Customer expectations are evolving, and the spotlight has shifted to social media as a core channel for building customer relationships and managing customer interactions. A message, comment, or review can influence reputation and future sales in moments—yet many brands still rely on traditional CRM systems that miss these crucial interactions. As more organizations seek the best CRM for social media or powerful CRM and social media integration, it’s become essential to rethink how we connect with audiences where conversations actually happen.
Social customer relationship management (Social CRM) platforms are designed for this new reality: bringing together the speed and reach of social media channels with the robust organization of classic CRM tools. The result? Teams can engage, resolve, and nurture in ways that feel personal, efficient, and scalable. With the right social CRM software, businesses can manage customer relationships more effectively and ensure that every customer interaction—no matter where it happens—adds value to the overall relationship building process.
This guide offers a complete look at what social CRM is, why it’s a game-changer, and which features truly matter. You’ll also discover how Lark, as a leading platform, elevates collaboration and social media CRM to new heights. Whether you’re searching for advanced social CRM tools or looking to build a unified customer engagement strategy, this resource is your starting line.
What is social CRM?
Social CRM, short for social customer relationship management, is a technology and strategy suite that integrates social media channels with traditional CRM functions. Where classic customer relationship management systems focus on tracking sales, contacts, and support tickets, social CRM platforms take things further by combining social media management, engagement tracking, and sentiment analysis, making it easier to understand and interact with customers in real time across multiple social media platforms. This approach allows companies to manage customer relationships holistically, capturing every customer interaction—whether it's a tweet, comment, or direct message.
The purpose of social CRM
The core objective of a social customer relationship management platform is to create a unified customer view by capturing and analyzing all social media interactions—from tweets to comments, direct messages to reviews. By syncing these touchpoints into a single system, social CRM enables teams to manage customer relationships more efficiently and respond quickly, deliver personalized experiences, and gain actionable insights. This is crucial for brands looking to develop a robust social media CRM strategy, drive social selling, and leverage customer feedback to improve products or campaigns. Effective social CRM empowers businesses to enhance customer retention and build lasting customer relationships by ensuring that every customer interaction is logged, measured, and acted upon.
How social CRM differs from traditional CRM
Traditional CRM systems focus primarily on structured data—contacts, email records, purchase histories—within siloed environments. Social customer relationship management, in contrast, brings together structured and unstructured data from social media platforms and other social media channels, enabling companies to:
Listen and respond to mentions, messages, and conversations across various social media platforms in real time, managing customer interactions wherever they occur.
Gain insights into customer sentiment, customer behavior, and public feedback.
Engage in proactive community management and social media customer service.
Identify influencers and advocates, supporting social selling and relationship building.
Whereas a traditional CRM is a passive record keeper, social CRM is an active engagement engine. It’s the best CRM for social media marketing teams that need to unify sales, support, and communications—making social media CRM tools essential for today’s collaborative business landscape.
As businesses shift to omnichannel engagement models, choosing a social CRM solution like Lark unlocks seamless integration between social media and internal workflows. This drives more efficient team collaboration, timely responses, and deep customer insights all from one intuitive platform. Modern social CRM software makes it possible to monitor brand mentions, analyze social data, and manage customer relationships at scale, helping organizations address customer concerns promptly and build lasting customer relationships.
Key features to look for in social CRM
With social media channels evolving and customer expectations higher than ever, it's vital to select a social media CRM platform packed with modern capabilities. When comparing leading social CRM tools, prioritize these must-have features:
Unified customer profiles:
Aggregate social, email, chat, and call histories into one timeline for each contact, making it easier to manage customer relationships and monitor all customer interactions.Real-time social listening and engagement:
Monitor brand mentions, keywords, and trends across major networks, and respond without switching platforms. Effective social customer relationship management relies on being able to address customer concerns promptly and manage customer interactions seamlessly across multiple social media platforms.Sentiment analysis:
Gauge the mood of your audience using AI-driven tools, helping your team prioritize replies and spot emerging issues in customer behavior and sentiment.Workflow automation:
Set triggers to route social media tickets to the right team, schedule follow-up tasks, and automate repetitive workflows involving customer interactions.Social analytics and reporting:
Measure engagement, response times, campaign performance, and team activity directly within your CRM for actionable planning. Analyzing social media data and social media interactions provides valuable customer insights.Integration with popular social media networks:
Native support for channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram—plus open APIs for custom connections.Mobile collaboration tools:
A social CRM should empower your team to engage on-the-go, supporting mobile notifications and remote case updates for better customer engagement.Data security and compliance:
With growing regulations, secure your customer data with robust permissions and privacy features—an essential part of modern customer relationship management.
