ECREA16-Abstract

479

Thursday, November 10

1 4 : 3 0 – 1 6 : 0 0

OSC03

Engage, Involve, Activate

PP 164

Engaging Stakeholders Online: Changes in Social Media Strategies for Relationship Building and Effects on User Interaction

M. Johann

, K. Tonndorf

, C. Wolf

University of Passsau, Chair of Computer-Mediated Communication, Passau, Germany

University of Leipzig, Institute of Communication and Media Studies, Leipzig, Germany

Social media platforms have become an inherent part of strategic communication. Since years, research indicates growing relevance: In 2014, 63 % of Eu‑

ropean communication professionals rated social media as important tool; in 2015, 56 % of them believed it to be effective to understand and engage

stakeholders (Zerfaß et al. 2014; Zerfaß et al. 2015). According to this, social media has been a constant object of strategic communication researched in

many countries. A systematic journal analysis shows: These studies often focus on political communication (Chen, 2010) or specific types of organizations

(e.g. nonprofit organizations, universities) (Curtis et al., 2010; Nah & Saxton, 2012; Jin, Lui & Austin, 2011). In addition, research mostly draws on a commu‑

nicator perspective, neglecting the (potential) influence of different strategies on user interaction and participation (Fink, Zerfaß, & Linke, 2011, Lovejoy &

Saxton, 2012, McCorkindale, 2010; Wright & Hinson, 2011). Hence, in this paper, we refer to dialogue as an instrument of strategic communication (Grunig

& Hunt, 1984; Kent 2011; Thummes & Malik, 2015). We distinguish three main strategies for social media relationship building: transparency, dialogue ori‑

entated communication, and platform adapted communication style (Scott, 2010;Waters et al., 2009; Zerfaß & Pleil, 2012, Zerfaß, 1996; Authors 2014) and

we are interested in their influence on user interaction. Although Germany is one of the biggest markets in Europe, strategic social media communication

has not been researched extensively there. Therefore, we conducted two quantitative content analysis for the German market (2012 and 2015; universe:

companies ranked by the Manager Magazine Image Profile 2011 and 2014; N2012 = 70 and N2015 = 99 general (active) facebook fanpages; further for

each fanpage a sample of 50 company posts including 10 comments and 50 user posts including 10 comments). We investigated the strategies of relation‑

ship building (indices for openness, dialogue orientation, and communication style), especially drawing attention to differences between 2012 and 2015

(RQ1). Second, we tested effects: The more the strategy of relationship management is implemented, the bigger is the number of fans (H1); the more

the strategy of relationship management is implemented, the bigger is the intensity of user interaction (measure by an interaction index: likes + (shares*2)

+ (commentaries*4) + (user posts*6) ) (H2). While the indices for openness (m2012=9,6; m2015=10,6 out of 20) and dialogue (m2012= 3,9; m2015=

4,6 out of 12) have increased, the adapted communication style (m2012=4,9; m2015=4,0 out of 9) has decreased.The results for both waves of the content

analysis show that only dialogue oriented communication influences both the number of fans and the interaction index positively. Furthermore, values for

openness show a negative correlation for the number of fans and indicate no influence on the interaction index. To sum up: Although a dialogue orientated

communication strategy affords more resources than the other two strategies, it is the only one with a positive influence on the number of fans and their

interaction and engagement with the fanpage. Hence, for relationship building, this can be seen as the most effective tool in social networks.

PP 165

Curated Images: Using Visual Social Media to Increase Engagement Among Employees in a Public Organisation

Å. Thelander

, C. Cassinger

Lund University, Strategic communication, Helsingborg, Sweden

Visual social media platforms are currently embedded in organisational communication to create bottom-up involvement among internal and external pub‑

lics (Heide, 2015). Participatory strategies based on producing and sharing images have been adopted by different organizations and in various settings, not

least for marketing purposes. There are high expectations on what visual social media can accomplish with reference to creating novel images of the organ‑

isation and engagement among employees and other stakeholders. Despite the rapid spread of this type of communication strategies, however, few studies

scrutinise whether or how the use of visual social media actually creates engagement and leads to an improved reputation.The aim of this research project is

to examine experiences of participating in strategic communication at a visual social media platform and to analyse the implications of such strategy for em‑

ployee engagement in the organisation. The questions we raise concern: 1) users experience of participating in a communication strategy involving visual

social media 2) the participants’rationale for taking, selecting and publishing photographs on Instagram 3) the implications of the strategy for engagement

among employees. Thus, we are interested in examining the conditions of participation in organisational life at social media platforms and how employees

experience co-creating meanings, values and associations of a public organisation. The theoretical framework of the study comprises visual communication

studies, more specifically theories on personal photography, social practice and organizational communication. The study consists of a qualitative single

case study of an Instagram rotation curation account belonging to a major hospital in Sweden. Each week a different employee curates the hospital’s official

Instagram account and portray the workplace through his or her own images. Photo elicitation interviews (Harper, 2002) are conducted with fifteen par‑

ticipants in the project. In the analysis we focus on the practices of taking and sharing photographs on Instagram and how participants plan and perform

these tasks. The findings extend our previous argument of how the logic of visual social media influences citizens’photographic practice in imaging the city

(Cassinger and Thelander, 2015). This paper contributes to the existing literature on organisational communication involving social media by highlighting

the social conventions that guide participation in communication campaigns involving visual social media and their implications for increasing levels of en‑

gagement among employees in organisational life. References Cassinger, C. and Thelander, Å. (2015). ’Rotation curation on Instagram: How digital naturals

participate in city imaging’. In T. Coombs, J. Falkheimer, M. Heide, and P. Young (eds.) Strategic Communication, Social Media and Democracy: The Challenge

of the Digital Naturals. Abingdon and NewYork, NY: Routledge. Harper, D. (2002). ‘Talking about Pictures: A Case for Photo Elicitation’, Visual Studies 17 (1):

13–26. Heide, M. (2015). ’Social intranets and internal communications: dreaming of democracy on participation’. In T. W. Coombs, J. Falkheimer, M. Heide,

and P. Young (eds.) Strategic Communication, Social Media and Democracy: The challenge of the digital naturals. Abingdon and New York, NY: Routledge.