Social Media and the New Customer Relationship Mana Gement Model: a Case of Safaricom

Abstract

Previous research reveals an increase in the use of the social media in business, but not much has been done, from the customer’s perspective, on the success of the use of these social networks in customer relations. This research aimed at establishing whether the use of social media (Facebook and Twitter) by Safaricom has been effective in the management of its relationship with the customer when compared to the conventional means of managing customer relations. Success in the use of the socia l media customer relations was examined from a client perspective through their own attitud es and opinions related to the response time to their communications. The findings from the study will be useful in informing the organizations and others in the service industry on the impact of their use of the social customer relations strategy. The theoretical framew ork that was used in the research is the Uses and Gratifications Theory. The researcher used a mixed method research design collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected using questionnaires which were distributed to 200 partic ipants, purposively sampled from the population of Nairobi. Qualitative data were collec ted from a virtual ethnography where the researcher engaged in a study through the Internet to find out the response time and opinions of the users on the Internet. A sample of 20 users was selected from the Internet using purposive sampling, for the virtual ethnographic st udy. The data from the two methods was analyzed, using descriptive statistics for quantita tive data and content analysis of the qualitative data. Findings from the analysis led to the conclusion that the use of social media in customer relations was more effective as it has reduced response time, compared to use of conventional models such as telephone communication s, like the traditional 100 line. The researcher therefore, recommends that business orga nizations use the social media applications to communicate with their consumers bu t should seek to reduce the response time