Not every CRM social media tool delivers across all these areas, but aiming for a balance of automation, insight, and usability is key.
When evaluating social CRM software for your organization, Lark stands out by combining robust social media and CRM integration with effortless team collaboration—making it easier to manage customer relationships and every customer touchpoint in one place, so your business never misses an opportunity to engage.
Benefits of social CRM for businesses
Adopting a social customer relationship management platform is transformative for organizations seeking to thrive in today’s connected marketplace. When customer conversations, customer insights, and support requests happen across a multitude of public and private channels, relying solely on a traditional CRM can lead to missed opportunities and delayed responses. Social CRM bridges this gap, driving multiple strategic benefits for businesses of all sizes—including improved customer retention, better management of customer interactions, and more effective relationship building.
1. Enhanced customer understanding and personalization
By integrating data from social networks with traditional customer relationship management, social CRM software gives your team a complete 360-degree view of each individual. Social media interactions—whether feedback, complaints, or praise—are logged alongside emails and purchase activity, enabling truly personalized customer engagement and faster, more relevant responses.
2. Real-time engagement and improved response times
With social media CRM platforms, your team can engage directly with customers on their preferred social media channels—responding to tweets, comments, and messages from one central dashboard. This immediacy drives higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, setting your brand apart as responsive and customer-centric. Being able to manage customer interactions across social platforms is essential for building lasting customer relationships and enhancing customer retention.
3. Advanced analytics and actionable insights
The best CRM for social media goes beyond communication: it delivers robust analytics. You can track campaign performance, customer sentiment, social media data, trending topics, and agent effectiveness, equipping decision-makers with the data needed to refine strategy and improve ROI.
4. Better social media crisis management
With unified monitoring and alerting, social CRM tools can quickly flag negative sentiment or viral issues, allowing you to react swiftly. Your business can move from reactive to proactive, protecting your reputation and building stronger brand advocacy. Social customer relationship management platforms enable teams to monitor brand mentions and address customer concerns promptly, which is crucial for maintaining positive customer sentiment.
5. Increased efficiency through automation and integration
Top social CRM software streamlines workflows by automating repetitive tasks. For example, you can set rules to assign mentions or tickets to specific teams or automate follow-ups on unattended social messages—saving your team valuable time and ensuring no customer slips through the cracks. This level of automation is key for companies seeking to manage customer relationships efficiently across multiple social media platforms.
6. Strengthened social selling and influencer relationships
Building genuine relationships on social media platforms is key to modern selling. Social CRM identifies influencers and potential advocates, tracks engagement with them over time, and makes it easy to nurture your brand’s most valuable connections. Robust social customer relationship management is invaluable for relationship building, customer retention, and driving targeted marketing campaigns.
Adopting a social CRM strategy means your business is future-ready, able to scale with changing customer expectations and digital channel growth.
When comparing solutions, Lark isn't just another social media CRM tool—it’s a powerful hub for collaboration, automation, and proactive engagement, making complex workflows simple and unlocking new levels of customer satisfaction for modern teams.
Top social CRM software at a glance
With a growing number of social customer relationship management platforms on the market, selecting the best fit can be challenging. To help you quickly compare options, here's a straightforward overview of leading social CRM software—all designed to help teams manage customer relationships, monitor customer interactions, and strengthen customer engagement across social media platforms.
