PEOPLE’S PERCEPTION ON THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MANAGING BRAND REPUTATION IN CRISIS
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 INTRODUCTION
Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.
2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media are computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Users typically access social media services via web-based technologies on desktop computers and laptops, or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablet computers). When engaging with these services, users can create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content or pre-made content posted online. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between businesses, organizations, communities and individuals. Social media changes the way individuals and large organizations communicate (Curran, O'Hara, & O'Brien, 2015). These changes are the focus of the emerging field of technological studies. Social media differs from paper-based media (e.g., magazines and newspapers) or traditional electronic media such as TV broadcasting in many ways, including quality, reach, frequency, interactivity, usability, immediacy, and permanence. Social media operate in a dia-logic transmission system (many sources to many receivers). This is in contrast to traditional media which operates under a mono-logic transmission model (one source to many receivers), such as a paper newspaper which is delivered to many subscribers or a radio station which broadcasts the same programs to an entire city. Some of the most popular social media websites are Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, Tumblr, Viber, VK, WeChat, Weibo, WhatsApp, Wikia, and YouTube.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
As a result, social networking sites are web-based services that enable individuals to create a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections as well as those made by others within the system (Boyd and Ellison, 2007).
Social networking sites are created to take care of a variety of human needs and could be classified using that format. For instance, Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007) classified SNSs into: work-related contexts (LinkedIn.com), romantic relationship initiation (Friendster.com), connecting those with shared interests such as music or politics (MySpace.com), or the college student population (Facebook). It should, however, be noted that the examples mentioned above were based on the original intentions of the founders of the SNSs, though these intentions have been taken to another level by users. This is why the latter classification of SNSs takes a somewhat different approach and puts different factors into consideration.
The uniqueness of social networking sites is that they not only allow individuals to meet strangers, but also enable users to discuss and make visible their social networks. This results in connections between individuals which are otherwise not possible through any other medium already existing. The majority of time spent on social networking sites is spent communicating with people who are already friends or acquaintances on the social network and share the same mindset, interests, and views (Raj Jain, Gupta, & Anand, 2012).
While SNSs have implemented a wide variety of technical features, their backbone consists of visible profiles that display an articulated list of friends who are also users of the system. Profiles are unique pages where one can type oneself into being. After joining an SNS, an individual is asked to fill out forms containing a series of questions. The profile is generated using the answers to these questions, which typically include descriptors such as age, location, interests, etc. Most sites also encourage users to upload a profile photo. Some sites allow users to enhance their profiles by adding multimedia content or modifying their profile's look and feel. Others, such as Facebook, allow users to add modules that enhance their profile. Structural variations around visibility and access are one of the primary ways that SNSs differentiate themselves from each other.
The public display of connections is a crucial component of SNSs. The friends list contains links to each friend's profile, enabling viewers to traverse the network graph by clicking through them. On most sites, the list of friends is visible to anyone who is permitted to view the profile, although there are exceptions. Most SNSs also provide a mechanism for users to leave messages on their friends' profiles. This feature typically involves leaving comments, although sites employ various labels for this feature. In addition, SNSs often have a private messaging feature similar to webmail. While both private messages and comments are popular on most of the major SNSs, they are not universally available.
Marketing communication
Marketing communication provides the means by which brands and organizations are presented to their audience. Its aim is to influence the target market so that customers feel enthusiastic about what the organizations offer, without which potential buyers may never hear about the products and services, and may result in missed sales opportunities and profits. Therefore, organizations use variety of marketing communications to promote the company, their products and their services. Among these marketing communications are branding, Advertising, Public Relations and Social Media.
Social Media Marketing
"Social media are web-based services that allow individuals, communities, and organizations to collaborate, connect, interact, and build communities by enabling them to create, co-create, modify, share and engage with user-generated content that is easily accessible" as explained by Sloan & Quan-Haase (2017, p. 17). In addition, this content can be distributed through many social platforms in several kinds of forms including blogs, discussion forums, images, films, etc. Social Media networks have become the most influential phenomenon in communication in recent decades (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). In them, the interaction between a community is allowed and facilitated, which helps build trust and a “common feeling” among their members (Leimeister, Sidiras, & Krcmar, 2006). It offers people new ways to build and maintain social networks, create relationships, share information, create and edit content, or even participate in social movements; all through a virtual platform (Lorenzo-Romero, Constantinides, & Alarcóndel-Amo, 2011). This interaction between its members can include text, images, audio, videos or any other type of communication format (Ryan & Jones, 2009, p. 152). According to Fuchs (2008, p. 239-240), some of the most important characteristics of “virtual communities” in social media are their continuous voluntary interaction between its members, their shared interests and topics, the existence of formal and informal conventions, and the global dimension and speed with which relationships develop. Currently, social media platforms are considered of great importance, both for individuals and for companies; since they help maintain existing social ties and encourage the development of new connections between users (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). These platforms have become an interactive medium that allows the development of direct and personalized communication between the company and clients as well; without geographical or temporary limitations. In addition, social media networks make possible different types of interactions with customers; such as advertising and information, presales, order configuration, purchases, after-sales services, etc (Kim, & Ko, 2012). As the direction of communication between the company and customers is bidirectional, businesses can take advantage of these social media marketing tools to build relationships with their clients in a more direct, effective, and controllable way (Sashi, 2012).
