EXPLORING THE EFFECT OF FACEBOOK AS A RELATIONSHIP MARKETING TOOL: THE CASE OF LITHUANIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY

Öz

In today’s competitive business environment greater numbers of companies are searching for sustainable competitive advantage by building long-term relationships with their customers. This study focuses on relationship marketing, marketing tool Facebook and its subsequent impact on the business performance. The existing literature highlights the importance of customer retention and the long-term relationships between the company and the customers. Social media and social networking sites with vast marketing capabilities are being quickly identified and adopted by successful companies. However, there is a lack of research in this area, especially identifying the implications Facebook can have on relationships between company and its customers. Consequently, this research aims to identify the uses of Facebook as a marketing tool in building and enhancing relationships with loyal customers. The primary objective of the study is to identify to what extent Facebook affects the relationships between loyal customers and company. In order to achieve research objective a highly structured questionnaire has been selected for the descriptive quantitative study. The study was conducted and primary data was collected in March – June 2011. While existing literature emphasises the importance of relationship marketing and the need to utilise new technological advantages for building and enhancing relationships with loyal customers, the primary research reveals controversial results. The overall trend is the customers have quite low level of loyalty to the telecommunications companies and they are not interested in committing to one service provider and creating long-lasting relationship. This study contributes to existing literature on relationship marketing and social networking sites and gives a broader outlook into these concepts by looking into Facebook as a relationship marketing tool. The findings of the study add more debate on Facebook as a relationship marketing tool and its effectiveness since the research partly denies the need of long-term relationships between companies and their customers.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Relationship Marketing
• Customer Loyalty
• Facebook

BİR İLİŞKİSEL PAZARLAMA ARACI OLARAK FACEBOOK’UN ETKİLERİ: LİTVANYA TELEKOMÜNİKASYON ENDÜSTRİSİ ÖRNEĞİ

Öz

Günümüzün rekabetçi iş ortamında çok sayıda şirket müşterileri ile uzun vadeli ilişkiler kurarak sürdürülebilir rekabet avantajı için uğraşmaktadır. Bu çalışma, ilişkisel pazarlama, pazarlama aracı olarak Facebook ve bunun işletme performansı üzerindeki etkisine odaklanmaktadır. Mevcut alanyazın müşteriyi elde tutmanın ve şirket ile müşteriler arasındaki uzun vadeli ilişkilerin önemini vurgulamaktadır. Sosyal medya ve geniş pazarlama kapasitelerine sahip sosyal ağlar hızlı bir şekilde tespit edilip başarılı şirketler tarafından benimsenmektedir. Ancak, Facebook’un şirket ve müşteriler arasındaki ilişkiler üzerindeki olabilir etkilerini belirlemek başta olmak üzere bu alanda araştırma eksikliği vardır. Dolayısıyla bu araştırma sadık müşteriler ile ilişkiler kurmak ve geliştirmek amacıyla bir pazarlama aracı olarak Facebook kullanımlarını tanımlamayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmanın temel amacı Facebook’un sadık müşteriler ile şirket arasındaki ilişkileri ne ölçüde etkilediğini belirlemektir. Araştırmanın amacına ulaşmak için tanımlayıcı nicel araştırmaya uygun olarak sağlam yapılandırılmış anket yapılmıştır. Çalışma Mart-Haziran 2011 tarihleri arasında yürütülmüş ve temel veriler toplanmıştır. Mevcut alanyazın ilişkisel pazarlamanın ve sadık müşterilerle ilişkileri geliştirmek için yeni teknolojik avantajlardan yararlanma ihtiyacının önemini vurgularken, temel araştırma çelişkili sonuçlar ortaya koymaktadır. Genel eğilim müşterilerin telekomünikasyon şirketlerine sadakatinin oldukça düşük seviyede olduğu ve bir servis sağlayıcı ile uzun ömürlü bir ilişki oluşturmak ve taahhüt altına girmekle ilgilenmedikleri yönündedir. Bu çalışma Facebook’u bir ilişki pazarlama aracı olarak inceleyerek ilişkisel pazarlama ve sosyal ağ siteleri kavramlarına dair daha genel bir görünüm sunmakta ve var olan alanyazına katkıda bulunmaktadır. Araştırma, şirketler ve müşteriler arasındaki uzun vadeli ilişkilerin ihtiyacını yadsımakta olduğundan çalışmanın bulguları Facebook’un bir ilişki pazarlama aracı olması ve etkililiği tartışmasını genişletmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İlişkisel Pazarlama
• Müşteri Sadakati
• Facebook

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