8 best social CRM software reviews
Selecting the right social customer relationship management solution can propel your customer engagement and operational efficiency to new heights. Below, we walk you through the top eight social CRM platforms, outlining each platform’s core strengths using a consistent structure. Each of these tools is designed to help organizations manage customer relationships, monitor customer interactions, and build lasting customer relationships across multiple social media platforms.
Lark
Overview
Lark is a next-generation digital workspace that has made significant strides in social customer relationship management. More than just a communication suite, Lark connects messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, and collaborative docs with advanced customer relationship management features. Lark empowers businesses to manage customer relationships seamlessly by aggregating social media interactions, internal chats, and customer feedback into a single unified view. This enables teams to monitor brand mentions and customer sentiment across various social media platforms, gaining valuable insights into their audience. Its real-time collaboration functions make it easy for multiple teams to respond quickly to customer inquiries, ensuring a consistent and positive customer experience. Lark’s automation and analytics help businesses understand customer behavior, enhance customer retention, and optimize every stage of the customer journey. By bringing together social data, workflow automation, and relationship building tools, Lark stands out as an all-in-one solution for modern social CRM needs.
Key features
Unified customer profiles: Consolidate contact information, internal chats, and social media interactions into a single view.
Real-time notifications: Instantly alert customer-facing teams to key customer interactions through synchronized chat or email—not just in CRM records.
Seamless social media integration: Built-in connectors and open APIs allow Lark to capture messages and mentions from major social media platforms directly within CRM workflows.
Collaborative case management: Teams can assign, collaborate on, and resolve social support tickets using integrated chat, comments, and task management—reducing silos.
Workflow automation: Trigger actions, assign tasks, and automate updates when a social contact reaches out or when issues escalate.
Analytics and dashboards: Built-in dashboards facilitate monitoring of engagement metrics, team responsiveness, and sentiment trends for continuous improvement.
Secure permissions and compliance: Granular access control fits enterprise governance and makes it easier to manage sensitive customer data.
Flexible deployment: Use as a standalone CRM for social media or integrate with existing sales, marketing, and helpdesk systems.
Pricing
Lark offers a flexible pricing model with a feature-rich free plan and tiered subscriptions for advanced CRM integrations and automation.
Free plan: Includes core features for up to 20 users, making it a great entry point for small teams and an ideal starting point for businesses adopting their first social CRM.
Paid plans: Starts at $12 per user per month (billed annually), offering advanced features and scalability for growing businesses in need of advanced social CRM capabilities.
Best for
Lark is ideal for collaborative teams—especially those in fast-paced environments—who need to unify communication, social media CRM, and workflow automation in a single, user-friendly interface. It’s especially suited for organizations seeking to manage customer relationships, improve customer engagement, monitor brand mentions, and gain valuable insights from every customer interaction.
Sprout Social
Image source: sproutsocial.com
Overview
Sprout Social is a widely recognized platform tailored for social media management and customer engagement, offering a suite of tools that blend social customer relationship management and multi-channel social engagement. Sprout Social empowers teams to monitor brand mentions, analyze customer sentiment, and manage customer interactions across a range of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. The unified inbox helps sales and support teams work together efficiently, increasing customer retention and ensuring that no customer conversation goes unnoticed. With robust analytics and reporting, businesses can track engagement, social media campaigns, and customer behavior to refine their outreach strategies. Integrations with other business tools further enhance its ability to help organizations manage customer relationships at scale.
Key features
Social media CRM functionality with unified inbox
Scheduled publishing, monitoring, and social listening across platforms
Comprehensive analytics and reporting
Workflow automation for team collaboration
Pricing
No free plan; offers a free trial for 30 days.
Standard: Starts from $199/seat/month
Professional: Starts from $299/seat/month
Advanced: Starts from $399/seat/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Best for
Best for marketing teams and agencies aiming to analyze and engage across multiple networks at scale, particularly those seeking enhanced customer engagement and relationship building.