Social Media and Advertising
The advertising landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and nowhere is this more visible than online. The advertising medium is experiencing perhaps, the most dynamic revolution and technological developments made possible by the growth of communication through interactive media. The advertising industry has long sought to go where consumers go. Indeed, the industry has followed consumers online, even developing new forms of advertising to relate to consumers in their virtual world. In fact, the very philosophy of advertising has changed, not wholly but in large part, as a result of the opportunities created online (Tuten 2008:1). Consequently, Social media advertising is a recent addition to organisations’ integrated marketing communications plans. Integrated marketing communications coordinates the elements of the promotional mix; advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion. In the traditional marketing communications model, the content, frequency, timing, and medium of communications by an organisation is in collaboration with an external agent, i.e. advertising agencies, marketing research firms, and public relations firms. However, the growth of social media has impacted the way organisations communicate. With the emergence of Web 2.0, the Internet provides a set of tools that allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online (Corruthers 2010: Para 1). He notes further that social media marketing programmes usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it is coming from a trusted source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. Social media have become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with Internet access, opening doors for organisations to increase their brand awareness and facilitate conversations with the customer. Additionally, social media serve as a relatively inexpensive platform for organisations to implement marketing campaigns. The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) defines advertising as a form of communication through media about products, services or ideas paid for by an identified sponsor (Okoro, 1998:12). However, advertising, when conceived for an online environment and given contextual differences in its capabilities, functions, and the medium’s nuances, requires a new paradigm. The current definition of advertising states that advertising must be paid communications. Certainly, that is the model by which advertising has operated since its conception. But now some of the most valuable advertising may be unpaid, or indirectly paid as in the case of CGM (consumer-generated media), some aspects of social media advertising, and the viral spread of brand messages (Tuten, 2008:2). He notes further that advertising has traditionally been viewed as one-way communication, delivered from the advertiser through some media vehicle to a receiver, the target audience. Thinking of advertising as one-way communication limits what is possible, particularly online. In a world with Web 2.0 (Social media), advertising encounters a new phase. Social media enables interactive capabilities in an environment characterized by user control, freedom, and dialogue and brings a new degree of interactivity and consumer involvement to advertising applications. It truly enables twoway (or multi-way) communication between brands and consumers. Online, advertising becomes more about conversations, connections, and shared control and less about passive consumption of packaged content (Tuten, 2008:2). Dominick (2009:322) explains that advertising is not only paid for in this era but word of mouth (viral advertising) is used to harness paid advertising. Advertising through traditional media relied on a model of interrupting and disrupting consumers’ life. “Interruption because the key to each and every ad is to interrupt what the viewers are doing in order to get them to think about something else” (Chaney, 2009:37). He notes further that consumers accepted these interruptions, served in the form of advertising, because they accepted that it was a necessary price to pay for what was otherwise free content broadcast on television, radio, and magazines. In that world, established content publishers controlled the distribution of content targeted at consumers. The interruption-disruption model is dying in the world of social media, where consumers control their media content and may even create the content.
Concept of Brand
According to Kotler & Keller (2005, p.549), a brand is `` name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of these that identifies the markers or seller of the product or services‟. According to this definition, name, sign or symbol is used to represent a business product or service from competitors of the organization as it also includes the intangible, and intangible values that are the source of reputation in the market (Kotler et al., 2005). Branding differentiates products and makes the products easily identifiable. It allows users (customers) to form their opinion and preference for the product. In other words, branding is your image seen from outside says, ‘it is who you are–your strength, integrity and reputation. 'This image is the sum total of the customers’ experiences and perception. So, to succeed in branding, it is important to understand the needs and wants of the customers and prospects in order to communicate with them from their point of view, hence the use of social media to identify prospects, and communicate with customers.
Furthermore, a brand is separate from the service or the product as products and services can be anything that a business offers to the audience and can be change according to the demand or change in time and change in trend of market as these are for use or consume to meet the needs or wants of consumers to obtain satisfaction (Kotler et al., 2005). Doyle & Stern (2006) mention that brands have a different value for the business, and a different value from the product. Value of brand is important from a consumer's perspective as it helps them to get specific brand into consideration and it can be intangible since it varies depending on a person’s level of satisfaction. Good will of the brand is created and developed because of both experiences that are emotional and functional experiences of the brand which plays a vital role in consumer’s purchasing behavior and decision (Doyle & Stern, 2006).
