What, according to you, are the main transformational/organizational factors for Social CRM succes?

Small business is challenged with the time factor for managing social media. Most don't understand the value, as their time is focused on transactional activities. For small business, I expect the transformation to be fueled by outsourcing some of the social media functions. Transformation will also come through the addition of automated processes tied to traditional CRM programs that are designed for certain business sectors.

In the world of commerce, the velocity of business transactions, product life cycles and customer satisfaction are traveling at speeds unheard of just twenty years ago. This kind of speed increase makes any kind of misstep almost unforgivable and unrecoverable.

Therefore, garnering customer reaction and satisfaction in the form of feedback and future direction vital. In many cases, pilot programs for consumer products, once the de rigueur of the industry, are now luxuries that are not affordable or unsustainable. Instead a compression of the product life cycle has occurred where fine tuning or adjustment of a product is now done iteratively. This is also achieved with more "just-in-time" production where modifications to a product will not be sacrifice built-up inventory.

In summary the modern pace of business has been the primary engine for the success of social CRM.

Justin has a good point. I am in a LeTip group and we talk about social media a lot. One of our members even will provide the outsourcing.

My thought is that a well crafted outsourcing program will go a long way to developing a base, but if it is not personalized and managed it may eventually backfire. Outsourcing can put information online, but it can't be the expert.

I no longer use twitter as it has become spam, but facebook and several other sites have become integral, and profitable, parts of my business. But, they require time to manage.

The more I personalize content, and communicate, as opposed to dictate, the more effective it is. I need to portray myself as a knowing expert who has an open door.

It's a cultural change...requires evolving to a mindset that's less focused on controlling and centralizing the messaging and more on nurturing an open and decentralized marketing culture. Social CRM tools are maturing rapidly, but organizations and cultures required to support them aren't moving nearly as quickly.

Trust.

Before even talking about the tools, organizations need to decide on a strategy for embracing (not just "using") social media, and understanding the implications in a world undergoing a cultural change, in which no one entity may have direct control over this force. Nestle is being pounded for not handling a situation well. The fellow with the guitar who flew United is now part of our common culture. Some organizations that understand this new culture have been quick to defuse bad situations before they got out of hand.

But it all boils down to trust. Transparency. Organizations that have a culture of being tight lipped, hiding things, keeping them close to their chest, run the risk of being outed. No more telling customers one thing and doing something else.