This paper aims to examine the role of CSR in the impact of two marketing tools (social media and CRM) on two dimensions of strategic marketing (innovation orientation and marketing capabilities). Gathering data from a sample of managers and employees in service firms using a questionnaire, it was found that both marketing capabilities and innovation orientation are positively related to social media and CRM. However, CSR mediates only the impact of social media on marketing capabilities and the impact of CRM on marketing capabilities. There was no significant mediating role of CSR in the effect of CRM or social media on innovation orientation. Furthermore, the study revealed that CSR did not moderate the effect of social media and CRM on innovation orientation and marketing capabilities. Such results contribute to marketing literature through answering an important question: does CSR mediate or moderate the effect of social media and CRM on innovation orientation and marketing capabilities. Moreover, this study suggests that CSR is a crucial mechanism for developing marketing capabilities and at the same time CSR is not a pivotal prerequisite for the impact of marketing tools on strategic marketing to occur.