Zoho CRM
Image source: zoho.com
Overview
Zoho CRM brings social engagement into its sales and marketing suite, making it easy for teams to track social leads and conversations alongside classic CRM data. By integrating social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, Zoho CRM helps businesses monitor customer interactions, score social leads, and automate follow-ups. The platform’s customizable workflows enable teams to manage customer relationships and customer retention initiatives efficiently. Its advanced analytics give valuable insights into customer sentiment and social media activity, supporting data-driven decision-making. Integration with other Zoho business apps provides a comprehensive solution for organizations looking to centralize all aspects of customer relationship management.
Key features
Integrated social CRM tools for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Social lead generation and scoring
Customizable workflows and dashboard reports
Integration with Zoho’s suite of business apps
Pricing
No free plan; offers a free trial.
Standard: Starts from $14/user/month
Professional: Starts from $23/user/month
Enterprise: Starts from $40/user/month
Ultimate: Starts from $52/user/month
Best for
Best for SMBs wanting flexible CRM with social media integration with extensive customization and those prioritizing customer engagement and customer retention.
Salesforce Social Studio
Image source: salesforce.com
Overview
Salesforce brings enterprise-grade social customer relationship management features through Social Studio, part of its broader marketing cloud offering. The platform excels at monitoring brand mentions, analyzing social media interactions, and providing AI-driven insights into customer behavior and sentiment. Social Studio’s collaboration tools allow large teams to respond to customer inquiries, manage customer interactions, and build lasting customer relationships across multiple social media platforms. Deep integration with Salesforce CRM supports seamless workflow automation, relationship building, and compliance. Its scalability and advanced analytics make it a top choice for organizations with complex social CRM requirements.
Key features
Multi-channel social media monitoring and response
AI-driven sentiment and trend analysis
Deep integration with Salesforce CRM and automation
Collaboration tools for large teams
Pricing
Salesforce Foundations: $0
Starter Suite: Starts from $25/user/month
Pro Suite: Starts from $100/user/month
Best for
Best for large organizations needing advanced analytics, automation, and scalability in managing customer relationships and monitoring brand mentions.
HubSpot CRM
Image source: hubspot.com
Overview
HubSpot’s CRM suite integrates social media CRM functionality within its all-in-one marketing and sales platform. With features like social post scheduling, monitoring, and analytics, HubSpot CRM enables teams to manage customer interactions on popular social media platforms. The platform’s automation tools streamline lead nurturing and support customer retention efforts, while real-time dashboards provide valuable insights into customer behavior and engagement. HubSpot’s flexibility and integration capabilities make it possible to customize workflows and address unique business processes, supporting relationship building and customer satisfaction across every touchpoint.
Key features
Social post scheduling and monitoring
Customer tracking with CRM social integration
Analytics on engagement and conversions
Automation for follow-up and nurturing
Pricing
Free Tools: Free for up to 2 users
Marketing Hub Starter: Starts from $9/month/seat
Starter Customer Platform: Starts from $9/month/seat
Marketing Hub Professional: Starts from $800/month, includes 3 core seats
Marketing Hub Enterprise: Starts from $3600/month, includes 5 core seats
Best for
Best for growing businesses needing integrated marketing, sales, and support, especially those focused on relationship building and managing customer interactions.
Freshworks CRM
Image source: freshworks.com
Overview
Freshworks CRM (formerly Freshsales) offers social media integration to support teams handling multi-channel communications. Its unified team inbox allows businesses to manage customer interactions from social media, email, and phone in one place. With AI-powered insights, Freshworks CRM helps teams identify patterns in customer behavior, monitor brand mentions, and automate key workflows for improved customer engagement. The system’s segmentation and lead management features aid in relationship building and customer retention, while its ease of use makes it accessible to teams of all sizes.
Key features
CRM with social network connectors (Facebook, Twitter)
Automated lead capture and segmentation
Team collaboration and communication tools
AI-powered insights
Pricing
No free plan; offers a free trial.
Growth: Starts from $9/user/month
Pro: Starts from $39/user/month
Enterprise: Starts from $59/user/month
Best for
Best for small to mid-sized customer-facing teams seeking simplicity in managing customer relationships and improving customer retention.
