My social web program is going to be great when it grows up. I'm going to have loyal customers out there singing my praises and giving me new ideas - for free! They are going to tell me when there is a problem so I can make things right. Every department is going to be talking to customers and using the feedback to increase sales and all those cavemen who said my social media program was just another bullshit fad will be working for me when my social web program grows up.
Now some hard parts.
You can't have a conversation without a voice. No one wants to talk to a PR machine anymore than they want to talk to a telemarketer, but are you going to talk to someone whose personality changes with each conversation? Think about the randomness of the call center experience - who is going to pick up the phone today? How are you going to integrate with the organization and maintain a cohesive persona?
You can't develop a voice without something to talk about, and your favorite subject better not be how great you are. What else (beside you) are your customers interested in? What do you know about the people that would never consider your brand, or the customers you lost? The data from last year's online survey is not going to help. Neither will asking your sales force or marketing department - they are in the business of messaging, not listening.
Every conversation with your customer is an opportunity to learn and what your social web strategy is going to need conversation topics. So instead of trying to learn what your customer thinks about about you, use the time to learn about your customer. You'll have no shortage of feedback once you have them engaged.
You don't have to look to far to see the development of a process here...
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