Companies' use of social media to find new customers in international markets: A research in Denizli

Customer relationship management is an approach that is based on the necessity of establishing sincere and close ties with customers in order to achieve competitive advantage, and for this reason, it stands out as an approach that is included in the marketing methods of brands. Brands provide customer relationship practices in a way to meet the emotional and rational needs and expectations of their customers, to create customer satisfaction, to protect existing customers and to acquire new customers. Thanks to the new communication spaces of our time, and in particular the existing qualities of social media, it is possible to communicate with customers instantly and quickly, and this communication is based on personalization and dialogue. In this context, this study focuses on customer relationship management. In the literature section of the study, customer relationship management and new customer finding strategies of the companies are discussed. This study was designed on the basis of qualitative research method and the data were obtained by interview method from qualitative study methods. The population of the study is Denizli. Since the researcher is located in Denizli province, there are many exporting companies in Denizli province, and the easily accessible or convenient sampling method is used as the sample selection method in the research, the sample of the research covers Denizli. In addition, Denizli is an important industrial region in Turkey in terms of economic development and production. For this reason, in the study, the companies engaged in export activities in Denizli province were included in the study. In the findings of the study, it was determined that the participants mostly used social media platforms to find new customers, that companies mostly took their own research into account when determining potential customer markets, that social media facilitates access to customers and is an important power that is widely preferred today, and that new methods are preferred more than traditional methods in terms of reaching customers.