Fashion bloggers' discourse on brands under corporate crisis: a netnographic research in Portugal

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Casais ◽  
Lucilene Ribeiro Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Crisis Events ◽  
Brand Crisis ◽  
Corporate Crisis ◽  
Crisis Situations

PurposeThis paper focuses on the analysis of fashion blog activity regarding brands under corporate crisis situations and discusses how these opinion leaders may be agents of corporate crisis management.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyzed four influential Portuguese fashion blogs regarding eight fashion brands that had experienced a corporate crisis situation. In total, five of the selected brands were mentioned in 2.846 posts of blog content, whose discourse was deeply analyzed.FindingsThe absence of express reference to brand crisis suggests that fashion bloggers tend to ignore these crisis events or divert the readers' attention to the brands' more positive aspects. This result opens the discussion whether fashion bloggers downplay corporate crisis in brand equity or whether it expresses strategies of brand crisis communication through digital influencers.Originality/valueThough social media may be a source of negative word-of-mouth, social media influencers have been considered important partners of corporate crisis communication in particularly challenging times. Many studies have focused on the role of social media influencers in crisis management, but there was a dearth of research on the specific case of blogs. This study contributes to the understanding of fashion bloggers as agents of brand communication, particularly regarding crisis management and their role on brand activation and positive electronic word-of-mouth, even under crisis situations. This contribution paves the way for future research on whether this is a spontaneous phenomenon or the reflection of possible partnerships between companies and fashion bloggers for the management of corporate crisis situations in the context of fashion brands.

Brand crisis communication through social media

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Brand Management ◽  
The Body ◽  
Advertising Campaign ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Brand Crisis ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Corporate Crisis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how companies make use of social media communication to turn crises into opportunities and how consumers respond to this brand management strategy, and evaluate the effects of this kind of advertising campaign. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses the textual analysis method to examine the verbal fight between two brand competitors on Sina Weibo. An interpretative analysis approach is adopted to analyze a series of micro-blog messages and relevant responses and comments. A statistical analysis is conducted to reveal the public opinion on this case. Findings – The brand crisis due to trademark dispute has been successfully turned into an advertising campaign, which received eager and favorable responses from the consumers. In the name of making apologies, the company in crisis availed itself of the Weibo platform to make a veiled protest against the verdict of the Court. The technique “acting cute” was proved to be effective in diminishing the negative effect of a brand crisis and winning public sympathy and support. Research limitations/implications – The research findings may provide insights into the interplay between brand advertising and corporate crisis communication on the platform of social media. Practical implications – This study can inform practitioners of useful techniques to deal with brand crises via social media. Originality/value – The value of this study lies not only in its contribution to the body of knowledge on online crisis management with a case of Chinese companies, but also in its validation of the interplay between crisis communication and advertising.

scholarly journals Corporate crises in the digital world: what went wrong with Chipotle?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie McGuinty
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Corporate Crisis

The practice of crisis communication has evolved since the rise of digital technologies and social media. Defined as an unexpected and non-routine event with high levels of uncertainty, crisis management plans and strategies are essential for organizations’ successes. Failure to strategically manage crises through both traditional and digital media may result in significant damages and losses. This MRP examines a recent corporate crisis - the case of Chipotle Mexican Grill during the 2015-2016 E. coli outbreak across the United-States - and looks at how the social media strategy (namely Twitter) influenced the outcome of the case. Using a combination of data analytics, company financials, and theoretical frameworks, this research brings to light the importance of measuring online data, and makes suggestions on how companies may use social media to manage various types of crises. Keywords: crisis communication, crisis theory, crisis management, crisis strategies, image repair, social media, crisis and technology, brand equity

Motivations of guests contributing sWOM on social media: a case in Vietnam

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Thi Thanh Ha ◽  
Vo Thanh Thu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Opinion Leadership ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Marketing Managers ◽  
Restaurant Managers

