact on a social level. | | | | 3) BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY |
| CRM essentially means customer relationship | | | | There are terms and conditions and fine print on all |
| management. Now the marriage of Social media and | | | | sites. Be sensible enough to take some time to read |
| CRM is the new buzz going around in the business | | | | carefully and attentively through all of them. You |
| circles. The strength of any social group lies with its | | | | definitely don't want to lose sensitive information to |
| members-the people who constitute the group. | | | | third parties or unknown people. |
| Social Media seems to hold more significance for the | | | | 4) QUALITY VERSUS QUANTITY |
| commercial or the business community because of its | | | | Take care when befriending people out there. |
| infinite resources. Here they get an active audience, | | | | Hundreds of inactive contacts and friends are not |
| who are not only increasing daily in numbers, but also | | | | going to benefit your business. Take time to select |
| keep on interacting with each other. Businesses have | | | | friends and always think long term while doing so. |
| taken over, almost every possible social networking | | | | 5) RECOIL EFFECT |
| site with an aim of attracting potential customers and | | | | Everyone knows about the spring effect. The more |
| aggressively engaging in Social CRM. | | | | you try to push it down, the more force with which |
| But many of them have realized quite late that every | | | | a spring recoils. You cannot please everyone out |
| coin has another side. People are quick to jump on to | | | | there, so keep your mind open to criticism and bad |
| becoming fans of certain brands on social networking | | | | reviews. Don't ignore them. Use them to improvise |
| sites like Face book but also take half as much time | | | | and rejuvenate your business. Remember an |
| to spread bad reviews about the products or brands | | | | intelligent entrepreneur always looks out for negative |
| they do not like. | | | | feedback, because they tell you the truth. If you |
| So now the biggest challenge for businesses is to | | | | work on your short comings, you can eventually win |
| maintain a clean reputation online. Many companies do | | | | them over and make some loyal customers out of |
| hire professionals to get this work done neatly. But | | | | them. |
| understanding the basics of social reputation | | | | 6) REWARD THE GOOD |
| management will go a long way in handling your own | | | | Acknowledge your loyal friends or customers for the |
| business marketing - online. | | | | good reviews or comments. Pay attention and |
| 1) FORMULATE A PLAN | | | | consideration to all of them. Let them know you are |
| The first step is to sit down and decide. What is the | | | | genuinely interested in maintaining a healthy long term |
| picture you want to project about your business or | | | | relationship with them. This should work like spells of |
| organization? Use this as the compass to guide your | | | | magic in making them want to come to you again |
| further direction of movement. | | | | and again; and bring along additional loyal customers |
| 2) SELECT THE BEST PLATFORM | | | | for you. |
| Social networking sites are so common that they are | | | | |