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Treat your customers as equals! Fostering customer collaboration through social media

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  • Hanna-Kaisa Ellonen
  • Miia Kosonen

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore, firstly, how companies and customers interact using social media, and secondly, how social-media-mediated interactions support customer collaboration. We identify two modes of interaction: the relationship-oriented mode and the instrumental mode. The former reflects relationship marketing in that it emphasises reciprocal and bilateral communication, while the latter reflects transaction marketing with its one-way and company-controlled communication. On the basis of the analysis of four cases, it is suggested that relationship-oriented social-media interactions support customer collaboration. In particular, it seems that ongoing customer-to-customer interactions supported by relationship-oriented company participation provide a fertile ground for diverse forms of virtual customer collaboration. We also found that the social-media applications used did not define the interaction mode. The responsibility for defining the objectives, choosing the applications and setting the mode lies within the hosting company.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanna-Kaisa Ellonen & Miia Kosonen, 2010. "Treat your customers as equals! Fostering customer collaboration through social media," International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(3), pages 221-240.
  • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijemre:v:3:y:2010:i:3:p:221-240
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    Cited by:

    1. Sajad Rezaei & Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail, 2014. "Examining online channel selection behaviour among social media shoppers: a PLS analysis," International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(1), pages 28-51.

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