A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

Purpose

To explore the range of social media sites and tools, to categorise them and assess 

their business applications.

Activity

Visit the Conversation Prism (www.conversationprism.com) or the Smart Insights 

Digital Marketing Radar (http://bit.ly/smartradar) and identify the types of social media 

sites you and your colleagues use. How do you think the popularity of tools would dif‑

fer for different types of B2B and B2C sites? Discuss how businesses should decide 

on the most important to invest in to achieve their goals.

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Chapter 9  Customer relationship management

The rise of virtual communities in online networks has set in motion an unprecedented 

shift from vendors of goods and services to the customers who buy them. Vendors who 

understand this transfer of power and choose to capitalize on it by organizing virtual com-

munities will be richly rewarded with both peerless customer loyalty and impressive eco-

nomic returns.

Depending on market sector, an organisation has a choice of developing different types 

of community for B2C, and communities of purpose, position, interest and profession 

for B2B.