In the Wake of New Media: Connecting the Who with the How of Strategizing Communication

In this article we argue that although there has been an intensified exploration of how organizations strategize within the field of strategic communication, there seems to be a key component missing, namely questioning who these organizations are and become in the process of strategizing. Strategic communication implicitly, perhaps even unintentionally, continues to rely on a classical understanding of organizations as “social units (or human groupings) deliberately constructed and reconstructed to seek specific goals” (Etzioni, 1964, p. 3). Assuming rather than exploring who the organization is, we argue, hinders a full explanation of how strategic communication works. Aiming to tackle this issue, we first present three ways in which the classical understanding of organizations is being theoretically challenged by organization studies and empirically challenged by new media, arguing that organizations are networked, sociomaterial, and contingent processes of meaning formation. Then we examine how the reconceptualization of the organization influences the concept of strategic communication, advocating that strategies should be seen as collaborative and networked flows (the how) of shared decision making by both human and nonhuman actors (the who). Finally, we discuss how this affects the notion of strategic action, and hence, strategic communication, asking what strategic action is and who performs it.     

Social Media Influencers as a Crisis Risk in Strategic Communication: Impact of Indiscretions on Professional Endorsements

ABSTRACT

Social media influencers (SMIs) are increasingly employed by organizations to amplify their strategic communication efforts. Yet, little is known about the impact an SMI’s personal indiscretion has on their endorsing organizations. This article examines the factors that trigger these crises and their effects on the organizational image. Five cases – PewDiePie (U.S.), Munroe Bergdorf (UK), James Charles (U.S.), Grace Mongey (Ireland) and Sarah Bowmar (U.S.) – were analyzed using Rapid Issue Tracking, a method to capture stakeholders’ sentiments. Findings showed that SMIs’ personal indiscretions trigger paracrises. Organizations typically used distancing strategies but adopted image repair situationally. Anchored on image repair theory, we propose a framework for crisis identification and response strategies. With the increasing use of SMIs in marketing, their potential as a new type of crisis trigger warrants attention.     

The Role of Media Coverage in Explaining Stock Market Fluctuations: Insights for Strategic Financial Communication

This study investigates the reciprocal relationships between the fluctuation of the closing prices of three companies listed on the Amsterdam exchange index, namely ING, Philips and Shell and online media coverage related to these firms for a period of two years (2014–2015). Automated content analysis methods were employed to analyze sentiment and emotionality and to identify corporate topics related to the companies. A positive relation of the amount of coverage and emotionality with the fluctuation of stock prices was detected for Shell and Philips. In addition, corporate topics were found to positively Granger cause stock price fluctuation, particularly for Philips. The study advances past research in showing that the prediction of stock price fluctuation based on media coverage can be improved by including sentiment, emotionality, and corporate topics. The findings inform strategic communication, and particularly investor relations, in suggesting that media attention, sentiment, and certain corporate topics are crucial when managing media relations and with regard to securing a fair evaluation of listed companies. Furthermore, the innovative research methods are useful for researchers and practitioners alike in showcasing how media coverage related to firms and their stock fluctuations can be identified and analyzed in a reproducible, hands-on and efficient manner.     

Strategy and Tactics in Strategic Communication: Examining their Intersection with Social Media Use

While public relations industry leaders have proposed a strategic approach to social media, industry research has found that social media practices may be more tactical than strategic. Likewise, scholarly research has focused more on specific parts of strategic planning, such as message—and channel-level communication in social media, but little research has been done to understand program-level communication planning. The purpose of this study was to examine the confluence of current trends in social media use with strategic communication processes through in-depth interviews and a national survey of public relations practitioners. The in-depth interviews revealed two overarching themes: (1) social media use should be guided by strategic planning and (2) social media tactics should revolve around conversations. The survey results showed that practitioners are involved in social media strategy development and tactical implementation, yet see their involvement as linked mostly to their organizations’ strategic rather than tactical social media activities. In addition, practitioners delineate social media strategies and tactics differently than theoretical conceptualizations.     

Mass Media Orientation and External Communication Strategies: Exploring Organisational Differences

This study assesses relationships between mass media orientations of communication professionals in organisations and their external communication strategies. We assume that mass media orientations within an organisation may affect an organisation’s external communication strategies of bridging and buffering. A survey among 150 Dutch communication professionals working for both for-profit and public organisations as well as NPOs was conducted. Our study shows that preferences for specific communication strategies are related to different forms of media orientation. Having media attention as an organisational goal is more strongly associated with buffering, that is, one-way and symmetric communication, yet a more negative attitude toward the media also hinders an organisation from bridging activities. Overall, few differences between the three types of organisations regarding communication strategies and media orientations were found.     