Nimble
Image source: nimble.com
Overview
Nimble emphasizes relationship building by merging CRM data with real-time social media signals. The platform enriches customer profiles with data from social media channels, allowing teams to track and manage customer interactions effortlessly. Nimble’s unified inbox and sales pipeline management help businesses nurture leads, monitor brand mentions, and ensure no customer contact is overlooked. The platform’s integration with productivity tools and automation features make it a strong asset for SMBs aiming to deepen customer relationships, improve customer retention, and gain valuable insights into customer sentiment and behavior.
Key features
Social profile enrichment
Unified inbox for contacts and social streams
Sales pipeline and deal tracking
Integration with productivity suites
Pricing
No free plan; offers a free trial for 14 days.
Clear & Simple CRM Pricing: Starts from $24.9/seat/month
Best for
Best for SMBs focused on deeper customer relationships, relationship building, and social selling.
Agile CRM
Image source: agilecrm.com
Overview
Agile CRM supports automated sales, marketing, and customer service—including social media integration. The platform’s robust social CRM features enable teams to listen for brand mentions, engage with customers in real time, and automate marketing workflows. Agile CRM’s reporting and segmentation tools provide valuable insights into customer behavior, while its multi-channel communication history helps organizations manage customer relationships and customer retention programs with ease. Its focus on automation and actionable insights make it a compelling choice for startups and SMBs looking to maximize efficiency.
Key features
Social listening and engagement within CRM
Marketing automation workflows
Multi-channel communication history
Reporting and sales pipeline management
Pricing
Free: Up to 10 users
Starter: Starts from $8.99/user/month
Regular: Starts from $29.99/user/month
Enterprise: Starts from $47.99/user/month
Best for
Best for companies wanting an all-in-one CRM with integrated marketing and social capabilities, and those aiming to manage customer relationships and monitor brand mentions effectively.
As shown above, the best social CRM platforms empower your business to automate social engagement, streamline workflows, and build richer customer relationships. Lark’s holistic approach—merging seamless collaboration, workflow automation, and robust analytics—ensures your team can manage customer relationships, monitor customer interactions, and delight customers everywhere they interact, all with unmatched efficiency.
How to choose the right CRM for your business: A step-by-step guide
Choosing the best social customer relationship management software for your business is a strategic decision that can shape the way you interact with customers across every channel. The right CRM with social media integration helps unify communication, unlock real-time insights, and drive sustained growth. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you identify the ideal solution for your unique needs, making sure you can manage customer relationships, monitor customer interactions, and address customer concerns promptly across multiple social media platforms.
Step 1: Define your goals and use cases
Start by assessing the primary objectives for your CRM social media management. Are you seeking better customer engagement, improved support response times, a comprehensive view of customer journeys, or more robust analytics? List your pain points—and your must-have features. Think about how your business currently manages customer relationships, whether your teams are able to track all customer interactions, and if you are missing valuable insights from social data.
Step 2: Evaluate your existing workflows and tools
Inventory your current software stack, including marketing automation and sales platforms. Identify gaps in your workflow, especially regarding how your teams handle social media CRM interactions and manage leads from various channels. Evaluate if your current process allows for efficient relationship building, customer retention, and the ability to monitor brand mentions and customer sentiment in real time.
Step 3: Prioritize essential features
Refer to the core and advanced features outlined earlier: social media CRM integration, sentiment analysis, workflow automation, analytics, and collaboration tools. Separate “must-haves” from “nice-to-haves” based on your goals and budget. Prioritize tools that enable you to manage customer relationships across social media platforms, monitor customer interactions, and provide actionable insights that support targeted marketing campaigns.
Step 4: Consider scalability and usability
Choose a CRM for social media that can grow with your team. Look for intuitive interfaces, mobile support, and transparent onboarding resources—especially if your organization is distributed or expanding rapidly. Ensure the platform can scale to handle multiple social media platforms, monitor brand mentions at volume, and support sales and marketing teams as your customer base grows.