Brand Awareness
In marketing, brand awareness refers to the strength with which any brand is present in a consumer's mind (Pappu, Quester, & Cooksey, 2005); it occurs when there is an association between the brand and the type of product, where the potential consumer recognizes or associates the brand as a member of a certain product category. With that, awareness can be simply from brand recognition to brand recall or just a memory of the product; being dominant, if it’s the only brand remembered by the consumer (Hakala, Svensson & Vincze, 2012). Although many do not consider this concept as a source of brand value creation, Aaker (1992) states that many firms already see this dimension as important. Brand awareness has been studied extensively by many authors who recognize its benefits and repercussions for brands, focusing mainly on their measurement and taxonomy. However, there are different perspectives of this concept, but the ones that stand out the most are: its usefulness as an advertising approach (Miller & Berry, 1998), and its influence on consumer behavior (Ratneshwar & Shocker, 1991). The existence of a specific brand that offers specific kind of products and market audience must be aware of it is known as brand awareness (Kotler et al., 2005). According to Jin & Villegas (2007), they define that brand and product have a link between them because it makes the consumer to get capacity of recognition or remembering a specific brand, only because of brand awareness that it is differentiated between a brand from others in the market. Furthermore, they talk about the importance of brand awareness in brand equity as it is an important component (Jin & Villegas, 2007). They stated further that purchasing intention and attitude towards brand is developed only through brand awareness (Aaker, 1991). Moreover, he discussed the factors that add awareness values in different ways that include establishing further linkage/ partnership, rapport building, dedication and brand to undertaker. All these factors add values when brand becomes top-of-mind among the customers (Gautam & Shrestha, 2018).
According to Sasmita & Mohd Suki (2015) brand association affects the brand images that are valuable for any business in the market and helps to add value in brand awareness. Moreover, establishing a link to get recognition when a new product is introduced in the market, because there are less chances for being purchased by consumers without having knowledge about the new release as without having any identity. Huang, Rong & Sarigollu (2014) argue it would be difficult for consumers to become aware of the characteristics of the product; only possible to have good recognition in the market by providing or adapting a brand switcher and creating product trials from previous experiences. This will help enhance brand awareness and an identification to a new product in order to develop relationships between them. Kumar & Moller (2018) claim, brand familiarity motivates customers to adopt the brand products when they release something new with brand name. It is common that customers like to be familiar with the products as people have their experiences and have better knowledge about the product or service because brand knowledge and past experiences of the consumers make the brand and product well known (Kumar & Moller, 2018). It is mostly common when consumers are familiar with the product, they make decisions without knowing about other products because of their preferences (Aaker, 1991). However, commitment with brand adds value to brand equity which is also linked to brand awareness.
As Tuskej, Golob & Podnar (2013) claim, there is a relationship between brand commitment and brand values as it has a positive influence on customers to keep themselves loyal to the brand. This happens after having the awareness in the customers about the product of the company as consumers will continue to buy the product even if they do not have better knowledge about it. Because of the better awareness about the brand and its product, consumers become committed and loyal with the brand name of the company (Tuskej et al., 2013). Furthermore, it is natural in consumers’ buying mentality that when it comes to purchasing a product, they consider three or four different brands as they have different experiences with them in the past. Wang & Zhang (2009) explain that customer behavior towards selecting a brand is influenced by the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction from past experiences from their point of view.
