As far as social media goes for me, I have not gone deep down the rabbit hole. I only have two
profiles, well three if Myspace is still in existence, Facebook, and LinkedIn. What I have seen
though through companies that I have worked at is that the social activities that a business does
can be visible to audiences that would not have had the chance to see them prior to social media.
The charities and awareness events that companies participate in, or hold can be seen around the
world and not just in their local community. These builds trust especially in today’s world where
we are trying desperately to right the wrongs of an ignorant past. b b b b b
It is commonplace now for a company to have a person or team that just handle their social media
presence and address all public relations issues and make posts supporting their core values and
advertising what they are going to do and what they are doing. The visibility that comes from a
social media post, if done properly, is incredibly valuable.
Social media can act as an effective communication tool that can be used by organizations in order
to engage with their internal and external stakeholders. It can build trust with external
stakeholders like customers by listening to them, their needs, and expectations. The business can
also leverage social media platforms for showing its commitment to addressing social issues such
as inequality or poverty. In the internal setting, social media can be used to develop a sense of
attachment with the organizational personnel and communicate with them in a transparent
manner (Charest et al., 2016). Maintaining transparency in communication via social media is
instrumental to nurture trust (Ewing et al., 2019). b b
In the contemporary business environment, social media can serve as a vital strategic tool for
business entities that can help them to address public relations issues. It can serve as an ideal
platform that can enable companies to adopt a professional and methodical approach in order to
interact with the target audience on a real-time basis and keep them updated on the latest
happenings involving the firm. According to the available evidence, modern businesses have
integrated social media into their communication strategy so that they can engage with their target
audience at a personal level and address issues relating to fake news or rumours (Wang et al.,
2021).
There is an opportunity for organizations to leverage social media platforms so that the
communication medium can be used for supporting their culture, strategic vision, values, and
mission. Companies can share their values and beliefs on their social media pages on important
social issues and showcase their commitment to the entire community. For example, when
businesses are involved in any important social cause, such as the plantation of trees in the
community or conducting an activity in an orphanage, the details of such events can be captured
in the form of images and videos and shared on diverse social media platforms such as Facebook
and Twitter. Such an approach can enable business entities to show the market audience what
they believe in and how they are contributing towards the betterment of society. b b b
Tesco is an apt example that has used its social media strategy in order to highlight its corporate
social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. By leveraging social media, companies have been able to
effectively show their audience their commitment to creating value at a compressive level in the
community setting (Deems, 2016).
Reference
Charest, F., Bouffard, J. and Zajmovic, E. (2016) ‘Public relations and social media: Deliberate or
creative strategic planning’, Public Relations Review, 42(4), pp. 530–538. doi:
10.1016/j.pubrev.2016.03.008.
Deems, R. E. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility on Twitter.
Ewing, M., Men, L. R., & O’Neil, J. (2019). Using social media to engage employees: Insights from
internal communication managers. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 13(2), 110-
132.
Wang, Y., Cheng, Y., & Sun, J. (2021). When public relations meet social media: A systematic review
of social media related public relations research from 2006 to 2020. Public Relations Review, 47(4),
102081.
