HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

By: Emily Mafa

Businesses and companies of the 21^st Century are at both advantaged and disadvantaged positions concerning social media. In what we call a “digital age”, it is difficult for organisations, both big and small, to control all its communication messages. The communication of an organisation goes beyond the send message to recipient and get feedback, the chain is rather far more complicated than that.  Consider this scenario, for example:

One of the country’s largest and successful cosmetics company launches a new skin care product. The company’s marketing and advertisement departments team up to promote this product and get their clients to know more about it. The advert gets approved and is on 10 billboards nationwide. The slogan of the skin care product reads “Lighter Shades, Better Days”. It causes uproar about skin colour stereotypes on social media, upsetting a huge clientele and other stakeholders. The Advertising Standards Association of South Africa (ASA or  ASASA) receives countless letters of complaints and investigates the matter and thereafter gives the company a certain period of time to remove all its adverts of that product.

Within the complex chain of communication, there are different types of messages, planned messages, product messages, unplanned messages and service messages as explained by Rachel Barker and George Angeloupulo, authors of Integrated Organisational Communications. Corporate Communications comes in handy for all types of messages, but it has to be strategic. In the case of the scenario, the major crisis is caused by an unplanned message which is the interpretation of the slogan. It is important that while the issue is at debacle, the company should maximise the opportunity available on social media. Yes, that is a neat way to say, the PR strategy should kick in full force. How does an organisation do this through social media?

1.    Get a social media coordinator

Thami Mathenjwa, a communication’s officer who specialises in consumers’ relations division in Johannesburg Road’s Agency says organisation should have a team social media coordinators. These are people who are responsible for online communications with the company’s different stakeholders. A full-time social media coordinator is preferred over a part-time website administrator who also holds other communication duties in the organisation. Social media coordinators do not just update information on Twitter and Facebook, they also have direct communication with the public. They are able to give and receive information, which makes communication two-sided.

2.    Address the issues that are always raised on social media

Addressing issues that are raised on social media not only benefits the public but the organisation as well. By taking the consumers’ queries seriously, the organisation builds a positive image for itself. In a case such as that of the above scenario, while the issue is investigated, people may still express their outrage at the billboard adverts. It would be wise for a PR team to release a statement on social media about the matter. The statement should also highlight what the organisation is doing about the complaints it has received and also apologise for any inconveniences.

3.    Channel the issues to the right internal stakeholders

It is important to send messages to the right departments. If a query about the products’ slogan persists, the advertising and marketing and public relations departments are the internal stakeholders who should receive these messages, not the CEO’s personal assistant who already receives numerous emails for various stakeholders. If a message is sent directly to the right department, they will provide a solution that addresses the problem. The social media coordinator must therefore act as a mediator between these departments and the public. He or she will distribute these communication messages on the social networks.

4.    Update the social network pages with relevant information

While it is important to maintain continuous communication with the public, it is important that communication should be effective. If there is no progress in resolving a matter, it does not help to update a status telling the public that “management is looking into it”.  The public prefers to know what management is ‘looking into”, what they have identified and what strategies are put into place. 

References:

Angeloupulo, G., Barker, R. 2006. Integrated Organisational Communication. Second edition. Cape Town: Juta