Strategic Use Of Social Media Research Articles

The Influence of Social Media Marketing on Apparel Brands’ Customers’ Satisfaction: The Mediation of Perceived Value

The development of social media has changed traditional media by providing a platform to conduct marketing and advertising activities. Nowadays, social media offers the opportunity to build a relationship between customers and brands. The strategic use of social media marketing has significant importance for customers as well as for marketers. In this paper, the influence of social media marketing activities (SMMAs) is assessed on apparel brands’ perceived value and Chinese customers’ satisfaction. The data was collected through a quantitative survey-based approach from Chinese social media and apparel brands’ users (n = 355). The collected data from respondents were analysed through the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Hayes PROCESS macro. Based on our findings, it is noted that SMMAs play an essential role in improving the brand perceived value and customers’ satisfaction in China. Moreover, it is also concluded that the apparel brand’s perceived value significantly mediates the relationship between SMMAs and customers’ satisfaction. This study provides several theoretical and practical guidelines to the marketers in China to effectively implement their advertising activities on social media platforms.

A Social Media Analysis of the Gendered Representations of Female and Male Athletes During the 2018 Commonwealth Games

Contemporary sport culture is characterized as highly masculinized, where female athletes are continually marginalized in traditional media. Despite evidence suggesting that media representation of athletes has a meaningful impact on social outcomes and participation rates of women and girls, little is known about gendered representations of athletes on social media and in the context of mega-sporting events. This paper examines the gendered representations of athletes on Twitter during the 2018 Commonwealth Games using framing theory. A total of 133,338 tweets were analyzed using sentiment and word-frequency analyses. Results indicate gender differences concerning athlete representation on Twitter, albeit marginal. In particular, the findings reveal that seemingly neutral words (e.g., “dedicated,” “talented,” and “hard working”) could carry gendered connotations. Recommendations are provided to guide stakeholders to advance a more inclusive sport culture through the strategic use of social media during mega-sporting events.

Strategic communications: The Pakistan military’s use of social media against terrorism

This study examines the Pakistan military’s strategic use of social media in encouraging and sustaining public support for the ongoing war against terrorism in Pakistan. Its findings indicate that the military used significantly different types of strategic frames in response to a fast-changing, evolving security situation in the country. Framing was used strategically to facilitate public–military and people-to-people engagements. Motivational frames were the most dominant forms of communication used to generate dialogue between the military and the public in the war against terrorism and to enhance public participation in it. This study also indicates that different frames used by Pakistan’s military on social media significantly mediated military engagement with different segments of society during the critical phases of Pakistan’s ongoing war against terrorism.

Supporting Youth Activists? Strategic Use of Social Media

Social Networking Sites (SNS) provide a platform for engaging youth in activism (e.g., by helping mobilize civic action). While youth typically employ casual approaches to online activism (i.e., quick actions, such as broadcast posts to advertise social justice events), more strategic practices (i.e., those that are more creative and informed) can increase the likelihood of successful online campaigns. However, little work has examined how youth activists can be supported to use SNS more strategically. To address this research gap, we conducted interviews with youth activists, exploring how youth made sense of social network visualizations and their perspectives on how such tools could support their activism efforts. Our findings characterize how participants made inferences about followers? identities based on their hashtag use, and how they used those inferences in outreach decisions. We conclude with design implications for future research in this area.

Social Media Influencers' Effect on Chinese Gen Z Consumers

The objective of this paper is to explore the relationships between different types of Chinese social media influences and their use of short videos, and how that content is managed influence Chinese Generation Z consumers. Effective use of social media is a way for SMEs and new ventures to level the playing field and compete with established enterprises; it is cost effective and can target a very specific consumer demographic. Data was collected by online surveys of Gen Z Chinese self-described heavy social media users. The results of this study may be of particular interest to entrepreneurs who tend to be early adopters and who can most benefit from strategic use of social media advertising to locate and reach their target customers more efficiently and more effectively.

