“What exactly is Social CRM?

The traditional CRM system assists an organisation by bringing together data from all areas of an organisation, giving a 360-degree view of a customer for marketing and sales to make informed decisions on cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. At the same time, this data can be used to shape marketing strategies and corporate communications.

Social CRM, on the other hand, is your existing CRM that has the ability to leverage the social web and automate the conversation process. The social CRM can be used by marketing and sales teams to listen to conversations, craft appropriate messages, join in immediately with customer conversation and offer them value in terms of information and solutions.”

Social CRM has the ability to:

• Convert content to conversations therefore humanising a company so that customers regard the organisation as a trusted peer.
• Extend conversations into collaborative experiences, putting the customer at the core of a company’s strategy.
• Transform these experiences into meaningful relationships based upon real customer engagement.”

“Therefore you should think creatively of ways to integrate your customer’s networks into your current CRM.”
(via http://www.socialmediamarketinguk.com/social-crm-the-next-big-thing )