PurposeThis paper examines whether guests contribute sWOM (social word of mouth) on different SNSs (social networking sites) regarding various personal motivations. SNSs have changed the way guests eat and experience their food and dishes. Marketing managers have effectively targeted SNSs as a marketing tool, yet have little research about drivers of guests' sWOM contribution on SNSs has been done. A model including the significant motives: (1) experiences, (2) opinion leadership, (3) reflection of self and (4) need for unique is tested to investigate their positive effects on contribution behavior of social media guests.Design/methodology/approachThe data collected from 411 guests by using the snowball method was used for analysis. The structural equation modeling was applied to examine the relationships among the constructs and test the eight proposed hypotheses.FindingsResults reveal that experiences, opinion leadership, reflection of self and need for unique were positively associated with contributing sWOM of restaurants. Furthermore, those who have positive experiences tend to be opinion leadership and reflection of self. And guests who show reflection of self, they are more likely to have opinion leaders and show need for uniqueness. Our study expands the existing frameworks of sWOM contribution by identifying various motivations and labeling sWOM. Findings provide restaurant managers with managerial implications for online marketing strategies on SNSs to attract sWOM contribution among guests.Research limitations/implicationsIt has some limitations while discovering the motivations of positive sWOM contribution. First, we only focused on the motivation of contributing positive sWOM, while negative sWOM received many arguments in changing attitudes toward buying products or services. Second, we collected data in Vietnam only without comparing with different countries. Future research could explore further cross-cultural perspectives to fill the gap. Third, this study explored sWOM contribution in service environment, sWOM contribution from service context may be slightly different from those of product brands.Practical implicationsThese findings highlight the motivations of sWOM contribution that restaurant managers must recognize and make use of it. SNSs have given power to consumers to post everything at anytime and anywhere they like, therefore restaurant managers need to deeply understand why their consumers contribute sWOM. In digital era, customers and guests have become the ultimate tools for promoting product or service brands. The marketing managers should create an online platform in order to facilitate their consumers to discuss their brand frequently (Charu et al., 2018). Restaurants should have policies to push positive eWOM maximally and also reduce advertising costs.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies on sWOM contribution of what motivate guests to contribute their sWOM on SNSs. Theoretically, this study offers deep insights into the links between various motivations and sWOM in foodservice context. Managerially, understanding these motivations allow marketing managers create effective policies that motivate guests to contribute positive word of mouth.

scholarly journals Evolution of corporate reputation during an evolving controversy

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyoung Chung ◽  
Mark Chong ◽  
Jie Sheng Chua ◽  
Jin Cheon Na
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Corporate Reputation ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Corporate Crisis ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the evolution of online sentiments toward a company (i.e. Chipotle) during a crisis, and the effects of corporate apology on those sentiments.Design/methodology/approachUsing a very large data set of tweets (i.e. over 2.6m) about Company A’s food poisoning case (2015–2016). This case was selected because it is widely known, drew attention from various stakeholders and had many dynamics (e.g. multiple outbreaks, and across different locations). This study employed a supervised machine learning approach. Its sentiment polarity classification and relevance classification consisted of five steps: sampling, labeling, tokenization, augmentation of semantic representation, and the training of supervised classifiers for relevance and sentiment prediction.FindingsThe findings show that: the overall sentiment of tweets specific to the crisis was neutral; promotions and marketing communication may not be effective in converting negative sentiments to positive sentiments; a corporate crisis drew public attention and sparked public discussion on social media; while corporate apologies had a positive effect on sentiments, the effect did not last long, as the apologies did not remove public concerns about food safety; and some Twitter users exerted a significant influence on online sentiments through their popular tweets, which were heavily retweeted among Twitter users.Research limitations/implicationsEven with multiple training sessions and the use of a voting procedure (i.e. when there was a discrepancy in the coding of a tweet), there were some tweets that could not be accurately coded for sentiment. Aspect-based sentiment analysis and deep learning algorithms can be used to address this limitation in future research. This analysis of the impact of Chipotle’s apologies on sentiment did not test for a direct relationship. Future research could use manual coding to include only specific responses to the corporate apology. There was a delay between the time social media users received the news and the time they responded to it. Time delay poses a challenge to the sentiment analysis of Twitter data, as it is difficult to interpret which peak corresponds with which incident/s. This study focused solely on Twitter, which is just one of several social media sites that had content about the crisis.Practical implicationsFirst, companies should use social media as official corporate news channels and frequently update them with any developments about the crisis, and use them proactively. Second, companies in crisis should refrain from marketing efforts. Instead, they should focus on resolving the issue at hand and not attempt to regain a favorable relationship with stakeholders right away. Third, companies can leverage video, images and humor, as well as individuals with large online social networks to increase the reach and diffusion of their messages.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to empirically investigate the dynamics of corporate reputation as it evolves during a crisis as well as the effects of corporate apology on online sentiments. It is also one of the few studies that employs sentiment analysis using a supervised machine learning method in the area of corporate reputation and communication management. In addition, it offers valuable insights to both researchers and practitioners who wish to utilize big data to understand the online perceptions and behaviors of stakeholders during a corporate crisis.

scholarly journals Corporate crises in the digital world: what went wrong with Chipotle?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie McGuinty
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Corporate Crisis

The practice of crisis communication has evolved since the rise of digital technologies and social media. Defined as an unexpected and non-routine event with high levels of uncertainty, crisis management plans and strategies are essential for organizations’ successes. Failure to strategically manage crises through both traditional and digital media may result in significant damages and losses. This MRP examines a recent corporate crisis - the case of Chipotle Mexican Grill during the 2015-2016 E. coli outbreak across the United-States - and looks at how the social media strategy (namely Twitter) influenced the outcome of the case. Using a combination of data analytics, company financials, and theoretical frameworks, this research brings to light the importance of measuring online data, and makes suggestions on how companies may use social media to manage various types of crises. Keywords: crisis communication, crisis theory, crisis management, crisis strategies, image repair, social media, crisis and technology, brand equity

