For tech watchers, this is pretty big news. CRM Software supports are quickly acquiring startups that allow businesses to comfortably manage significantly more social media platforms, as well as, a variety of platforms.

Oracle has purchased Vitrue to aid in the managing and publishing of social media campaigns. They’ve also purchased Collective Intellect to aid in the monitoring of social chatter. Salesforce.com, a strong CRM contender purchased Radian6 a sentiment tracking company. The list goes on. The question is why the big shopping spree and why should you care?

It seems industry experts believe that the next five years are going to be key for chief marketing officers, who will spend a huge amount of money on CRM systems that will integrate social media. This is great news for any business that isn’t running around with a seven-figure technology budget. Early game players referred to as Social CRM adopters are setting the stage for much smaller companies who have limited budgets to be able to adopt these new method fast and within their budget. In addition, it will be without the problems that have troubled CRM programs in the past.

Traditional CRM is integrated to make life more efficient and faster customer service within an organization and its departments. It’s designed to increase profits, improve customer service with faster resolutions and many other benefits.

However, when CRM programs are not executed properly they can actually they can actually make a company look very bad. Anyone who has received a mailout that’s supposed to look personalized but the name is spelled incorrectly or duplicates are received, knows that a company’s customer service attempts are far from personal. Another great example is the automated telephone answering system that annoys customers to no end. Yes all of these things lower your costs but at what cost to your customer service end?

Traditional CRM systems turn people into data and that’s a problem. Relationships become rules of engagement and that’s an even bigger problem. Technology can’t be empathetic, which is what’s driving CRM companies to integrate with social media.
75% of American consumers use one or more social networking sites, which provides the opportunity for 24/7 exceptional customer service, smart branding, and endless opportunities to manipulate the consumer in your favor. A company’s data power increases exponentially. It’s adding an entirely new dimension to CRM and that’s exciting.

For years, CRM has been one-sided communication and now that social media is becoming an integrated part of CRM the opportunity for two-sided communication is a reality. Its smart business and those who jump in early will really benefit.