By Joe Manna, community manager, Infusionsoft

[EDITORS' NOTE: This is part of a series of posts that began here, dissecting a two-page chart that appeared in CRM magazine's June 2009 issue on social media. The digital edition of that issue can be found here, and a standalone image of the chart itself can be seen here. (Click on the “View Full Size” button at the top right of that page.) To view all posts in the series, please add this RSS feed to your RSS reader.]

JUNE 5, 2009 — The Social Media Maturity (SMM) diagram is a good slice of what should be the seamless interaction between sales, marketing, service, and public relations in most midsize and large organizations.

On the other hand, I come from the perspective that not every company necessarily operates this way — nor do they need to.

To begin with, I find a couple of important topics missing from this detailed chart:

• Product Development and
• Privacy and Security.

Putting developers close to the customer experience improves the product and business long-term. Additionally, there needs to be some congruency in privacy practices designed to insulate customer data from breaches or nightmares of public relations.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & CUSTOMERS
In my experience, software developers who write programming code that adheres to business-requirement documents (which often list cut-and-dried deliverables) miss one of the software’s most important stakeholders — the current user. The software developers who become fluent at building great user-centric software are the ones who can build the product with the end in mind, instead of taking only incremental steps toward that end.

Even in our own team at Infusionsoft, the chief system architect and the senior engineer (Eric Martineau and Mike Daniels, respectively) are engaged with customers in our support community. From within the community, they can glean the unfiltered, pithy, and telling experiences directly from customers — enabling them to quickly prioritize and implement changes in the product and communicate those changes. This is one of many distinct benefits of putting developers close to customers.

Additionally, we have our product management team fully leveraging the benefits (and convenience) of UserVoice for crowdsourced suggestions that let customers complete the familiar refrain, “I want the product to…” The point-based system that Infusionsoft uses not only encourages current customers to prioritize their wants and needs, but also guides our development team to prioritize immediate feature-set projects alongside the higher-level evolution of the entire product. Minimizing barriers between customers, developers, and product management lets the internal team and customers see eye-to-eye, gives customers a voice, and invests all parties in a product they become proud to use.

PRIVACY AND SECURITY
In the SMM chart, there seems to be a lack of attention on data retention, security, or privacy governance. I see a lot of examples of communication between groups for the purpose of marketing and service, but no mention of privacy and security. It’s important that, as consumers provide data to organizations — voluntarily or involuntarily — there’s oversight into how long that data will be retained and into the performance of routine security audits.

How does privacy relate to social media? Social media delivers substance to privacy policies and establishes trust among consumers that their data is safe. To maintain data integrity, it’s important to manage users’ permissions in CRM software, establishing guidelines for access to customer data. It’s a good idea to maintain a log of access to and changes in customer records in order to isolate and address the issue in case of a breach in data security. Organizations whose networks might be accessible from the outside should consider the use of those nifty RSA SecurIDs that add an additional layer of security. (They also add a bit of frustration, but that’s not an uncommon cost of security.)

Empowering consumers to clear their Web-browsing histories, opt out of marketing, and preclude themselves from further tracking is a great way to avoid government regulation — and at the same time keep organizations in the good graces of consumer advocacy groups. Even aggregated data can contain personal details and must be treated with caution.

On a similar note, we need to respect the data that consumers provide and use it to improve our marketing and service delivery.

AOL, for one, is no stranger to managing and mishandling user data, especially in the aftermath of a 2006 ‘scandal’ involving search records for more than 600,000 users. Since then, the company has lived by its publicly posted privacy practices and has internally restricted those who have access to valuable customer data.

For a bit of comic relief, the ACLU illustrated an example of what happens when CRM and behavior targeting strikes back against the consumer.

There are several truisms that every company should consider along the path to becoming a respected brand over the long term:

• Customer service occurs around the clock. (Whether or not the lights are on.)
• Customers expect exceptional service. Especially during an economy when they know they can take their business elsewhere.
• Customers want to be heard. Whether that contact comes in the form of a tweet, a critical email, or an upsetting blogpost, dedicating the resources to capture, respond, and implement that feedback is necessary to building a customer-centric brand.
• Giving up control is gaining control. By not trying to force all customers and prospects into one community — and in fact, being present on multiple social media outposts — a brand gains leverage, visibility, and market share with customers.
• Build relationships and permit transactions. Many companies still tend to focus on the transaction and not the relationship. Now is the time to be following up, calling, emailing and twittering with customers, nurturing them on your industry and not your product. Establishing credibility is more difficult, but the results pay dividends later with frequent product purchases and the word-of-mouth distribution of praise.

The Social Media Maturity chart is always changing and developing with customer needs and company pains. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes so long as the team learns, and that’s what this chart includes – managing feedback, becoming transparent, streamlining operations, and heeding the voice of the customer.

That’s what makes it great.

Joe Manna is the community manager for small business marketing software provider Infusionsoft. With an extensive background in social media and community management, his passion revolves around advocating for consumers’ needs and helping others leverage technology to collaborate online. You can follow his daily ramblings on Twitter (@JoeManna) or catch his posts on small-business marketing, social media, and entrepreneurship on the Infusionsoft Blog.