Social Customer Relationship Management as a Communication Tool for Academic Communities in Higher Education Institutions through Social Media

Abstract

The interaction between academic community members in universities is fundamental in facilitating the learning management process and workflow, thereby necessitating a communication tool system that is unrestricted by time and place. Social customer relationship management as a communication tool through social media is also essential. Therefore, this research employed a mixed-method exploratory design to evaluate 2421 subjects determined based on a proportional random sampling technique from the academic community of universities in four cities in Indonesia. The data collection method used an online interview questionnaire, and the coding techniques, namely open, axial, and selective coding, as well as the value stream analysis, were used. This research found that Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) can be a communication tool between the academic communities in higher education. This tool can be exploited by utilizing effective social media platforms, namely Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube, integrated and connected as a center for information retrieval.