The use of social customer relationship management by building contractors: evidence from Tasmania

Despite its ever-increasing popularity with consumers and businesses, many organizations are still unsure how to effectively use social media in a marketing context. One way in which building firms can use social media is as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to improve customer engagement and satisfaction (known as social CRM). In order to explore how social CRM (SCRM) can be used, and is being used by building firms, semi-structured interviews with accredited building practitioners were utilized to collect data on SCRM use in the sector. The data were analysed to determine the factors that influence social media use, the extent of SCRM use, and the ways in which building contractors are using SCRM. It was found that builders are using social media to manage client relationships, but to a limited extent due to the complex nature of the builder–client relationship and a lack of perceived trustworthiness. Building firms favoured a transactional approach to social media use, and preferred not to use formal social media strategies. Builders are also reluctant to use social media to assist them in segmenting customers by their value to the firm. For effective social media use, builders may consider two main issues: SCRM strategy and customer-value segmentation to develop profitable customer relationships.