Social CRM is all about ‘advocates’

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Yesterday's launch of Lithium Social CRM marks an exciting step forward for our customers -- empowering them to create a powerful network of advocates across the social web. 

Who are these mysterious advocates? They're a unique segment: Loyal enthusiasts who evangelize your brand, products and services wherever they go -- whether they're online or in the "real" world.

A great example in my own interactions with an "advocate" was at a conference last October. A fellow attendee was conducting an interview for her blog with one of those trendy Flip camcorders. That was my first glimpse at one. Afterward, I asked her about the device, which was smaller than my iPhone.

She raved about her Flip -- about how easy it was to use; how it fits in her pocket; how she never left home without it -- and then showed me all of the gadget's cool features. She told me that she blogged about her Flip; wrote a review on Amazon; and recommended the camcorders to her family, friends and acquaintances (like me).

The next day I ordered one from Amazon. And soon I became a Flip advocate, too (I have a weakness for gadgets). I blogged about mine and showed it off around the office (telling people how great it was, etc). I also wrote my own Amazon review. And, like the person who introduced me to it, I also use mine for all of my blog-related videos (like those below).    

Social CRM is all about the value of advocates. For today's post I spoke with our CMO, Sanjay Dholakia, about Lithium Social CRM which he explains allows businesses to build stronger, deeper customer relationships by integrating social customer conversations into existing CRM business processes and systems.

Part 1:  What is Social CRM and how is it different from traditional customer relationship management?

Part 2: What do organizations need to do in order to inject the "social" into their existing CRM initiatives? And once they do, what are the payoffs (for both companies and their customers)?