At the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference last week in Austin, Texas, Microsoft’s Community and Online Support Manager, Toby Richards participated in a panel discussion on proactive customer support. There, Richards had the opportunity to share Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) practices with industry leaders like Kimarie Matthews, vice president of social Web for Wells Fargo, and Tony Hsieh, CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos which has received accolades for its customer service practices for a number of years.

Upon his return from the conference, Richards penned a post on The Official Microsoft Blog to share his newfound wisdom on the subject with his online readers. While Microsoft, Wells Fargo, and Zappos are all large companies with sizable customer support departments, the wisdom gained from these corporations is something that still translates well to small and medium-sized local businesses.

Richards advises these three things for companies just starting out with practicing SCRM on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and various other online communities:

1. Listen first – “This sounds obvious, but in a customer service era that’s characterized by social media frenzy, companies often can get carried away with establishing myriad digital destinations for their customers and using these sites as platforms for brand promotion, rather than first using active listening systems, whether digital or traditional, to better understand the voice of the customer,” Richards says.
2. Engage second – Richards notes that companies definitely should engage after determining the needs and wants of customers, but cautions that interactions should not be limited to online communities. He also emphasized the value of cultivating relationships with the influencers in your industry to create a “ripple effect” that allows the company to improve offerings and reach even more customers.
3. Always be proactive – Businesses small and large generally try to anticipate the needs and issues customers may have before they arrive to stave off larger problems later on. With the addition of social media, companies now have the benefit of being able to essentially “eavesdrop” on some customer conversations, giving them more insight than ever before. Richard’s urges companies to use this information in developing ways “to reduce customer effort and how to address issues before customers are even aware they exist.”

If you’re the owner or manager of small or medium-sized business that has recently begun building customer relationships online, do you agree with Richards’ advice? We invite you to share your own lessons on the subject of beginning SCRM practices in the comments below.

Related articles

• Why Sales Is Still Missing From Social CRM (mashable.com)
• Gartner Says the Use of Social CRM for Customer Service Will Grow Rapidly Over the Next Two Years (serve4impact.com)
• Video: Why SXSW Matters For B2B (customerthink.com)
• Saturday Morning Reads: South by Southwest (SXSW) Cares – Japan Tsunami & Earthquake Relief (theharteofmarketing.com)
• Top of the Funnel sCRM (kevinspidel.com)
• The Social CRM Magic Quadrant (cloudave.com)