Social Media as Communication Strategy for Susi Pudjiastuti to Build Maritime Security Awareness in Indonesia

Indonesia faces a number of serious and urgent challenges in the area of maritime security; including, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, Maritime Plastic Pollution, and serious Transnational Organised Crimes such as human trafficking and forced labour. One figure in Indonesian politics stands out for her efforts to eradicate these crimes, Susi Pudjiastuti, the Indonesian Minister for Marine Affairs and Fisheries since 2014. Minister Pudjiastuti has been remarkable both for her enforcement of previously-unutilized laws to seize and destroy illegal vessels, and her use of social media to promote awareness and action within the general public. The thesis takes a mixed methodology approach to measure and analyse Pudjiastuti’s strategic use of social media as a key weapon in her fight against crime in the maritime sector. Through quantitative and qualititave analysis of Pujiastuti’s Instagram and Twitter posts, the thesis reveals a very high level of influence, awareness-raising and engagement with her message. Her innovative used of social media indicates a new paradigm of direct, transparent political engagement with the public that sets a high benchmark for other Indonesian leaders and politicians.
 
 Indonesia menghadapi sejumlah tantangan serius dan mendesak dalam sektor ketahanan laut. Termasuk penangkapan ikan dan masuknya kapal asing secara liar, polusi sampah plastik, hingga berbagai kejahatan transnasional yang terorganisir seperti perdagangan manusia, penyelundupan narkotika, dan kerja paksa. Salah seorang figur politisi Indonesia yang mencuri perhatian dunia dengan kegigihannya memberantas pelanggaran tersebut ialah Susi Pudjiastuti, Menteri Perikanan dan Kelautan Republik Indonesia, periode 2014-2019. Artikel ini meneliti tentang strategi komunikasi Susi Pudjiastuti dalam memanfaatkan media sosialnya sebagai strategi utama demi membangun kesadaran akan pentingnya ketahanan laut di Indonesia. Melalui pendekatan mixed-methodology, secara kuantitatif dan kualitatif, penelitian ini berfokus pada pengukuran dan analisa konten pesan serta interaksi yang ada di Instagram dan Twitter Susi Pudjiastuti. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori komunikasi pemerintah oleh Canel & Sanders, media baru oleh Marshall McLuhan, dan juga Humanistic Leadership Modeloleh Robert Blake dan Jane Mouton. Dalam penelitian ini ditemukan hasil bahwa Susi Pudjiastuti telah membuat sebuat inovasi komunikasi politik dalam tataran birokrasi Indonesia yang kini menjadi lebih dekat, bersifat langsung tanpa perantara, dan transparan. Temuan lainnya menyatakan bahwa yang dilakukan oleh Susi Pudjiastuti bahkan menjadi tolak ukur bagi politisi dan pemimpin lainnya.

Restaurants and social media: rethinking organizational capabilities and individual competencies

PurposeThe research and practice agree that social media are reshaping strategy and organization rules across industries. Nevertheless, how social media can become a source of competitive advantage remains under-investigated and there is no evidence about which capabilities and competencies can effectively and strategically exploit social media. By merging the literature on social media management and hospitality, the authors develop and test a theoretical framework that identifies the most relevant capabilities and competencies for using social media in the food service sector. The paper aims to map them and understand which ones are relevant according to different strategic choices of social media use.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews to managers or owners of 14 restaurants in a big city in Northern Italy.FindingsThe theoretical framework suggests that social media could be strategically used for different aims by relying on specific capabilities and competencies. The authors tested it and found that, though nowadays restaurant managers mainly focus on a narrow set of social media competencies linked to relational and marketing capabilities, some also rely on social media to promote organizational change and innovation.Originality/valueThe authors propose a theoretical framework and preliminary evidence on capabilities and competencies declined for the food service sector. The model considers different uses of social media and related capabilities and competencies by mapping them accordingly to their strategic use. The authors preliminarily validate our framework and highlight the competencies possessed by the restaurant managers of our sample and their alignment with the strategic use of social media.

