Strategic Social Media Engagement

Interactions between organizations and the community are different in social media. Firms no longer control their message and its permeation. Social media participants, including current and potential customers and collaborators, create and distribute content and manage its dispersion. Some proactive organizations have pioneered effective social media engagement strategy to engage stakeholders and manage their brand. Early adopter organizations in social media can benefit from these strategies of social media engagement. Successful strategies for social media engagement create rich opportunities for collaborative value creation and demand generation. In this paper, we address the research question: “How can organizations strategically engage in social media to manage their brand and collaboratively generate insight with current and potential customers?” This paper presents a theory-guided interpretive case study to identify potential answers and provide directions for researchers and practitioners

Exploring Strategic Organizational Engagement in Social Media: A Revelatory Case

There has been little theorizing in information systems (IS) or management literature to inform organizational strategies for social media engagement. Aral et al. (2013) lament the dearth of scholarly work focused on understanding organizations’ high-level social media strategies. In this research, we describe our case research to develop an empirically informed understanding of strategic organizational engagement in social media to advance organizational goals. We present an in-depth case study of strategic social media engagement at a successful multi-national business and IT consulting firm who routinely develops and deploys social media strategies to advance organizational goals. We situate our interpretation in the dynamic capabilities perspective, and present a revelatory case well-suited to developing an empirically-informed understanding of strategic social media engagement to advance organizational goals. We develop an analytic perspective of social media based as social systems, and describe topical collectivities as strategically important members of their ontology

Los Medios Sociales como una herramienta estratégica para la Comunicación Corporativa

Companies around the globe are embracing and adapting social media for many different intentions: customer service, marketing, internal communications, public relations or corporate social responsibility, etc. It is now a reality that social media is channging the way stakeholders and companies communicate daily, providing opportunities for collaboration, participation, interactivity, and engagement. Therefore, social media is conceived today in the corporate world as a strategic communication partner, driving new and unique possibilities for organizations to engage stakeholders in conversations. We are witnesses of a new digital era where consumers are becoming active users rather than passive individuals, changing dramatically how society operates. But these useful technological tools are employed widely and precisely by corporations in order to facilitate and improve communications? This research aims to discover the usage of different social media platforms by Puerto Rican companies. A content analysis was performed to the Facebook and Twitter official profiles of the top 400 locally owned Puerto Rican companies of 2009. The principal objective was to find if social media sites were mainly used as a strategic tool for corporate communication that can enhance stakeholder participation and engagement. Results showed that Puerto Rican companies are not employing social media platforms for improving communications with different stakeholders, failing to take advantage of the enormous possibilities that social media has for communication.Instituto de Investigación en Relaciones Pública

Open Engagement Through Open Media

This case study outlines and characterises the broad range of public engagement activities using media technologies undertaken by The Open University and in particular draws out how both open access and open licensing of content is influencing the ways in which a university can engage with various publics from around the world. It also discusses how different channels and social media technologies are shaping the way that such engagement happens and how it is necessary to think about ‘learner journeys’ through different media and different types of educational content. This is all placed in the strategic view of how open media is supporting the enduring social justice mission of The Open University

The Role of Public Relations in Social Capital and Civic Engagement

Public relations scholars have increasingly argued for the broader role of public relations and strategic communication in society (e.g., Taylor, 2010). That is, how can knowledge of public relations be used to make society better rather than simply making organizations more effective? This study examines how different types of public relations and strategic communication efforts contribute to citizens’ social capital and civic engagement. Specifically, this study uses data from the 2010 Pew Internet and American Life Project ‘Social Side of the Internet’ survey to examine the relationship between various strategic communication efforts by social, civic, professional, and religious organizations and individuals’ social capital and civic engagement. Overall, the analyses suggest that organizations’ face-to-face meetings with their members foster interpersonal trust and both social-oriented and private-oriented civic engagement, and that organizations’ strategic communication via social media boosts both social-oriented and private-oriented civic engagement, whereas strategic communication via email, blogs and websites decreases social-oriented civic engagement. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for the larger role of public relations and strategic communication in social capital and civic engagement are discussed

