Lately, we’ve really homed in on the booming social CRM trend, which is further underscored by Get Satisfaction‘s recent integration with Facebook. The “instant-on support community for sharing answers, ideas and solutions” just announced that it is bringing its popular social CRM tool to Facebook with the Social Engagement Hub, a new app that enables brands to integrate the entire customer support experience into their Facebook fan pages.

According to Mashable, the app will exist as its own Facebook page tab that includes Ask a Question, Share an Idea, Report a Problem and Give Praise functionalities, which can be leveraged by brand representatives to address consumers’ needs directly on the platform. Plus, Get Satisfaction offers brands the ability to customize the app to meet their individual needs.

From a data and CRM standpoint, the marriage of Facebook and Get Satisfaction’s Social Engagement Hub sounds like a match made in customer service heaven, reminiscent of another “ah ha!” moment in social media history: the realization that Twitter was the new customer call center.

However, from a reputation management standpoint, it’s arguable whether companies should air their potentially dirty laundry in a highly social, highly searchable public forum (after all, customer service is often a mechanism for identifying and mitigating potential crises). Social media best practices tell us that every tool/platform serves a specific purpose for individual brands and their target stakeholders, and the best strategy is an integrated approach that effectively leverages each technology’s unique advantages. If your Facebook page serves to engage consumers through an interactive experience, do you really want to throw customer service into the mix? Do the CRM benefits outweigh the potential risk of a full-blown customer service crisis unfolding directly on your brand’s fan page?

What do you think?