Every business wants to know how Social CRM (SCRM) is going to make them money! So if you are a small to midsize business (SMB) you probably already using CRM, and you have a Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube channel and maybe even a Social Circle of some kind.                         But what do you do with it?

In the SMB space, there a plethora of point systems but a lack of a fully cohesive solution. Point solutions address: email marketing, publishing, marketing automation, community and lead enrichment.   But without an end-to-end approach, it makes it very difficult to measure the success of a social program.  Social needs to be an integrated process to sales, marketing and service functions to achieve results.

Based on an interview with Paul Greenberg and Software Advice, when SMBs are looking for a CRM solution they are primarily looking for sales automation to track contacts, notes, activities and reporting. Sales enablement is the key focus, followed by other tools that can provide operational efficiencies. Social is on the radar but on the bottom of the list when it comes to priorities.

Starting in Q1 2014, Microsoft will be offering a Social CRM solution for large enterprise accounts.  Their acquisitions of Netbreeze and MarketingPilot for social listening, analytics and marketing automation will complete their CRM offering.

So as a SMB what do you do in the interim, while waiting for a skinny version of this suite?

To future-proof your organization, there are simple social add-ons which will get you started without breaking the bank.

Social Add-Ons to Consider that Integrate to Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

• Email Marketing → Mail Chimp provides easy to set up and use email templates

• Social Publishing → PowerSocial publishes your content to blogs, Facebook and Twitter

• Email and Marketing Automation → Click Dimensions and Core Motives provide email marketing and campaign execution and management

• Community and Collaboration → Yammer is the Facebook for business. It can be used just for internal communications, and/or for keeping your customers and partners up to speed on what is happening with your company.

• Lead Enrichment → InsideView aggregates business information across various sources to provide information on: SEC filings, contact information, relationships, news feeds, blogs, etc.

Fieldpoint as a small business has gone through the challenges of implementing a social program ourselves. We have implemented a best of breed approach with the focal point center around Microsoft Dynamics CRM as our hub. To find out more about how Fieldpoint addresses Social CRM for small and medium businesses contact us today. We would love to share our experiences with you.