Co-creating Value from Social Media: A Framework

Abstract

Co-created value occurs when both the customer and provider benefit simultaneously from an interaction. To deliver on these opportunities, marketing has become a means by which organizations across the product-service spectrum directly interact with customers outside of traditional value-creating activities. Via social media, organizations influence customers while supporting value co-creation for the brand and users simultaneously. While this offers a wide range of opportunities to interact with customers, continued saturation of social networks has magnified the importance of engaging in organic dialogue. To that end, the aim of this article is to establish a framework usable across industries, platforms and content types. The social media value creation framework includes six vertical categories, including respond, transact, educate, awareness, stimulate and entertain. Definitions and examples of each vertical, along with theoretical and practical applications, are included.