Strategic Communication through Social Media Influencers: Current State of Research and Desiderata

ABSTRACT

This article provides an overview of the current state of research in strategic influencer communication and highlights research desiderata. We conducted a systematic literature review of 39 peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2018. Using Lasswell’s transmission model of communication as an approach to systemize communication acts, we identified, systematized, and synthesized main findings from existing literature. The review reveals a rag rug of fragmented research questions, combined with a lack of theoretical integration and a widespread methodological monism. Moreover, questions related to the implications of influencer communication for strategic planning are understudied. Hence, more research is required to understand underlying cause-and-effect relations and managerial implementation of strategic influencer communication. In conclusion, we encourage researchers to investigate the concept of social media influencer communication from a strategic communication perspective, including applying multidisciplinary approaches and a broader range of empirical methods, which would foster a deeper understanding of strategic influencer communication.     

基于4I理论的邮政新媒体助力会展运营研究

阐述了4I营销相关理论及研究基础,界定了邮政新媒体内涵,针对目前邮政企业经营会展存在的问题短板,从会展前、中、后三个阶段论述了邮政新媒体助力会展运营的具体功能,并从数智化、协同化、平台化三个方面对邮政新媒体融入会展业的发展方向进行了展望,助力邮政会展项目高效运营、高质量发展。     

Social Media Activities of Political Communication Practitioners: The Impact of Strategic Orientation and In-Group Orientation

The question of why political communication practitioners use social media for strategic political communication activities has rarely been investigated. By using well-established theoretical approaches of communication research, such as the influence of presumed influence approach, this study sought to determine the extent to which the subjective perceptions of German political communication practitioners explain their professional social media activities. The results of a survey (N = 1,067) indicate that the more political communication practitioners perceived that other political communication practitioners used and were influenced by Facebook and Twitter, the more often they used social media themselves. In contrast, the presumed reach of Facebook and Twitter among politicians, journalists, and citizens, as well as the presumed influence of both media on these groups, were not related to the practitioners’ social media activities. These findings suggest that the practitioners’ social media activities are driven more by an in-group orientation toward their colleagues and less by a strategic orientation toward external stakeholders.     

The Effectiveness of Social Media Storytelling in Strategic Innovation Communication: Narrative Form Matters

Storytelling is widely believed to be an effective strategy in innovation communication. The use of high-quality narratives in particular is recommended to facilitate the understanding of an innovation, facilitate trust in it, and promote the perception of innovative strength as well as the development of positive attitudes. However, to date virtually no empirical evidence has been presented to support these assumptions. Therefore, we conducted an experiment in which participants were exposed to messages about an innovation that varied in narrative quality (low vs. medium vs. high), and the messages were told in different forms that are typical of social media (nonserial vs. serial) to take account of the ever-increasing importance of these channels in innovation communication. The results show that the understanding of an innovation increases linearly with a message’s narrative quality, serial storytelling impedes understanding, and narrative quality is conducive to the attitude towards the innovator when the story is told in nonserial form and has a detrimental effect when told in serial form. Thus, the results show that the current view on storytelling’s potential is overly optimistic and that using high-quality narratives can, under certain conditions, also have adverse effects. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Lessons for Crisis Communication on Social Media: A Systematic Review of What Research Tells the Practice

This study analyzes explicit pieces of advice for effective social media crisis communication given by researchers in various subdisciplines of strategic communication. The themes are identified by a systematic content analysis of peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers (n = 104) published between 2004 and 2017. Five overall thematic “lessons” are identified and critically discussed. These are that effective social media crisis communication is about: (1) exploiting social media’s potential to create dialogue and to choose the right message, source and timing; (2) performing precrisis work and developing an understanding of the social media logic; (3) using social media monitoring; (4) continuing to prioritize traditional media in crisis situations; and finally, (5) just using social media in strategic crisis communication. These guidelines mainly emerged from quantitative research conducted in the context of the United Stated and on Twitter. There is need for more research focusing on other platforms and other empirical material. There is also a future need for an in-depth methodological discussion of how to further bridge the gap between research and practice on a global scale, and how to develop more evidence-based recommendations for strategic crisis communication practitioners.     

Strategic CSR Communication: A Moderating Role of Transparency in Trust Building

Based on the literature in various strategic communication disciplines, including marketing, advertising, and public relations, this 2 (company-cause fit: congruent vs. incongruent) × 2 (level of transparency: high vs. low) experiment examines message effect on trust, organizational advocacy, and skepticism in order to explore ways to effectively communicate CSR initiatives in consideration of company-cause fit and transparency. Company-cause fit has been incorporated as a strategic tool in marketing and advertising, yet transparency has been primarily discussed in terms of its ethical implications in PR literature. Most significantly, this study suggests a moderating role of transparency on the effect of CSR cause fit, in that partnering with an incongruent cause fit can help build trust with consumers when the CSR message is communicated in a highly transparent manner. Furthermore, this study suggests that transparency is a necessary condition to be strategically implemented in CSR communication to enhance trust with consumers.     

