Let's Get Lunch
The face of customer relationship management is changing. Where before we bonded over breaking bread and shaking hands, today’s circumstances necessitate adaptability in navigating a predominately virtual space – in other words, how do you ensure you and your business development team can truly connect with your customers? There are many strategies to utilize, but one of the most engaging involves building a social boost with social media.
With long lunches and after expo drinks dwindling, the need for quality remote relationships is ever increasing. We need to “get lunch” together in all new ways. Although Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRMs) are meant to create and enhance these relationships, these days they can feel like little more than a log of who called whom when. What can we attribute this to? Two likely culprits consist of (1) fewer traditional face to face encounters and (2) a general unfamiliarity with the breadth of CRM functionality.
HubSpot’s Facebook integration can be found in the HubSpot App Marketplace and is a prime example of a CRM that supports diverse and multi-layered social media capabilities. Communicate directly with Facebook Messenger! Look at patterns in your audience base with Facebook Insights. Dive into sales solutions with Omnichannel (which involves selling across multiple platforms). Give your customer the chance to control their purchasing experience – enabling them to purchase what they want, when they want, in the way they want, on the platform they want. Use the Facebook Shop integration to promote sales. From building relationships to dominating the sales platform space, the HubSpot Facebook integration demands our attention. It is one integration your business needs to act on. So, order up; one hot and fresh serving of Facebook know-how is coming your way. We may not be able to get lunch in person right now, but we can bond over a virtual breadth of communication.
Crack Open That Menu
HubSpot widget choices abound! Much like looking at a 10-page menu (how can there be this many variations on chicken?), figuring out which widgets you’re interested in can be a little daunting. Through it all, there are some guiding questions we can ask ourselves to gain some needed clarity. What helps your customers feel supported? Is it regular updates? Building a community? Having one on one conversations? Quickly being able to get the information they need? There are now HubSpot/Facebook solutions for all these cravings.
Facebook’s general widget allows you to create, upload, and schedule content. This can be used to connect with your customers in a more personal way, sharing insights into everything from the human element (Pat in shipping is facing a tall tower of outgoing order boxes) to the financial metadata (there are price increases due to supply shortages). Keeping your audience informed has a multitude of savory benefits.
Facebook also allows for insights. Consider everyone’s favorite – swag. What items make sense for your customers? A quick look at your demographic information might show a mutual love for state parks that you never knew they shared. Great, let’s break out those custom logo metal camping mugs. You want to be in front of your customer in meaningful ways and not just another business handing out fad swag items to be tossed in a drawer and forgotten.
There are options for everyone on the Facebook Messenger integration menu. It may be that you are limited on business development employee hours. Your sales team wants to answer every lead, but there is only so much time in the work week and you have to prioritize. Create an automatic chat response for your Facebook business page. Let initial inquiries receive that immediate attention they desire without burning out biz dev.
Prepare the Appetizer
If you do not already have a Facebook Business page for your company, now is the time. Facebook provides detailed instructions to concoct your own page serving your customers. There is also information on how to optimize to best satisfy your customer’s appetite and keep them coming back for more. If you already have your page cooked up completely, we can skip right to the meat of the matter.
The Main Course
For our main course, all the integrations come together to create a beautiful presentation of data. Let us digest this data and nourish our campaigns. With so much on our plate, it can be difficult to decide on which morsel to start with. The possibilities in front of us can be enjoyed in full when taking one bite at a time.
Let us start with the numbers you are used to. The who contacted whom when. What is the chat volume? How many leads with how many messages? How many of these contacts had tickets created and/or support representatives assigned? Need to see how fast that follow-up is? With HubSpot’s Facebook Messenger integration, you can easily see how your employees are connecting. Are they responding within a day to your Facebook leads? Is it down to the hour? Have they evolved their precognition to know the order before the first contact is made? (Maybe that last one is a little unlikely, but some salespeople do seem to work magic.)
Starting with the above numbers gives us an overall impression of the volume and speed we can serve up. The next step is looking into the qualitative data (those lovely non-numeric ingredients). We want to see what your sales individuals should be talking to your customers about. HubSpot doesn’t provide these insights on their platform yet, but your fabulous Facebook Business account is just a browser tab away.
Basic demographics like age and education level can give us an idea of what type of language and communication style to use. We want everyone to receive their own flavor preferences. Interests let us connect on a more personal level. The type of casual conversation that is the bread and butter of your relationship can be easily achieved through messenger when peppered with topics directly related to your customer’s hobbies and interests. Speaking of demographics, how can we discuss the weather if we don’t even know where they are from?
Variety may be the spice of life, but is it the proper mix for your business? See if your audience has been narrowed down to similar interests and demographics or if there is a wide and varied assortment. Which is best for your business? If your catalog is small and specialized, you may not want to diversify too much. You might instead want to adjust your ad settings to narrow down your audience. Ready to branch out? This can be done as well.
With the Facebook Ad integration, we can see both what ads are converting, and which contacts are being created. What do those contacts have in common? Do their interests align with what you are dishing up? Adjust your ad recipe as necessary.
How well are you using this information? HubSpot can track a variety of customer activities. Are you creating new contacts? Is the sales funnel pouring out sufficient sales? How long do various conversions take to come out of the kitchen? Fix your bottlenecks as needed.
Satisfy every appetite with a more complete dish of data. Use the details to build stronger relationships with your customers. We may not be able to sit down together at a table, but we can find meaningful connections by relying on the social power of Facebook. Don’t let the fruits of your marketing efforts wither on the vine. Let’s get some sales on the table.
Just Desserts
We are at the end of our informational meal together (and our metaphor). Let us close out with a small taste of the sweetest thing on the menu, Facebook Shop. You have built the relationship over the course of these offerings; now it is time to close. Although Facebook’s Shop platform does not have a direct integration yet, it is another way to offer sales solutions. So, whether your customers are looking for a beachside bite or ordering while comfortable on the couch, you will be able to conveniently reach them.
Facebook has lots of resources for their sales platform, but we are hungry for more. Are you? Follow us to keep these morsels of omnichannel selling help coming. Connect with us directly for a serving of solutions perfect for your business’s (and your customers’) particular palates.
