Say Welcome To The Social Media Revolution – The world is changing at a speed we could never have imagined before.Rather than fearing these changes, we should use them to stay closer to customers, connect with them, and engage with them in completely new ways.

The companies that will be successful in the future recognize the need to fundamentally change the way they engage with customers, and transform themselves into social enterprises and radically change the way they do business.

For example, Burberry puts social at the heart of its business and creates a digital end-to-end solution called Burberry World, which connects customers, suppliers and vendors to the brand.

As Burberry’s visionary CEO Angela Ahrendts said recently to me: “You really have to connect with anyone who touches your brand. If you don’t, I don’t know what your business model will be in five years.”

KLM, one of the largest airlines in the world, has also unleashed social power. Companies understand that relationships – not impressions – matter.

It engages customers on a social web where they can ask questions, check in for flights, and have conversations about travel.

In one innovative campaign, KLM surprised passengers who had checked in on Twitter at the airport with a small, personalized gift – something to enjoy on their way.

The effort resulted in a phenomenal good feeling that would translate into customer loyalty and there was a strong ripple effect: the KLM Twitter feed was viewed more than a million times during the campaign month.

Plug and play

Being a social company isn’t just about hiring a few people, giving them free control of your company’s Twitter feed, or allowing your employees to access Facebook.

To be transformative, social cannot be extra. Social strategies must be integrated into business processes throughout the organization.

Fresh graduates entering the workforce are often surprised by the technology their employers use to run the company.

They are frustrated by ancient software systems that were built long before Mark Zuckerberg was born.

They want to collaborate with the best people across their organizations and have real-time access to information, just like they have in their personal lives.

Social business applications allow users to follow the people, data and documents that are important to them at any time.

Updates are displayed in social feeds – the most important information knowledge funnels for that individual user. Online groups of specific employees help teams get organized, share information, and collaborate.

Work itself is inherently social, so why can’t our business apps be social, collaborative like Facebook, transparent like Twitter, and as compelling as Zynga’s social games?

Managing and motivating employees is perhaps the most important job for the management team. However, today’s HR systems are built with the command and control framework of the past. They do not represent how today’s workforce wants to be managed.

Social business applications change the way people relate to performance and goals, coaching and feedback loops in the workplace.

This allows for a true meritocracy, in which people are measured by results, not politics. As a result, employees will be more aligned, efficient and effective in meeting the company’s business goals.

In fact, according to McKinsey, companies that adopt social technology can experience a 50% increase in customer satisfaction, a 48% increase in business prospects, and a 24% increase in revenue.

With a result like this, the social revolution will be the biggest paradigm shift we have ever seen.

Companies that adopt this trend – companies that are turning themselves into social entrepreneurs – will connect with everything that matters and take us into the future.

Welcome to the social revolution.