Author: Jing Yang
, Kelly Basile
and Olivia Letourneau
Summary:
Given the limited amount of research conducted to date on the content and effectiveness of social media-based CSR communication, this study has two core objectives. First, it explores which social media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube) leading companies use to communicate about CSR activities and the impact of this selection on brand equity. Second, this study further explores how brand equity is impacted by firms’s communications about specific types of CSR activities (environment, community, employee and customer) on differing social media platforms. The results suggest that leading organizations whom are crafting social media-based CSR campaigns in ways that link relevant content, social media platform and stakeholder interests have higher levels of brand equity. Further, the results suggest there are many untapped opportunities organizations have yet to take advantage of in terms of content and social media platforms used for CSR communications. This study provides a groundwork for future research on communicating specific dimensions of CSR activity, the best platform(s) for communicating these dimensions and the examination of how best to engage stakeholders through the interactive nature of social media resources.