Inside sales social media use and its strategic implications for salesperson-customer digital engagement and performance

Highlights Inside salespeople rely on four main strategies when it comes to using social media in their roles to engage with customers. Inside sales strategic social media use leads to higher levels of customer digital engagement and, ultimately, performance. Firm digital technology resources may shape the effects of inside sales strategic social media use. Abstract The nature of inside sales has shifted, increasing in autonomy, importance, and scope. Moreover, buyers are changing their preferences from face-to-face interactions to virtual-based relationships, leading to a future full of opportunities for inside salespeople using social media. The practitioner literature suggests that inside sales represent the sales business model of the digital era and a distinct strategic selling approach. While there has been a recent surge in theoretical research on inside sales, extant research fails to explore how and why inside salespeople uses social media as a critical tool. Research on social media use in sales has neglected to consider the growing role of inside sales, where sellers lack the opportunity to meet with customers face-to-face and must routinely rely on remote communication to interact with customers. As such, we use a grounded theory approach to investigate the “lived experiences” of inside salespeople at the intersection with social media in sales. Emergent from our findings is a framework depicting: inside sales strategic social media use → inside salesperson-customer digital engagement → inside sales performance. We also find that firm digital technology resources serve as enablement factors that shape the effects of the social media strategies that inside salespeople use

The Role of Public Relations in Social Capital

Public relations research has traditionally focused on how public relations efforts make organizations more effective. Recently, scholars have argued for the broader role of public relations in society. That is, how can public relations be used to improve society rather than simply making organizations more effective? Existing studies have emphasized the relationship between internal public relations and organizational social capital. Lack of scholarly attention has been paid to how public relations efforts affect citizens’ social capital in general. To fill the gap in this area, this study examines how different types of public relations efforts contribute to citizens’ social capital. Specifically, this study uses data from the 2010 Pew Internet and American Life Project ‘Social Side of the Internet’ survey to examine the influence of public relations efforts by various organizations in individuals’ social capital. Overall, the analyses suggest that organizations’ face-to-face meetings with their members enhance interpersonal trust and civic engagement, and that organizations’ strategic use of social media boosts civic engagement, whereas strategic communication via email, blogs, and websites decreases civic engagement. This study provides empirical evidence and practical implications for the important role of strategic social media use and interpersonal communication in enhancing social capital

UNDERSTANDING CONSUMERS’ ENGAGEMENT AND ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN FASHION INDUSTRY IN SAUDI ARABIA: INSIGHTS THROUGH THE LENS OF THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR

This study explores the adoption of social media marketing activities by the fashion industry, examining context through The Theory of Planned Behavior. As social media continues to dominate as a pivotal marketing arena, understanding consumers’ engagement across various platforms becomes imperative for marketers and researchers alike. This research aimed to ascertain if the Theory of Planned Behavior could effectively elucidate as well as predict consumers’ engagement with social media marketing activities beyond a single platform. Conducting a non-probability convenience sampling method, the study involved 656 participants above 18 years old residing in Saudi Arabia. An online survey gathered data, subsequently analyzed through regression analyses. Results revealed that attitude emerged as the most influential factor in predicting behavioral intent to be involved with social media marketing activities, tracked closely by subjective norms. Intriguingly, perceived behavioral control did not significantly predict this behavioral intent. Furthermore, the intention to engage demonstrated a strong association with actual engagement. The implications suggest a strategic focus for social media marketers: influencing attitudes and subjective norms to heighten engagement across diverse social media platforms. Additionally, the study indicates a shift towards the Theory of Reasoned Action as a more appropriate predictive model for engagement, excluding perceived behavioral control. These insights offer valuable guidance for businesses seeking to optimize their social media, and marketing strategies across various platforms within the Fashioned industry.  Article visualizations