Achieving Brand Awareness
Every business wants to reach to the higher brand recognition in the market. It is important to achieve awareness of the product and the link with the brand for its consumer market when the product is newly launched by the business (Kumar & Moller, 2018). There are many ways but according to Aaker (1991), he discussed many factors that can be helpful for a brand to achieve maximum brand awareness: The most important factor in achieving better awareness about the brand is to have a different and unique slogans that represent the brand and its image to the customers as it helps them to get a clear image of the brand instantly and identification whenever they find out or read it somewhere (Till, Baack & Waterman, 2011). According to Aaker (1991) it is important to have product differentiation from the brand class as there can be the risk of similarity in the way of communication and product feature, to avoid such conditions, it has to be unique in order to remain in the mind of the customer and not forget about the brand. Furthermore, brand associations add valuable effect on brand value because it helps to identify the difference and meaning of brand image to its potential customer (Till, et al. 2011). A brand symbol helps its potential customers to recall or remain in their minds as they can memorize the visible design of the brand because logos show the link between brand and product as it plays a vital role in developing and maintaining brand awareness (MacInnis, Shapiro, & Mani, 1991). Moverover, the most convenient and effective way of enhancing and creating better brand awareness in the marketing to use the promotions and advertisement as it is one of the most important ways of getting awareness for a brand in the consumer market (Jalleh, Donovan, GilesCorti & Holman, 2002). Promotional tools that organizations use to spread awareness about their brand can gain better publicity among the consumers, because advertising influence brand equity value in a positive way (Osman & Subhani, 2010). Sponsorship in events is another helpful way to provide, create, increase, and maintain awareness about the brand; this is an efficient and less time-consuming way to spread the awareness in specific areas (Jalleh et al., 2002). Event sponsorship plays a vital role to enhance value in brand equity (Kim, 2010). Stegemann (2006) claims this is a useful technique in order to enhance brand awareness in the market by associating the same brand with other product lines as there can many manufacturing products by the same brand name and wide range of products in the market for customers. These changes in brand extension help brand growth rapidly in the market and gain competitive advantage in the consumer market (Stegemann, 2006). Unique and different packaging plays a significant role for a brand to create and show brand image in the mind of the consumers as well (Till et al. 2011). If there is a logo or wrap of the packaging missing that represents a specific brand’s name and the consumer notices it, means that the company's brand name has greater awareness in the consumer market (Aaker,1991). It can be that there is high competition in the market so the customer may mix the brand images from different companies in their mind. It is easier to create and provide awareness about the brand in the market to its potential customers, however, it is difficult to remain in customers minds so they can recall the brand later on (Dauphinee, Doxey, Schleicher, Fortmann, & Henriksen, 2013).
Therefore, it is necessary for a brand to be more outstanding to get remembered by its customers (Aaker, 1991). Furthermore, advertisement strategies have influence on branding and shows involvement on brand recall of specific products (Dens & Pelsmacker, 2010). According to Osman & Subhani (2010) a competitive advantage for a brand is to maintain a top position in the market by the continuous advertisements and promotions in order to create brand awareness, while on the other hand it also affects its brand competitive to face decrease in recall of their brands in the market. Moreover, awareness can bring fast communication and consumer engagement and the main objective for serving brand marketing in the market is to obtain awareness and brand recall for those established brands (Weinberg & Pehlivan, 2011).
Brand Reputation
Brand reputation is a highly valuable asset for firms because it is related to the perceptions and the associations held inconsumers’ minds abouta brand over time (Keller, 1993). Brandreputation refers to the consumers’ perceptual representation of brand’s past actions, results, and future expectations, affecting consumers’ attitudes and behaviors (Fombrun & Rindova, 1996). In order to boost their sales and generate business success, firms aim to build, maintain and monitor a favorable brand reputation (de Chernatony, 1999). By using social media as a powerful marketing andcommunication tool, firmscan create andimprove their brandreputation, sharing contents and facilitating interactions not only between brands and consumers but also among consumers (Kim & Ko, 2012). Social media are now “a legitimate, trusted voice that resonates with consumers” (Jin, 2012, p. 687), affecting consumers' preferences and decisions. In this regard, several studies have shown that social media can positively affect brandreputation if firmsactively use andmanage social mediaas an integratedand complementary part of theircommunication mix (Booth &Matic, 2011; Dijkmans, Kerkhof, & Beukeboom, 2015; Kim & Ko, 2010, 2012). In other words, the more social media are effectively used and managed by firms, the more likely firms achieve a favorable brand reputation.
Brand loyalty
Due to itsstrategic relevance both in consumers’ behavior andin brand management, brandloyalty is a key concept in marketing literature. Brand loyalty has been defined as the attachment that a customer has to a brand (Aaker, 1991), leading customers to repeat their purchasing behaviors inthe future (Oliver, 1999). Inorder to develop and maintain customers’ brand loyalty, firms have exploited both traditional and new tools (Keller, 2008; Kotler & Keller, 2007). In recent years, firmshave been focusing their attention especially on social media in order to understand if and how these new tools contribute to improving customer loyalty (Hollebeek et al., 2014; Yoshida et al., 2018). Infact, within the social media environment, firms can better engage with their devoted customers on amultitude of levels (Krishen, Berezan, Agarwal, & Kachroo, 2016),by developing direct and personal relationships and offering unique and seamless customer experiences (Rapp, Beitelspacher, Grewal, & Hughes, 2013). Socialmedia allow firmsto develop andincrease brand loyaltythrough networking, conversation and community building features (Erdoğmuş & Çiçek, 2012; Krishen, Trembath, & Muthaly, 2015). In particular, information generation, sharing andsocial media responsiveness enablefirms to provide regular brand communications, strengthen consumer-brand relationships, reduce customers’ efforts to find information about a brand, and, in turn, increase brand loyalty (Ismail, 2017). As highlighted also by Raab et al. (2016) firms that use socialmedia in an interactive,customized, attentive and responsiveway are morelikely to engage customers and improve brand loyalty. It can be concluded that themore actively firms use and manage social media the higher the brand loyalty will be. While previous studies have focused on the effect of social media capabilities as a unique combination of firms’ ability in usingand managing information gathered fromsocial media on customer relationship performance (Trainor et al., 2014),this paper aims toinvestigate different dimension ofsocial media capabilities, namely information generation, internal information dissemination and responsiveness,separately to better understand how differentsocial media usagescontribute to enhance firms’ performance. Moreover, the paperintends to deeply analyzethree different dimensionsof brand performancethat can beconsidered crucial toenhance customer relationship and engage customer in a more efficient way. Finally, since the boundaries between online and offlinecommunication channels are blurring (Vernuccio &Ceccotti, 2015) andcommunication mix are integrating traditional and new interactive media in amore coordinated way (Killian & McManus, 2015),this paper also tries to shed light on how the degree of socialmedia integration with other media and social media usage in a complementary mode or assubstitute for other channel affect brand performance.
