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Socialnomics- A study of eCRM in social media and how corporations can benefit from online interactions

Lindman, Caroline ; Sultan, Sanna and Henriksson, Karin (2010)
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
Thesis Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of social media as a tool for eCRM. Methodology: This thesis has an explorative research approach as it aims to explore social media as a tool for eCRM. It has further an iterative approach and is based upon qualitative data combined with observational data. Theoretical Perspective: This study builds on the existing literature and theories within customer relationship marketing (CRM). The subfield to CRM, called eCRM, is further studied as well as the phenomenon of social media in a business context. Empirical Data: The study builds upon empirical studies of three corporations using social media on a daily basis. The empirical material was collected through face-to-face... (More)
Thesis Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of social media as a tool for eCRM. Methodology: This thesis has an explorative research approach as it aims to explore social media as a tool for eCRM. It has further an iterative approach and is based upon qualitative data combined with observational data. Theoretical Perspective: This study builds on the existing literature and theories within customer relationship marketing (CRM). The subfield to CRM, called eCRM, is further studied as well as the phenomenon of social media in a business context. Empirical Data: The study builds upon empirical studies of three corporations using social media on a daily basis. The empirical material was collected through face-to-face interviews in order to gain knowledge and understanding of how corporations use social medias. In addition, observations were conducted in order to gain a deeper understanding of how different social media was used by the corporations, and also to see how customers reacted to their initiatives. Further, interviews have been conducted with two consultant agencies within marketing and communication that consult corporations in their usage of social media. These respondents were chosen in order to gain expertise knowledge within the field of social media. Conclusion: Social media is a new way to interact, it involves rapid interactions that are spread fast and can be visible to anyone using the Internet. It comes along with many challenges as well as great opportunities. It is vital that managers can direct the employees to use social media in a correct way in accordance with the brand values to avoid contradicting messages. It needs to be used by employees with social competence, as it involves interacting with customers. Corporations need to be involved in social media to be able to influence what people write about the corporation. It is a valuable channel in order to gain customer knowledge and customers' opinions about the corporation and their offerings. It is also a way to acknowledge complaints and thus be able to handle them. An adequate complaint handling can in turn enhance customer relationships. As social media is a relatively new and constantly evolving phenomenon, it requires curiosity and courage. Further, it can be used to create emotional bonds with customers by providing a personalization of the corporation in form of letting employees write for the corporation in their private names and pictures. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lindman, Caroline ; Sultan, Sanna and Henriksson, Karin
supervisor
organization
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
social media, CRM, Customer Relationship Management, eCRM, electronic Customer Relationship Management, customer loyalty, Management of enterprises, Företagsledning, management
language
Swedish
id
1626991
date added to LUP
2010-06-02 00:00:00
date last changed
2012-04-02 18:03:59
@misc{1626991,
  abstract     = {{Thesis Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of social media as a tool for eCRM. Methodology: This thesis has an explorative research approach as it aims to explore social media as a tool for eCRM. It has further an iterative approach and is based upon qualitative data combined with observational data. Theoretical Perspective: This study builds on the existing literature and theories within customer relationship marketing (CRM). The subfield to CRM, called eCRM, is further studied as well as the phenomenon of social media in a business context. Empirical Data: The study builds upon empirical studies of three corporations using social media on a daily basis. The empirical material was collected through face-to-face interviews in order to gain knowledge and understanding of how corporations use social medias. In addition, observations were conducted in order to gain a deeper understanding of how different social media was used by the corporations, and also to see how customers reacted to their initiatives. Further, interviews have been conducted with two consultant agencies within marketing and communication that consult corporations in their usage of social media. These respondents were chosen in order to gain expertise knowledge within the field of social media. Conclusion: Social media is a new way to interact, it involves rapid interactions that are spread fast and can be visible to anyone using the Internet. It comes along with many challenges as well as great opportunities. It is vital that managers can direct the employees to use social media in a correct way in accordance with the brand values to avoid contradicting messages. It needs to be used by employees with social competence, as it involves interacting with customers. Corporations need to be involved in social media to be able to influence what people write about the corporation. It is a valuable channel in order to gain customer knowledge and customers' opinions about the corporation and their offerings. It is also a way to acknowledge complaints and thus be able to handle them. An adequate complaint handling can in turn enhance customer relationships. As social media is a relatively new and constantly evolving phenomenon, it requires curiosity and courage. Further, it can be used to create emotional bonds with customers by providing a personalization of the corporation in form of letting employees write for the corporation in their private names and pictures.}},
  author       = {{Lindman, Caroline and Sultan, Sanna and Henriksson, Karin}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Socialnomics- A study of eCRM in social media and how corporations can benefit from online interactions}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}