Relationship Marketing in the online social network context : a study on student attitudes

Abstract: Relationship marketing represents a trend in marketing to focus on mutual value creation and consumer retention by strengthening the connection between an organization and its customers. With the growing popularity of online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter as communication platforms, the networks have gained attention as tools that organizations can use to address current and potential consumers. To utilitize these networks, it is crucial for organizations to understand how consumers use the net-works, what attracts them towards communicating with organiza-tions on online social networks and what drives them to maintain these relationships in the long run. This study examines the willingness of students, the dominant user base of online social networks, towards the  initiation of relation-ships with organizations on the networks Facebook and Twitter, and the drivers behind the relationship. The  study was performed through a mixed method approach consisting of a quantitative survey study and a qualitative focus group discussion conducted at Jönköping University. The survey addressed the topics of usage patterns and adopter motivations, while the focus group attempted to explain and motivate the data gathered during the survey study. Both studies targeted Swedish and international students. The students tended to be long-term users of the networks, and were positive towards communicating with organizations through the networks. However, the majority of respondents had not adopted relationship marketing through online social networks at this point in time. The respondents favored access to information and communication channels with peers as value offerings that would attract them to form relationships with organizations. Ulti-mately, relationship marketing on online social networks is com-pletely dependent on the consumer’s consent and wishes, and marketers must focus entirely on satisfying the concerns and re-quirements of its targeted users.