Crisis Communications
If an event is perceived by stakeholders to be a crisis, then the shaping tools of crisis communications are needed. As opposed to risk communications that seeks to help people understand the facts that are truly relevant to their own life so that they can make informed decisions about risk, crisis communications is more about managing the outcome, impact, and public perception of a crisis (Gray, 2003). Coombs (1999) defined crisis communications as messages that are integrated and critical elements of a four-part overall crisis management process that includes prevention, preparation, performance and learning. Originally crisis communications was viewed solely as a part of public relations used to craft a strategic post-crisis response that reduced or diffused blame and responsibility. But the examination of modern day crises repositioned crisis communications as an ongoing process not relegated to the stage of post-crisis communication. Crisis communications is now associated with coordination of resources such as equipment, personnel, and information to avoid or reduce harm and for coordinating resources during post-crisis support and recovery. Crisis communications also plays the dominant role in risk identification where the appropriate communication of risk may spur mitigating behaviors that can reduce the risk (Sellnow & Seeger, 1997). Crisis communicatiosn is also seen as an enactment-based perspective where it frames the fundamental meaning of crisis events (Sellnow & Seeger, 1997). In that vein, crisis communicators have the ability to shape how a crisis and the organization are viewed by the public. Sturges (1994) outlined three steps of which this can be accomplished: (1) information that tells stakeholders how to react to the crisis (2) information that helps people psychologically 7 cope with the magnitude of the crisis situation, and (3) information that people will use to formulate an image about the organization.
Brand reputation crisis and management
A business reputation crisis can have a negative impact on your sales and deter existing and prospective customers. It puts off your investors, shareholders, suppliers, and potential employees. It can disrupt business operations, damage your reputation and impact your finances. Reputation management involves processes that allow businesses to influence what and how people think of their brand. Small, medium and large companies across industries have used their social media platforms to monitor their reputation.
Positive feedback from customers via direct messages, posts or comments, can be encouraging as these indicate what’s working. Positive or negative interactions with a business can happen at a physical location or online. A customer may have a bad experience at a physical location of a business but will bring their grievances to social media because they are aware of the impact that it can have. Negative feedback from dissatisfied customers on social media may be shared initially through direct messages between the customer and the business. If the concern is not addressed or dealt with properly, a disgruntled customer may use the comment section, or create a post and tag your business to share their frustration. In some instances, angry customers may even incite others on social media to boycott a business. Most consumers tend to pay attention to customer experiences over what a brand or company says, as such, due diligence is necessary.
IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MANAGING BRAND REPUTATION IN CRISIS
With the help ofsocial media monitoring tools and social listening, businesses can quickly identify and address customer issues and provide feedback. They can engage with users and track mentions and comments, as well as customers who consistently mention their brand/business.
Marketing teams can use these tools to strategise and create campaigns that build upon positive feedback, while addressing issues that may adversely affect the company’s reputation.
The goal of using social media with reputation management is to influence the perception of your brand or business positively.
Social media reputation management is a process that involves plans for monitoring the social media platforms that your business uses, sharing strategic social media content and engaging with customers who talk about your business online. The process also includes monitoring online review websites, business discovery apps and local business directories, and eliminating negative social media chatter.
Your social media reputation management plan should have its own goals that are tied to the overarching goals of your business. When used effectively, social media reputation management can improve your brand’s image and build credibility among your customers.