Social Media Marketing Strategies: Air Arabia as a Study

Social media marketing is one of the best tools used by different companies to reach targeted customers. The main objective of the research was to assess social media marketing strategies in Air Arabia airlines and its productivity in interacting with potential and loyal clients. The study objectives include: to determine the social media marketing strategy used by Air Arabia and to assess the effectiveness of social media marketing strategic plans for current and future clients. The study adopted a qualitative approach. In order to attain the target, content analysis was used as the data collection method, which was taken from the social media channels reports provided by air Arabia social media executives. The data were thematically analyzed to gain a better understanding of the data collected. The study findings indicated that the company’s social media strategy is based on posting regular content that is mainly videos and photographs, with increased interaction on photos. The company’s Facebook account has the highest number of subscribers. The main reason for using social media marketing was to tap the new technology in their business, thus drawing in a pool of customers online. The study concluded that Air Arabia gained a competitive advantage over other airlines due to its strategic use of social media. Air Arabia’s main strategic plan for communicating with its customers was to build loyalty, thus increasing its competitive ability in the traveling industry. The main recommendation from the research is for Air Arabia to create its brand to the target market and listen actively to their clients online to expand its customer base. Overall, the social media strategy of Air Arabia is effective in achieving its goal.

Fostering Corporate Entrepreneurship with the use of social media tools

The strategic use of Social Media can leverage innovation, relationships with customers, and the entrepreneurial orientation of the firm, as it provides useful knowledge to find new opportunities for innovation. Despite the relevance of this phenomenon to current hyper-competitive environments, empirical research on the topic remains scarce. To advance knowledge of this issue, the main purpose of the paper is to examine how Social Media use impacts the different dimensions of Corporate Entrepreneurship. Building on a sample of 201 technological firms, findings confirm that the use of Social Media tools impacted all dimensions of Corporate Entrepreneurship and enhanced firm performance. This paper contributes to the literature by empirically confirming how Social Media use helps to create business value. The study results also have important implications for managers, as they show the pathway managers must follow to harness the benefits of Social Media use to become more entrepreneurial.

Unpacking the Antecedents of Crowdfunding Campaign’s Success: The Effects of Social Media and Innovation Orientation

We applied a capabilities view as the theoretical underpinning to investigate the integrative role of orientation (IO) and the strategic use of social media (SSM) on a firm’s crowdfunding campaign success (CFS). We suggest that IO promotes a firm’s ability to succeed with crowdfunding campaigns, and that this relationship is mediated by the SSM. To check our contentions, we surveyed professionals from 322 firms that conducted crowdfunding campaigns. For IO and SSM, we used preexisting scales, while for CFS we created and validated our own seven‐item scale. We found that IO alone does not fully account for CFS, but rather its effect is based on a firm’s ability to SSM. Our findings contribute to the literature on strategic entrepreneurship, media strategy, and public policy.

Examining the populist communication logic: Strategic use of social media in populist political parties in Norway and Sweden

Previous research has demonstrated that right-wing populist parties are particularly successful in gaining engagement and interaction on social media, but less is known about how rightwing populist parties use social media strategically, both in relation to voters and news media. By focusing on two Nordic countries, Norway and Sweden, this paper addresses the strategic use of social media within the Sweden Democrats and the Progress Party based on three different data sets: interviews, content analysis of Facebook posts, and engagement data from the parties’ Facebook pages. This study finds that the two populist parties basically follow up their social media strategy in practice, and the Sweden Democrats are more closely following a populist communication logic in their Facebook posts. The article argues that right-wing populist parties’ social media strategy and communication style must be understood in relation to their position in the political system and the parties’ different phases in the life cycle model of populist parties.

