Giffgaff avoided many common social media challenges by thinking strategically about social CRM from the company's beginnings. The mobile operator, a subsidiary of U.K.-based O2 that launched in September 2009, operates online only – customers buy its SIM cards online and can use them in any mobile phone. There are no brick-and-mortar stores and there are no call centers. Every customer interaction happens online.

Giffgaff hired Lithium Technologies to help develop its online customer community, with the goal of having it serve as a customer service resource, as well as a marketing research tool and a research and development area. The site receives 3 million page views per month; customers post questions, share new ideas, and search its knowledgebase, says Robbie Hearn, head of member experience. "It's our central hub."