Jones, Temperley, and Lima (2009) have pointed to an expanding active online consumer role defining new roles such as “consumer watchdog, investigative journalist, and opinion influencer”. An importantshare of firms’ valueis related to thevalue of their brands, which are crucial elements in the relationship with customers (Aaker, 1992). This attaches importance to brandmanagement and to the various firms’ activities that may affect brand awareness, reputation, and customers’ loyalty to the brand. In recent years, the growth in the useof social media by individualsto communicate and share contents with other users has generatedopportunities and challengesfor firms, offeringa new tool tointeract with currentand potential customers (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) and share information about brands and products (Kumar, Choi, & Greene, 2017). Many firmshave activated socialmedia accounts asa part oftheir marketing andcommunication strategies in order toexploit these potentialities andengage customers withtheir brands. Social media have become fundamental for firms to actively communicate with customers, to establish long-lasting relationships, to share contents and to advertisebrands (Ismail, 2017). Joiningsocial media provides a unique opportunity for firmsto strength theirbrands, helping toincrease business valuesuch as creatingbrand awareness, brand reputation and brand loyalty (Alberghini, Cricelli, & Grimaldi, 2014). While social media are now recognized as critical elements ofmarketing strategies andtheir availability iswidespread, firms arestill struggling to understandhow to effectivelyuse and managesocial media inorder to achieve better brandperformances (Haenlein, 2017),and there is an ongoing debate about branding strategies in the social media context. In this regard, a number of theoretical lens and various contexts have been used to investigate the effect of social media on different branding constructs (Yuksel, Milne, & Miller, 2016). In fact, many studies have analyzed customers’ perceptions of the effect ofsocial media on brand engagement(Hollebeek, Glynn, & Brodie,2014; Laroche, Habibi, & Richard, 2013), on brand communities (Heydari & Laroche, 2018), on brand trust (Habibi, Laroche, & Richard, 2014) and on brand equity (Hsu & Lawrence, 2016). However, little attention has been devoted to the contribution of socialmedia activities tobrand performances froma managerial perspective,and the effectiveness of socialmedia usage and whichmanagerial choices leadto better outcomes are stillnot clear (Brodie, Hollebeek, Juric, & Ilic, 2011; Godey et al., 2016).
The ever-changing competition in the information age pushes companies to find more creative and flexible means to reach out to and retain their customers as well as protect their brand image. With focus on brand personalities, one can articulate an understanding of how the brand relationship role is constructed and begin to envision ways in which the brand, “acting as an enlivened partner in social network relationships”, contributes to the initiation, maintenance or destruction of consumer brand relationship bonds (Fournier, 1998, p.345). Linking the ties between social networks and consumer brand attachment Jones and Kim (2011) demonstrated that self-identification positively impacts social-identification, which positively impacts brand community, which is found to have a positive impact on brand loyalty. Aaker, Fournier, and Brasel (2004) suggested that brand personality influences relationship strength and can help in predicting the strength of consumer brand relationships. Of importance in the social network context in that Aaker at al. (2004), has concluded that: (1) sincere brands tend to facilitate strong and stable relationships based on trust but are more susceptible to the transgression effects which may be irreversible, and (2) the brands of excitement tended to nurture less stable relationships but that customers are more benevolent with their transgression acts and the reparation of problems may actually serve to reinforce the relationship. How the bonds are established and maintained can ultimately determine the degree of success that a firm will have when attempting to mitigate the potentially damaging effect of negative social network campaigns. In terms of relating brand characteristics to brand maintenance, the brand personality that most relevant to positioning a brand and maintaining its value through periods of disruption appear to be intimacy-loyalty and those managers can use this understanding to design strategies directed at developing and maintaining brand reputation. Of importance in determining how best to respond to social network threats is an understanding of the company or brand personality characteristics to which the consumer most identifies. Understanding the specific constructs and the unique personality bond in the consumer brand relationship can assist in determining how best to respond to social network threats.
No company or organization is immune to a social media crisis – or issue for that matter. A social media crisis can come from anywhere, when you least expect it. It could be the launch of a new campaign, a technical malfunction that leaves clients upset, an angry employee who posts an unwanted video online, or a thousand other scenarios. The best that any brand can do is to be able and prepared to detect the warning signs of a social media crisis as soon as they begin to show themselves. To communicate effectively and in real-time with your market and your staff through the crisis. To resolve the situation in the least amount of time and with the least amount of repercussions to your brand for the long-term In life, and in business, reputation is everything. That said, reputation is very fragile and it only takes one mistake to cause irreparable damage to your company’s image. This is especially true in the digital world where radical transparency and high customer expectations reign supreme. Ignoring strong public digital voices isn’t an option any more. Companies have to learn to not only communicate effectively in the social media age, but to truly listen to the social chatter and respond in the way that align with both brand and customer expectations.