The good, the bad and the ugly: Three faces of social media usage by local governments

This article explores the determinants of local governments' use of social networking sites. It does so by analysing the relative impact of institutional, political and social determinants, while controlling for the impact of mayors' traits and social characteristics of municipalities on local governments levels of activity on Facebook. Empirically, this article presents a within-case analysis of Portuguese municipalities' activity on social media, aiming to shed light on the strategic use of social media by local governments. A coherent picture associated with politically pro-active local governments emerges from the results: higher levels of social media activity appear in municipalities with more competitive local elections and higher commitment to transparency. Moreover, findings suggest that local governments tend to be concerned with the low levels of voter turnout, potentially resorting to social media as a powerful tool to increase civic engagement and (offline) political participation. Levels of Facebook activity are significantly higher in larger and wealthier municipalities. The results indicate that Facebook official pages of municipalities are part of a larger arsenal of tools to promote political engagement and activity levels signal a propensity to involve citizens pro-actively.

Strategic use of digital promotion strategies among female emigrant entrepreneurs in UAE

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic use of social media and chat applications of women entrepreneurs to promote their businesses.Design/methodology/approachBecause of the nature of the study and dearth of sufficient data in the Middle Eastern society on the women entrepreneurship, this study employed a qualitative research methodology. The research comprised of 20 in-depth interviews with immigrant women entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates. They were identified through personal contacts and referrals.FindingsAll the expatriate women interviewed are using social media and chat applications to promote their business. Facebook is used for brand creation and WhatsApp is used as a direct marketing tool to evoke purchase response. Though traditional promotional tools are far from redundant, their role is more supplementary. The increasing trend is a combination of traditional tools and digital tools. Digital tools seem to have an upper hand in their business promotions.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to SME sector in one industry and in one country. The qualitative nature of this study could affect the generalizability of the results. A more extensive study is needed and future research should be more diverse including widening the selection of respondents, industries and countries.Originality/valueThis study is a novel attempt to gauge an in-depth understanding of modern communication tools. It looks specifically at the integrative strategies pursued by the immigrant women entrepreneurs using Facebook and WhatsApp.

Crowdfunding-campaign success: The effect of entrepreneurial orientation and social media

Using a capabilities view as a theoretical foundation, we examine the combinative role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and the strategic use of social media (SSM) on a firm’s success with crowdfunding endeavors (CFS). We proposed that EO may foster a firm’s ability to succeed in crowdfunding campaigns, and that this relationship is mediated by a firm’s strategic use of social media. To test these assertions, we surveyed professionals from 322 firms who have conducted crowdfunding campaigns. We created and validated our own 7-item scale for crowdfunding success whereas we used preexisting scales for EO and SSM to test our assertions. We found that EO alone cannot fully account for the success, but rather the manifestation of its effect derives from a firm’s strategic use of social media. These findings contribute to the literature on strategic entrepreneurship, innovation, media strategy, and public policy.

Strategic Use of Social Media in Tourism Marketing: A Comparative Analysis of Official Tourism Boards

Marketing has reached new heights with social media platforms. In the changing scenario of the service industry, tourism is seen to receive the most attention from customers, stakeholders and other sectors through social media. The development of communication technology has enriched social media marketing. In India, Facebook has taken a lead role because of its market outreach and user count. Different tourism associates use this medium to showcase their products and services. In this context, Kerala is way ahead in social media marketing strategies while Odisha is in the niece states. This paper aims to analyse the social media marketing strategies adopted by the Odisha tourism board and other tourism boards through a comparative analysis. The study suggests some strategic measures for Odisha tourism board to ensure the effective use of social media in tourism.

In Their Own Words: Political Practitioner Accounts of Candidates, Audiences, Affordances, Genres, and Timing in Strategic Social Media Use

