Since the SxSW Interactive conference wrapped more than a month ago, there’s been a lingering anecdote stuck in our heads. During the Q&A portion of the panel “Measuring Social Media - Let's Get Serious," an attendee asked if the problem with social media measurement is that it’s being driven by communications people who aren’t linked into the CRM systems used by the sales organization. He shared that his client, American Airlines, missed the holy grail of ROI with a recent Facebook campaign because it failed to connect frequent flyer data supplied by fans to its CRM system to track social media interactions and loyalty. 

 

Here’s how the American Airlines Facebook campaign worked:

But what happened to those frequent flyer numbers after the miles were awarded? According to the SxSW attendee, they sat lonely on an Excel document, never to be touched again. And, in his opinion, the true value of the campaign failed to be captured. He suggested that the data should have been plugged into the airline’s CRM system to assign a loyalty rating and revenue figure for the yearly ticket revenue generated from each campaign participant. He also proposed using the self-identifying frequent flyer number to track travel preferences/destinations, microtarget social media content to their interests and monitor social interactions overtime. 

 

In our opinion, while it’s easy to agree that ROI is suffering because connecting social media activities to sales CRM systems is not happening at most companies – in spite of a burgeoning social CRM space  – it’s not as simple as turning on the integration. What he missed was the fact that it is not solely a lack of access to the CRM system that’s keeping this from becoming a critical measurement step. This linkage to CRM requires the development of a host of additional security, consumer-minded safety and privacy practices to meet regulatory guidelines and consumer expectations. 
 

That’s not to say that American Airlines did not consider privacy in the development of this Facebook campaign. Even without the linkage to their CRM system, the company highlighted its overarching privacy policy in the context of the campaign to field questions from fans about protecting their frequent flyer numbers.  And the overall sentiment from the crowd at the panel was that if you have the ability to control what self-identifying data you share, but you’re worried about being tracked in a CRM system, you have the ability to opt-out. But is that enough?

What about linkages to a CRM system that are not driven by someone providing self-identifying information? For instance, if your brand uses a blog analytics tool like Stat Counter you can view the IP addresses of blog readers that may allow you to pin point that a reader is a prospect at a specific organization. If you then track which blog posts this reader is particularly interested in and enter them into a CRM system for offline follow-up, are you responsible to disclose how you knew what they are reading? Will your prospect feel violated? 

 

Another option discussed at SxSW, which seems more appropriate in this instance, is to keep a detailed privacy policy built together with stakeholders front and center at all times (in some cases requiring acceptance to participate or view content). It’s the best way to handle the perception that privacy is being invaded, and manage the risks. 

 

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to approaching social CRM, ROI and privacy, but that doesn’t mean the opportunity should be ignored. If you haven’t already, investigate how you may be able to link into your brand’s CRM system, but be sure your Chief Privacy Officer is involved in the development of your approach.

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