In the online era, it becomes critical for the business of any size to have a social media crisis management plan – or even better, a crisis prevention plan – in place for those times when things go wrong. And it is truly the matter of “when” vs. “if.” some of the ways to avoid social media disasters, prevent them from escalating, or handle things if everything goes sideways include
Listen and Be Present
In the past, companies like The Gap have been accused of not responding to customers’ concerns about faulty merchandise or refund issues – simply because they were not set up to handle customer service problems through their social media channels. Unfortunately, in the digital age, not listening to the social chatter or having presence on social communities can reflect badly on your brand. Even responding with a simple link to the correct website page is helpful – and shows your customers you take them seriously.
And listen! Sometimes social listening tools will pick up the chatter about a topic that you may not expect and will give you time to address it before it blows up within the social stratosphere. Most of the brand disasters could have been prevented just by picking up the early chatter and being prepared to address it before it escalates.
Set the Right Expectations
If you are a small business or have limited bandwidth to respond to customer inquiries in real-time, then set the right expectations upfront on the timing within which people should expect your response. 24, 48, 72 hours… Be specific and make that expectation visible to ensure it is seen. But always stick to it.
Be Transparent Certain companies have been guilty of removing posts they didn’t agree with, ignoring those posts, or else claiming that they had been hacked, when they clearly hadn’t. Trying to cover up or remove justified but negative comments can make you look as if you are ignoring a problem or, worse off, don’t care about the customers. It is critical to be honest and upfront about any issues you or your company may be facing. If you made a mistake, admit it, apologize, and do everything in your power to correct it. We are all human and humans make mistakes. Your customers don’t expect you and your teams to be perfect, just transparent and honest. They expect you treat them like family, a part of your tribe, and that means not betraying their trust with back-peddling and cover ups.
Warren Buffet once said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
Respond Thoughtfully
It’s worth putting some effort into writing a thoughtful reply aimed at addressing your customers’ concerns. Showing that you care about their experience and are willing to address problems (or even go above and beyond) is a great way of actually winning around critics and turning them into fans. According to The Retail Consumer Report, commissioned by Right Now and conducted online by Harris Interactive in January 2011, of those customers who received a reply in response to their negative review 33% turned around and posted a positive review, and 34% deleted their original negative review. 85% of consumers said they would be willing to pay anywhere between 5-25% over the standard price to ensure a superior customer experience.
Caring really pays off. It builds trust and allows you to further nurture relationships with your current customers. Word-of-mouth recommendations from your current satisfied customers are much more influential than your own brand messages, and they will bring new customers in.
Do Not Lose Your Cool – Ever
There may be times when you disagree with your customers. But being rude or attacking them in social forums is absolutely unacceptable. Provide the best information you can and do your best to satisfy every inquiry. If nothing helps and a customer insists on being rude and un-cooperative, just ignore him/her and move on; in those rare times, no matter what you do, nothing will probably be good enough.
And don’t take everything personally. The customer isn’t angry with you, (s)he frustrated with the product or a brand as a whole. Don’t take these interactions personally. Just do your best to help them out and move on.
Have a Crisis Management Team In Place
Going back to my point #1…When you pick up a digital chatter around a specific issue, you have a great opportunity to address it before it blows up in your face. But be sure you have the way to quickly escalate and resolve the issue. This process should be a part of your overall crisis management plan. I suggest forming a team consisting of team members from PR, HR, legal, marketing, and other relevant teams that can come together to quickly craft and post a response that would quite down the chatter and will help solve the issue at hand.
Manage Access To Your Social Media Accounts Carefully
There have been instances of employees posting personal updates to brand accounts not realizing that they haven’t switched to the right account. Making sure you are limiting access to only knowledgeable community managers who have appropriate training with avoid mistakes such as these.
And then there is a process for managing access when employees switch jobs or leave the company altogether. When music retail chain HMV laid off a large number of its employees in January 2013, bosses didn’t realize their marketing team – who had been made redundant – still had access to the brand’s social media sites. The team went online to protest at the way the situation had been handled by executives, tweeting statements like “There are over 60 of us being fired at once. Mass execution of loyal employees who love the brand, “Firing” before they were finally shut down.
Post Moderation Guidelines
Most sites have their own Terms and Conditions, but you can also post your own moderation guidelines on your social media pages to make it obvious what behavior will or will not be tolerated within your social communities. Being up-front about your “house rules” makes it simpler to take down offensive posts by referring to your rules and pointing out how they were violated.
Hire Experienced Community Managers
There are still some organizations that treat social media communities like an afterthought and leave it to the interns to post an occasional tweet. Your social media is every bit a part of your brand image and reputation – so hire professionals! A community manager should be experienced, know your brand in and out, understand your brand’s voice and personality, and, most importantly, love your customers. Community manager is a critical position that serves as a voice of a customer within your organization, so don’t underestimate it. Plus, a seasoned community manager will know the right way to deal with disgruntled customers, be able to deal with socialmedia take-over attempts, and know when to take the conversation off-line.
