Integrating social media into Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the next challenge for companies looking to get closer to their customers. The importance of social media has grown significantly over the past decade. As of March 2013, Facebook had 1.11 billion users [1], followed by Twitter with over 554.75 million users, as of June 2013 [2]. This explosion of social media use has led to a shift in the traditional relationship between business and customers as control of this relationship has shifted to the customer, who has the power to influence others in their social network. As most customers communicate on social media, it has become imperative for businesses to keep up with this trend and follow their customers to new channels. On social media, bad news spreads very quickly. What started with an innocent complaint about the company's product or service can escalate into wild arguments overnight. For example, although HSBC was criticized on several Facebook groups for introducing new banking fees for students, HSBC did not respond until it appeared in the national media [3]. This poses a huge threat to the company's PR, so if an organization does not monitor the flow of information on Facebook, Twitter and other virtual communities, it can easily find itself in trouble without even knowing it. We also discuss how companies can incorporate social channels into specific CRM processes: information gathering, customer targeting, customer engagement, and customer services. Gathering Customer InformationCompanies seek to understand their customers, get to know them better. Therefore, they collect as much information as possible about customers to approach them with suitable incentives. ...... half of the document ...... Accessed 12 December 2013].[15] Lithium.com. Customer Service Response on Social Media - Lithium. [Online] Available from: http://www.lithium.com/products/socialweb/respond [Accessed 12 December 2013].[16] Newretailblog.com. Social Media Case Study: Best Buy's Twelpforce | New blog about retail. [Online] Available from: http://www.newretailblog.com/social-media-case-study-best-buys-twelpforce/ [Accessed December 12, 2013].[17] Acker O, Grone F, Yazbek R, Akkad F. Social CRM How companies can connect to the consumer social web. [PDF] alcohol&co.; 2010. Available from: http://www.booz.com/media/uploads/BoozCo-Social-CRM.pdf.[18] Bizjournals.com. Best Buy eliminates Twelpforce, moves Twitter support to Geek Squad - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. [Online] Available from: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2013/05/07/best-buy-scraps-its-twelpforce.html [Accessed 12 December 2013].