Step 5: Shortlist and compare platforms
Narrow your options to a few top social CRM tools. Take advantage of free trials, product demos, or peer reviews to assess how well each platform fits your requirements, and get feedback from key stakeholders. Test whether these platforms allow you to manage customer interactions efficiently, analyze social data for valuable insights, and automate workflows for better customer retention.
Step 6: Evaluate security and compliance
Ensure your chosen social CRM software meets your organization’s data privacy and security needs—particularly if you operate in regulated industries or regions. Secure handling of customer data and social media interactions is critical for maintaining trust and addressing customer concerns promptly.
Step 7: Plan your implementation and training
Design a stepwise rollout strategy and identify training resources that will help your team adopt the new CRM social media platform with ease. The best CRM for social media marketing becomes a powerful asset when everyone uses it effectively. Focus on training your sales and marketing teams to leverage the new system for relationship building, customer engagement, and the effective management of customer relationships.
As you work through these steps, Lark stands out for its intuitive user experience, robust social CRM integration, and flexible collaboration features—making deployment and adoption smooth whether you’re a startup or scaling enterprise.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need technical expertise to set up a social CRM?
Most leading social CRM software is designed for ease of use and can be set up with minimal IT involvement. Platforms like Lark also provide guided onboarding, making it easy for non-technical teams to get started quickly. This enables you to manage customer relationships and monitor customer interactions without dedicated technical staff.
How can social CRM help with regulatory compliance (like GDPR)?
A robust social CRM enables centralized management of customer data, streamlined record-keeping, and clear permission controls, all of which support compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. Proper data management ensures that customer concerns about privacy are addressed promptly and transparently.
Will a social CRM slow down my team’s daily workflow?
No, a good social media CRM tool streamlines workflows by automating repetitive tasks and centralizing conversations. Team members can respond, assign, and monitor interactions without switching between multiple apps. This efficiency helps sales and marketing teams manage customer relationships and address customer concerns promptly, even when dealing with large volumes of social media interactions.
Can I customize my social CRM to fit unique business processes?
Yes. The best CRM for social media marketing offers custom fields, workflows, and integration capabilities that let you tailor processes—Lark, for example, allows businesses to automate notifications and create custom dashboards. This flexibility helps teams manage customer interactions in ways that align with their own customer engagement and retention strategies.
Is my customer data safe in a social CRM?
Security is a top priority for reputable CRM social media platforms. Look for features like encrypted data storage, activity logs, role-based permissions, and regular security updates. This is particularly important when managing customer relationships and handling sensitive customer interactions across social media channels.
How often should I update or audit my social CRM workflows?
It's wise to review workflows and integrations at least quarterly to ensure your CRM social media management strategy adapts to new channels, business growth, and evolving customer behaviors. Regular audits allow you to spot gaps in relationship building, customer engagement, or compliance, and to optimize your use of social data for valuable insights.
Can social CRM help identify and track influencers or brand advocates?
Yes. Many social CRM tools, including advanced features in Lark, offer analytics and tracking to identify loyal customers, influencers, or high-value contacts engaging with your brand on social media. Monitoring brand mentions and analyzing social media interactions helps you build lasting customer relationships with advocates and influencers, supporting targeted marketing campaigns and customer retention.
Final thoughts on social CRM
Social customer relationship management has evolved from a trend into an operational necessity for businesses that want to lead in the digital age. With customers making their voices heard across countless platforms, it’s no longer enough to rely solely on traditional CRM strategies. Social media CRM enables organizations to manage customer relationships, monitor customer interactions, and address customer concerns promptly—meeting audiences where they are, responding dynamically, and fostering loyalty through meaningful, timely engagement.
The journey to adopting a social CRM solution should be rooted in your unique business needs, but the rewards—better customer relationships, more responsive engagement, and smarter operations—are universal. By bringing together communication, automation, and analytics within a secure, user-friendly environment, Lark empowers your team to deliver outstanding customer experiences at every stage of the journey, strengthen customer retention, and unlock valuable insights from every social interaction. Explore what Lark can do—your future customers are already reaching out, and every customer interaction is an opportunity for relationship building and business growth.
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