And Remember… You Will Never Please Everybody
Sometimes, as a leader and as a brand, you will have to be willing to be misunderstood. If you strongly believe in what you are doing or in a specific point of view, but some people don’t share the same opinion, you will have to be willing to stand by your decision. In this case you will have to be prepared to be transparent and honest about it, share the reasons why you feel so strongly about the subject, and be prepared to calmly address the questions and criticism that come your way. That is where your social communities become even more important – this is the opportunity for your fans and your tribe (people who share your point of view and believe in the same vision) to chime in and help support your message/cause. In cases such as these organic brand love and advocacy are powerful allies in defending brand’s reputation and spreading brand’s message.
2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The Uses and Gratification Theory
The Uses and Gratification Theory was propounded in 1974 by Elihu Katz, Jay Blumler and Michael Gurevitch. “The theory was developed to explain why audiences do not passively wait for media messages to arrive, but actively and deliberately seek out forms of content that provide them with information that they need, like and use” ( Kur, 200). Folarin (2005: 65) observes that the theory perceives the recipient of media messages as actively influencing the effect process, he selectively chooses, attends to, perceives and retains the media messages on the basis of his needs and beliefs. This implies that “members of the public will actively select and use specific forms of media content to fulfill their needs and to provide gratifications of their interests and motives Defleur & Dennis (1994:559). The uses and gratifications perspective takes the view of the media consumer. It examines how people use the media and the gratification they seek and receive from their media behaviours. Uses and gratifications researchers assume that audience members are aware of and can articulate their reasons for consuming various media content (Wimmer and Dominick 2003: 403). Consequently, when applied to this study, social media allow for participation as they give the advertisers and customers the opportunity to interact with each other on a one-on-one basis. The implication is that business organisations or entrepreneurs who use social media are active as they willingly create their Facebook page or Twitter account. The business organisation chooses social media as a means to fulfill their wants and goals over other sources. Basically, the business organisation/entrepreneur sign up an account on Facebook or Twitter for a particular purpose. That is, the need to connect with customers to promote a product/service. For other users, it could be the need to connect interpersonally with friends or the need to patronise a product/ service advertised on those social platforms or just to know an organisation they are interested in the better. The assumption is that those who decide to patronise adverts on Facebook and Twitter may be doing so because of the gratification they hope to derive from those messages. While those who do not patronize the messages, may not have seen any gratification in the messages. Debatin, Lovejoy & Horn (2009:87) explain that social media users are found to expose higher risk-taking attitudes than individuals who are not members of an online network. It can therefore be assumed that the expected gratification motivates the users to provide and frequently update very specific personal data that most of them would immediately refuse to reveal in other contexts.
2.3 EMPIRICAL STUDIES
In a study conducted by Chierici, R. & Del Bosco, B. & Mazzucchelli, A. & Chiacchierini, C. (2018) onEnhancing Brand Awareness, Reputation and Loyalty: The Role of Social Media, The paper analyzes three models in order to identify the causal combinations of social media usage and management that lead to an improvement of, respectively, brand awareness, brand reputation, and brand loyalty. Data collected from 268 managers operating in organizational units closely involved in marketing and communication activities have been analyzed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Different equifinal pathways emerge, highlighting some commonalities, as well as some specificities. Social media integration with other communication channels and dissemination of information collected through social media within the organization turn out to be two managerial practices with a relevant role in achieving higher brand awareness, brand reputation, and brand loyalty. Moreover, social media responsiveness appears to be crucial for enhancing brand loyalty. These results contribute to the branding and social media literature, providing also interesting insights for practitioners to understand how to strength brands in the social media era.
In another study conducted by Becker, K. & Lee, J. (2019). on Organizational Usage of Social Media for Corporate Reputation Management. The paper investigated the relationship between firm size and organizational actions on adopting social media for corporate reputation management. The sample group of 198 companies is selected with a simple random sample method from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listings: Sixty nine companies were from the Fortune 500 listings, seventy one companies from the NYSE midsize capitalization and fifty eight companies from the NYSE small capitalization listings. This study employs cross tabulations and Chi-square analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis that enables the comparison of three samples that are independent. The results of the study show that (1) large firms have more social media ownership than small firms, (2) large firms respond to social media posts at a greater frequency and quickly than small firms, and (3) firm size is less likely associated with response styles to social media for online reputation management. The results show that reply time and response styles of organizations to social media customers in the 2015 survey has no significant change compared to that of 2011. There appears to be a pervasive lack strategic framework as most firms in the study were found not to be adequately monitoring or leveraging social media communication for their reputation management.