This study inductively develops a new conceptual framework for analyzing strategic campaign communications across different social media platforms through an analysis of candidate social media strategies during the 2016 U.S. presidential election cycle. We conducted a series of open-ended, in-depth qualitative interviews with campaign professionals active during the 2016 presidential cycle. Our analysis revealed that scholars need to account for the ways that campaigns perceive their candidates in addition to the audiences, affordances, and genres of different social media platforms, as well as the timing of the electoral cycle, in order to effectively study strategic social media communication. Our findings reveal that campaigns proceed from perceptions of their candidates’ public personae and comfort with engagement on social media. Campaigns perceive that social media platforms vary according to their audiences, including their demographics and other characteristics; with respect to their affordances, actual and perceived functionalities; the genres of communication perceived to be appropriate to them; and the timing of the electoral cycle, which shapes messaging strategies and the utility of particular platforms. These factors shape how campaigns use social media in the service of their electoral goals. We conclude by developing these findings into an analytic framework for future research, arguing that researchers should refrain from automatically generalizing the results of single-platform studies to “social media” as a whole, and detailing the implications of our findings for future political communication research.

Ultimate Fighting Championship Fans: Foundations of Subcultural Stratification

ABSTRACTThe Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a professional mixed martial arts league around which a subculture of fans has developed. Using a theoretical framework for the study of collectives, this study explored foundations of social stratification within UFC subculture. Multiple modes of qualitative data were collected at a major UFC event. Social stratification was perceived by UFC fans as influenced by an individual's subcultural capital, reflected by their scope and mode of involvement in the UFC subculture; displays of UFC fandom through dress; expression through specialized mixed martial arts (MMA) discourse and knowledge; strategic social media use; and conduct at MMA events. This research also highlights the importance of digital technologies and mediated communication in studying contemporary leisure-centered subcultures.

The growing influence of social and digital media

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to devise and then test a theoretical model to illustrate the effects of the increasing importance of social media on consumer behavior and market equilibrium in differentiated food industries.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use game theory to model the strategic use of social media by firms producing high-value food products. The authors test the predictions of the theoretical model by means of a survey of 722 randomly selected Italian food consumers using an online questionnaire.FindingsThe model predicts that, as social media become more and more influential, consumers using the new media become more informed, and their concern about food quality attributes increases. At the same time, the consumers using mass media only receive less information and they prefer cheaper products to the high value one. As a result, the emergence of social media favours market segmentation and the hypotheses tested were: Social consumers are, on average, more informed than mass consumers and more concerned about environmental issues than mass consumers. The data support the theoretical model.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the debate about the impact of information from interested sources on market equilibrium, providing an innovative analysis of the role of social media.

Enhancing the Meaningfulness of Work for Astronauts on Long Duration Space Exploration Missions

Numerous authors have identified the stressors likely to be encountered on long duration space exploration missions (e.g., to Mars), including the possibility of significant crises, separation from family, boredom/monotony, and interpersonal conflict. Although many authors have noted that meaningful work may be beneficial for astronauts on these missions, none have detailed the sources of meaningful work for astronauts and how these sources may differ between astronauts. The present article identifies how engagement in meaningful work during long duration missions may mitigate the adverse effects of demands and increase the potential for benefits resulting from the missions. Semistructured interviews were conducted with nine NASA personnel, including astronauts, flight directors, and flight surgeons. Questions addressed sources of meaning for astronauts, characteristics of tasks that enhance vs. detract from meaning, and recommendations for enhancing meaning. Personnel mentioned contributing to humanity and the next generation, contributing to the mission, and exploration as the most meaningful aspects of their work. Characteristics of tasks that enhanced meaning included using a variety of skills, feeling personal control over their schedule, autonomy in the execution of tasks, and understanding the importance of the experiments conducted on the mission. Top recommendations to sustain meaning were insuring social needs were met through such activities as the strategic use of social media, giving astronauts autonomy as well as structure, and conducting training during transit. Implications are addressed for tailoring meaning-based interventions for astronauts participating on long duration missions and assessing the effectiveness of these interventions.Britt TW, Sytine A, Brady A, Wilkes R, Pittman R, Jennings K, Goguen K. Enhancing the meaningfulness of work for astronauts on long duration space exploration missions. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(8):779-783.

Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Social Media on New Product Creation: A Socialnomics view

Using a capabilities view as a conceptual underpinning, we examine the combinative role of entrepreneurial innovation (EO) and strategic use of social media (SSM) on a firm’s ability to introduce n...