Social CRM: The Future Starts Now

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If you ever wanted a great Social Media Customer Engagement Case Study, you’ve found one – Royal Dutch Airlines KLM has launched a pilot program called KLM Surprise to show appreciation to their customers. The program recently took place at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport, and the idea was to surprise customers who have used Foursquare to check into one of KLM venues or Twitter to tweet their location, rewarding them with a personalized gift.

Information that customers have shared on profiles across various social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare is used to come up with the gift idea – so remember, if you’re flying KLM soon be sure to update your Facebook interests! After the gift is selected, KLM staff locates the person in the airport terminal and delivers the surprise gift to them. The results are then posted on KLM’s Facebook Page and Twitter account - everyone loves a success story, right? If your heart is warming to the idea, you can even view photos of those happy customers at KLM’s Surprise Facebook page.

The KLM Surprise team has really taken social media to the next level, notably by leveraging geo-location services such as Foursquare. Not only does the team ‘listen’ throughout social media channels, taking note of check-ins and Tweets, but they also ‘learn’ about checked-in customers from their social media profiles and then focus that information towards customer engagement. This type of activity drives positive attention back to the company’s social channels, adding personalization ultimately creates a very positive customer impression.

This can absolutely be seen as a Social CRM activity – engaging customers through social media with the intention of building trust and brand loyalty.

What do you think? Has KLM Surprise embraced Social CRM? As always, we’re interested in your thoughts and opinions! 

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  • http://www.thesocialnexus.com George Cathcart

    When I saw this, I didn’t make that SCRM link. There are certainly elements of this, but it’s an unsustainable example, and it was a short term campaign opposed to being embedded in the everyday processes at KLM airlines.

    It is a step in the right direction though, for sure. True SCRM needs to be more sustainable though, by definition sCRM has an emphasis on longevity (the relationship) and not flash-in-the-pan campaigns.

    • http://twitter.com/TheMarketaire Brett Prince

      It’s definitely not a long-term strategy, that’s for sure. They’d need an entire task force to pull something like that off!

      I think this was more for the publicity than anything else, and to kickstart and drive the online aspect. It’ll be interesting to see what they do in the future, though. I haven’t heard of too many companies taking the time to plan something like this, even if it was for a brief period.

  • http://twitter.com/joefisher1 Joe Fisher

    I think this is going to be HUGE in the future.

    • http://twitter.com/TheMarketaire Brett Prince

      I think so, too. I think there’s only so much you can do physically with customers without it really adding to expenses, but you can certainly show your appreciation in a variety of different ways. Pizza delivery men could start carrying flowers for ladies, haha.

  • Jen Lapietro

    A wonderful story. I teared up when they presented surprise to the white-haired lady with extra leg-room. Thanks for adding this story to my day.

    • http://twitter.com/TheMarketaire Brett Prince

      Cheers, Jen. It’s nice to consider the possibilities of using social technology to help people’s every day lives. Maybe they’ll make an app for old ladies who need help crossing the street. =)

  • http://twitter.com/somediazing Stan Socialmediazing

    Wonderful! Finally marketing will bring nice PERSONALIZED and OUR LOCATION based surprises into our life!

  • http://www.dcs-solution.com DCS Solution

    Wow! That’s a great idea to make use of social technology. I think it’s going to be a trend in the near future.

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  • http://wineharlots.com/ Wine Harlots

    A seriously clever idea.

  • http://twitter.com/socialfaceTIM Tim Bryden

    Certainly raising the bar. Am going to forward to my friends at Qantas who recently had a few social media issues. Must be making a few businesses out there wondering what to do next although I’m sure many are still blissfully unaware that the world is rapidly changing. Thanks for the post!


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