The importance of customer networks for Social CRM and word-of-mouth marketing is very often looked at from a pure social media viewpoint with typical components such as influencers, communities and brand advocates. It is an important approach when looking at the correlation between clients and social media, but also at the dynamics within client networks from the social customer viewpoint.

There are various levels in customer networks and even various kinds of client networks depending on for example interest, interaction, typology, content and even channel. These different networks and their sub-segments are connected to each other by several connections which can also be segmented depending on amongst others the intensity, strength and frequency.

Customer networks are, certainly in a social media context, very interesting and complex ecosystems which can be mapped out in various ways and constantly change in the area of composition etc.

Different research companies and “experts” have given all kinds of names to the various types of members of customer communities: joiners, conversationalists, creators, spectators and, depending of the source, a few dozen other typologies. But the social network dimension is almost always in the centre.

The customer is more than social: he is multi-channel

When we talk about the ‘social customer’ this is also often done from a general Social CRM and social media context whereby, apart from the changing buying behaviour, connected interaction models are key. There are other ways to look at the ‘social customer’. I once spoke of the ‘pull customer’, in analogy with ‘pull marketing’: the customer drawing communication and information towards him and his control. Others still have other names but it doesn’t really more since the customer is much more than ‘social’.

We cannot honestly identify customers merely in the context of ‘social’ and ‘connected’ ecosystems. The modern customer is first of all a ‘cross-channel’, ‘multi-channel’ and even ‘omni-channel’ one. People use all media and channels together and often at the same time: Both online and offline. The fragmentation is enormous and the interactions and integration between media and people exist at all levels: between media and media, between people and people and between media and people. The media are the channels and carriers of communication, the people are customers and businesses.

In the end, there is only one type of client and he should be identified in so much more than only ‘social networks’. However, this requires a bigger intellectual effort and more complicated visualization of  customer interactions and networks. To understand the customer, better serve him and discover the dynamics in his behaviour, it is not enough to simply look at one ecosystem such as the social network. The customer details must comprise all contact moments and the cross-channel interactions. Or in other words: to be able to work with client networks, you need a more extensive vision than simply that of the social network.

The era of integrated data

The marketing reality is multidimensional and so is the client. The behaviour of people on social media is just as important as their interactions with other information and communication channels like e-mail, search engines, mobile media, classic web-based channels and even offline contact points.

The essential difference with the past is that our definition of the customer is changing: it becomes broader. People that receive our e-mails, are fans of our brand, re-post our tweets or follow the RSS-feed of our blogs are also customers, even if they have never purchased anything. We no longer only sell products and services. We specifically sell experiences, value and interactions. We have to earn the authorisation to interact, basically what subscribing to an e-mail newsletter is all about.

Customer satisfaction is then more than a direct result of the client experience in the strict sense. It is something that should also be earned in the messages and interaction throughout all networks. And a cross-channel and multi-layer vision on the customer network is necessary for that. Everything is integrated and every action, channel and interaction must leverage the other.

Relevance and value can only be created with a holistic view of the customers through all his presences and signals. And despite the complexity of integrated networks, there is a core holding everything together: real-time and cross-channel data.

Welcome to the era of integrated data, cross-channel communication and multi-dimensional CRM for the multi-channel customer.