Live Streamers on Twitch.tv as Social Media Influencers: Chances and Challenges for Strategic Communication

ABSTRACT

Twitch.tv is one of the most successful online live streaming platforms in the world, with 200 million viewers, 2 million regular “streamers,” and a market value of over $1billion. In this paper, we offer a first conceptualization of streamers as social media influencers, and how effectively they can perform strategic communication for sponsors. We draw on extensive ethnographic research and over a hundred semi-structured interviews with streamers to address two questions: first, how does Twitch operate as a platform for strategic communication; second, what skills do streamers need to be successful influencers? In the first case, we show Twitch is well suited to influencing, in large part due to its integration of data analytics, while streamers are using these tools to adopt a business-oriented mindset; in the second case, we show the importance of authenticity to both streamers and clients, and how channels of different sizes offer strategic communication opportunities. The article contributes to the emerging literature on Twitch, developing insights from influencing and strategic communication, but given the increasing scope of live streaming, we also argue the phenomenon – particularly when combined with the economic dynamics of influencing – is just as important for making sense of the wider media landscape today.     

The Role of Social Capital for Organizational Identification: Implications for Strategic Communication

Scholars in the fields of organization and strategic communication have long been interested in organizational identification as a phenomenon favoring employees’ alignment with corporate values and consequently achievement of the organizational mission. To date, most studies on the subject have relied on social identity theory, which focuses on cognitive categorization processes but overlooks the role of employees’ relationships within their organization. In this research, we introduce a social capital perspective into organizational identification models. We propose and test a model looking at the influence of an individual’s social capital, a variable deriving from different dimensions of an individual’s communication network (i.e., prestige, resourceful others, friendship), on organizational identification, mediated by the attractiveness of perceived organizational identity. The results from a survey conducted in a business organization suggest that a person’s social capital influences organizational identification, both directly and through the attractiveness of perceived organizational identity. Our organizational identification model contributes to extend knowledge on the complementarity of the cognitive and relational perspectives of strategic communication and on the role of relationship building and networks in strategic communication management.     

Examining the Impact of Public Engagement and Presidential Leadership Communication on Social Media in China: Implications for Government-Public Relationship Cultivation

This study examined how public positive and negative social media (i.e., WeChat) discussion about President Xi Jinping in China, along with Xi’s leadership communication styles of assertiveness, responsiveness, and authenticity on social media influence publics’ evaluation of his leadership effectiveness, which in turn, influences public trust and satisfaction with the government. Through a quantitative online survey of 396 WeChat users in China, randomly selected via an international sampling firm and a structural equation modeling analysis, the results show that publics’ political discussion about Xi on social media in China significantly influences the perceived leadership effectiveness of the president. Specifically, the more the publics engage in positive discussion about the president on social media, the more they perceive him to be a better political leader, and vice-versa. The president’s leadership communication attributes of responsiveness and authenticity strongly and positively influenced perceived leadership effectiveness and the quality of government-public relationships. Publics’ evaluation of the president’s leadership effectiveness directly contributed to public trust and satisfaction toward the government. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.     

A Review of New Evaluation Models for Strategic Communication: Progress and Gaps

After identification of “stasis” in evaluation of strategic communication including public relations and corporate communication despite intensive focus for more than 40 years, recent initiatives in measurement and evaluation on three continents highlight a number of important advances in theory and practice. Although studies have identified a lack of standards and a narrow focus on “activities” and “outputs” in traditional evaluation models and literature, a two-year international study, which examined a number of recently developed evaluation frameworks and models and accompanying implementation guidelines, identifies several new concepts and dimensions in evaluation, along with some remaining gaps for further research. Based on content analysis of evaluation literature, interviews, and ethnography, this article reports four key findings of recent research and explains how these can contribute to theory-building and practice to transform the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public relations and corporate, government, organizational and marketing communication.     

移动互联时代邮政新媒体业务发展研究

文章阐述了我国广告市场布局现状及行业发展趋势,结合广东邮政新媒体业务发展情况,对邮政新媒体业务进行了SWOT分析,探讨了邮政新媒体业务的发展策略。     

Self-censorship on Internal Social Media: A Case Study of Coworker Communication Behavior in a Danish Bank

Internal social media (ISM) or social intranets provide organizations with a communication arena in which coworkers can actively contribute to organizational communication. Coworkers are, however, far from impulsive and spontaneous when they communicate on ISM. A case study in a Danish bank found that coworkers considered carefully the consequences of their posts or comments before publishing them. These coworkers perceived four different risks associated with ISM communication, and they used seven self-censorship strategies to ensure that both the content and the formulation of their communication were relevant and appropriate. Coworkers not only censor themselves by withdrawing, as previous studies have suggested, but they also postpone publishing content, phrase or frame content differently, imagine responses from organizational members, ask others for a second opinion, choose another channel, or write only positive comments. Through these seven self-censorship strategies, coworkers retain the quality of communication on ISM and prevent conflict or relational damage. Future research should explore the self-regulation strategies underlying self-censorship in order to improve understanding of the circumstances that increase the likelihood of responsible use of ISM. The potential dark side of self-censorship also requires exploration: when can self-censorship threaten coworkers’ freedom of expression, and develop into organizational silence?