Globalisation has created a system of interconnected businesses across national boundaries as world economies continue to integrate. As competition increases and firms seek distinct ways to acquire larger market shares, customer knowledge management becomes key.
Managing and nurturing customer knowledge helps organisations to leverage on knowledge resources for competitive advantage. Often, customers find it difficult to properly articulate their demands and therefore firms can go the extra mile by interacting with customers to obtain knowledge of their demands.
Additionally, organisations can use Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) Systems to obtain customer knowledge which can help them identify changes in taste and preferences of customers. Customer knowledge management can help organisations take the right decision at the right time.
Furthermore, it can help companies improve their service quality. Organisations should therefore employ tools and technologies that can help them dialogue with their customers to obtain their opinions and make these available to every member of the organisation.
Some managers are of the opinion that using information technology to create and build customer relationships will enable marketers monitor the changing needs of customers. Social media could for example help organisations collect and share customer knowledge within and without organisations. Social media are perceived by many as a source of community-oriented and socially acceptable means of gathering and distributing feedback concerning new products, services and business models.
The use of social media to manage customer knowledge has become more expedient because conventional methods such as statistical surveys can sometimes not be a reliable source of customer information for new product development.
Again, traditional methods for gathering customer knowledge are sometimes neither effective nor efficient in uncovering latent needs of customers. Developing, building and managing customer relationships with social media is preferable due to the interactive nature of such platforms.
In this article, we introduce a framework for customer knowledge management on a social media platform. This framework seeks to explain how companies can employ social media to manage customer knowledge. It is now expedient to discuss what Customer Knowledge and Social Media entail.
Customer knowledge management
Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) is simply defined as the application of tools and technologies to control the gathering, sharing and application of knowledge from, for and about customers. The thrust of CKM is to capture, organise, share, transfer and control knowledge related to customers for organisational benefits. Knowledge from customers is knowledge customers have about an organisation, its products and services, suppliers and markets which can be obtained from customers through constant interactions with them. Knowledge from customers is essential for new product development and improved services. Such knowledge can increase the intellectual capital of the business.
Knowledge about customers is knowledge gathered to understand customer behaviour, as in, for example, the buying patterns of customers. It helps organisations to provide tailored products and services to customers. This can be obtained through customer profiling, customer histories, connections, requirements and buying trends. It involves an examination of customers’ perceptions of products and services in order to identify their preferences and concerns. Such knowledge improves service, enhances marketing efforts and focuses product development.
Knowledge for customers is knowledge that organisations share with customers concerning their products and services, prices, suppliers, distribution channels and developments within the organisation that might be of interest to customers. It is critical for firms to choose an effective channel to disseminate such information.
Social media
Social media may be defined as a group of online applications that enable users to interact on a virtual platform, acquire information and share information online. It is described as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content.
Launched in the early 2000s in the form of innovative online applications that facilitate online content sharing, Web 2.0 rapidly evolved into a phenomenon elevating online communications to a new level inspired by the power of social media to engage users in virtual relationships. Organisations began seeking ways to immerse into “people’s internet” and learn to leverage the “likes”, “shares” and “comments” for profit making
Social media-supported CKM framework
A successful social media strategy must begin with an understanding of consumer conversations and characteristics. Consumers are more likely to respond to a social media strategy when they are able to interact with and help others. The ability to foster a social relationship between consumers and companies is the most important component of a social media strategy. Firms must first listen to what existing online communities are saying about their products and services before a social media strategy can be developed. A social media strategy must therefore allow for users to share and contribute to content. Smarter organisations have now capitalised on social media tools to encourage knowledge access, sharing and transfer within the organisation. Social media may be classified into six groups, namely; wikis such as Wikipedia; social networks such as Facebook and blogs; content communities such as Flickr and YouTube; Podcasts such as ITunes, Forums, and micro blogging such as Twitter. For the purposes of this article a searchlight would be put on Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook boasts more than 400 million active users and is therefore the most popular social networking site. It has gained popularity especially among the youth. Not only does Facebook offer various advertising programmes, but it also enables companies create their own customised profiles and share important information through the creation of their own brand community. Studies have shown that Facebook is a potent tool for managing knowledge from and knowledge for customers.
Twitter is referred to as a “micro blogging” tool, as posts are limited to 140 characters. Twitter is beneficial for engaging with customers and propagating conversation about a company’s brands, products, and/or services.
It is also ideal for building relationships with key stakeholders. Micro blogging helps firms to communicate with their customers through micro posts and makes it possible for organisations to disseminate knowledge for customers about their products and markets. For instance, Starbucks uses Twitter to manage knowledge for customers, and promote their latest products, campaigns and events.
Table 1 depicts a Social Media Supported CKM framework.
Table 1: Social Media Supported CKM framework
Recommendations
In conclusion, we recommend that organisations develop and implement social media strategies to capture, share and apply customer knowledge as a source of competitive advantage. Also, organisations should appoint employees who will monitor and respond to customers’ comments and access knowledge from customers concerning their tastes and preferences. This can be done through instant chats with posting on customers’ walls, commenting on customers’ posts, tweeting and re-tweeting on customers’ pages.
• Henry Boateng was an assistant in the Department of Marketing and Customer Management (UGBS) at the time of writing this article. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Technology, Sydney; Australia.
• Robert E. Hinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and Customer Management at the University of Ghana Business School and writes for the Centre for Sustainability and Enterprise Development (CSED) at the same School.
• CSED is a training, research and advocacy centre specialising in marketing; communications, sustainability and social responsibility. Robert holds doctorate degrees in Marketing and International Business Economics and can be reached at