Strategic Communication through Social Media

One of the most prevalent forms of emerging media popular in society today is social media. Webster Dictionary defines social media as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or participate in social networking.” Social media has become a new dimension to create and build relationships with a large audience of people in a small amount of time without face to face communication.

Social media is a great tool for organizations to use to communicate a message to a large audience of people in a short amount of time. As mentioned in the Hubspot publication How to Leverage Social Media for Public Relations Success, the viral nature of social media makes it a critical tool for strategic communications professionals to use to promote the image of their organization. They are able to reach a large amount of audience members with each message in a short amount of time. Social media also gives organizations the opportunity to reach social influencers who can push the organization's message even further and gain the attention of more audience members. Social media coverage is free exposure to target audience members as well as traditional media outlets, such as the news.

There are several ways that strategic communications professionals can use social media outlets to promote their organization and enhance their company. One of the most obvious ways is communicating a message to the public. Organizations can inform the public on business changes, upcoming events, etc. The organization can also engage the audience by soliciting opinions, posting engaging content, and re-posting or sharing positive content that has been created by members of the audience.

In addition to posting about the company, companies should also use social media for media relations, customer relations, employee relations, and crisis communication. All of these sectors are often included in the duties of a strategic communications professional, and utilizing social media will help this professional to do these duties effectively.

While the viral nature of social media is helpful to push positive messages and engage with different internal and external audiences, it can be detrimental to a company when a negative, offensive, or damaging message is spread. A lot of organizations, such as the military, have certain policies and procedures in place to prevent employees from posting certain things on social media that could be damaging to the organization's image.

It is also beneficial for companies to be accessible on social media for audience members to communicate with. According to Convince & Convert, LLC (2008), 47% of people use social media to voice complaints about a company. If a company responds quickly and correctly to the complaint, 45% of people will post about their positive experience of communicating with the brand. By using social media to resolve issues within the audience, the company has not only regained the approval of specific members, but those members also become social media advocates for the company. This strategic communication through social media opens the door for more relationships and more exposure for the company.

A company can use various tactics to protect themselves from negative viral videos and posts on the business side, but an organization cannot control what is posted or circulated on the consumer side. In the case of a negative viral video or post about a company from an audience member, it is imperative for a company to have and implement a strategic communication plan to effectively handle the situation. For example, a situation happened in 2009 with United Airlines damaging the property of a passenger. After reaching out to United Airlines’ customer service via phone and email, the customer decided to create a video about his experience with United. The video went viral and damaged the reputation of United Airlines. United Airlines responded to the passenger, publicly apologized, and provided concessions to the passenger via social media to alleviate further reputational damage to the company. A situation like this would exemplify using social media for crisis communication.

When dealing with social media, it is also important to constantly remain active and monitor any activity dealing with the company. The organization should be completely aware of the public’s perception of it through social media. The company should not wait until a post or video makes it to viral status before addressing it. Social media can be used to track any mentions of the company name, and alerts can be set up through the social media outlets to monitor posts relevant to the company from audience members, stakeholders, the media, etc. A company should closely monitor relevant traffic to catch negative or potentially damaging messages before they go viral. A viral video or post means that the message was spread to a large amount of people (typically millions) in a short amount of time (typically a few days). I believe that non-viral videos have just as much impact as viral videos when seen by the right people. If a negative non-viral video is spread quickly to a small amount of influential people, such as stakeholders, the video can still harm the company's reputation without going viral. An example of a non-viral message that harmed the reputation of a company was the incident of the CEO of Papa John’s using derogatory language during a conference call. While the original message was not heard by millions of people, it was heard by influential people who had the power to force him to resign.

Social media is a powerful weapon in the realm of emerging media, and it should be used carefully and strategically, especially in the professional setting. Using social media can have a major positive or negative impact on a company, depending on how it is used. While social media might seem like a liability more than an asset at times, an organization must utilize this emerging media if it wants to tap into the vast majority and reach untapped territory. When used correctly and efficiently, social media can boost a business and excel its growth and development in many different areas.