Role of Relationship Management and Value Co-Creation in Social Marketing

This article addresses deep-seated problems in applying traditional relationship marketing and customer relationship management concepts in the context of social marketing and describes the role of social marketers and their customers as active relationship partners and their interactions as a locus of value co-creations.

Abstract

This article addresses deep-seated problems in applying traditional relationship marketing and customer relationship management concepts in the context of social marketing. Further, it points out the recent changes in interactive technologies, culture, lifestyle, and the marketing logic and discusses the “makeover” of the concept and practices of the customer relationship management. It describes how the revised logic of marketing is more accommodative of social marketing and how the new avatar of customer relationship management 2.0 is more relevant for social marketers. It explains how the concepts and practices of customer relationship management 2.0, which are rooted in service logic, can be applied in the context of social marketing to co-create value. It explores the role of social marketers and their customers as active relationship partners and describes their interactions as a locus of value co-creations. Through these interactions, customers engage with social marketers to co-create different aspects of the market offerings, and social marketers engage in customers' value-generating processes to co-create better value-in-use. The key building blocks described in the article enable the value co-creations. The article concludes with implications in terms of how social marketers can use these insights to make the world a better place.