Understanding the relationships between social media influencers and their followers: the moderating role of closeness

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 767-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Taillon ◽  
Steven M. Mueller ◽  
Christine M. Kowalczyk ◽  
Daniel N. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Purchase Intentions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Moderating Role

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to better understand the role of closeness and the relationships between social media influencers and their followers, and, more specifically, how social media influencers can effectively manage their human brands. Design/methodology/approach Two studies were conducted to explore social media influencers. Qualitative content analysis and modeling with path analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings Results found attractiveness and likeability to positively predict attitudes toward the influencer, word-of-mouth and purchase intentions, whereas similarity only predicted word-of-mouth from the follower. Closeness served as a moderator but had different effects. Closeness positively moderated the effect of attractiveness on purchase intentions; however, it had a negative effect with similarity on purchase intentions. Moreover, closeness moderated the effect of likeability on attitude toward the influencer. Research limitations/implications This study was limited by the student sample as well as the students’ self-identification of a social media influencer. Future research should include experimental design manipulating well-known/followed or fictional social media influencers on different social media. Practical implications This paper explores the characteristics of social media influencers as well as the potential outcomes associated with influencers on social media. The implications for marketers and advertisers include a better understanding of how consumers engage with influencers on social media. Originality/value The role of closeness is identified as a moderator of consumers’ behaviors toward social media influencers.

Why did I buy this?

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Jacobsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Purchase Behavior ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Recommendation ◽  
Product Outcome ◽  
Post Purchase ◽  
Purchasing Process

Purpose This paper aims to develop a link between word-of-mouth and attribution of credit or blame following a purchase. Attribution is important because it can affect repurchase behavior, loyalty and word-of-mouth; therefore, understanding who receives credit or blame for a purchase outcome following a product recommendation is critical. Design/methodology/approach Through three studies, how recommendation context affects attribution of credit or blame to consumers, reviewers and retailers is experimentally examined. These studies test the thesis that context factors that are independent of the product recommendation can affect how consumers assign responsibility for the product’s performance. Findings Results demonstrate that while consumers trust online reviews, the addition of reviewer incentives diminish that trust, especially when a consumer identifies with the retailer. Findings show support for retailers using online reviews and provide evidence for using caution when incentivizing reviewers. Research limitations/implications This study makes a theoretical connection between word-of-mouth (reviews) and attribution. As this connection is not seen often in the literature, future research should look at the role the recommender plays in the purchasing process. This study forced participants to attribute a purchase success/failure to certain parties to find a baseline with which to begin. Future studies should look at this process as more spontaneous. It may not always occur or possibly only occur for certain types of purchases or experiences. Practical implications Retailers should be continuing to use online reviews as they provide protection from blame and an increase in credit for successful outcomes. This study also provides evidence that incorporating social media into online reviews as many sites have been doing may actually backfire. While it might be more helpful to the consumer, it can increase blame to the retailer. Reviewers are receiving incentives more frequently, and this study finds that loyal consumers should not be shown incentivized reviews as it heightens blame after a negative outcome. Social implications While attribution has been found to be an important part of the purchasing process, it has not been looked at in relationship to word-of-mouth/electronic word-of-mouth (offline/online reviews). Knowing that who recommends a product to us impacts post-purchase behavior is important, as online reviews are utilized more frequently. Many social media strategies have been implemented without information as to how the retailer themselves will be impacted. This study provides evidence of how to better utilize online reviews. Originality/value Though online reviews have been studied widely, less is known about how reviews and product recommendations affect attribution of credit or blame for a post-purchase outcome. The theoretical link between word-of-mouth and product outcome attribution provided here will help guide future research in this area.

eWOM in the performing arts: exploratory insights for the marketing of theaters

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Hausmann ◽  
Lorenz Poellmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Arts Marketing

Purpose – Word of mouth (WOM) plays an important role for the decision process of customers. This is especially interesting for service-dominant organizations like theaters where quality is more difficult to evaluate. In times of social media, third party recommendations can be given much more quickly, effectively and in greater detail. However, up to now not much has been researched on electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in a performing arts marketing context. The purpose of this paper is to provide some first exploratory insights into this research area. Design/methodology/approach – To do so, a literature review is conducted to clarify the concept of eWOM and the relevance of recommendations in the performing arts. Then, parts of the results of an online survey on Facebook with 16 German theaters and their fans will be presented. Finally, the implications of the study results for theater marketing are considered and ideas for future research are discussed. Findings – The study results confirm that recommendations have a high relevance for theatergoers and are very relevant in a social media context. They also show that the trustworthiness of eWOM on social media depends on the familiarity between the message sender and receiver. However, the results are limited with regard to the research design. Therefore, this paper concludes with ideas for further research. Originality/value – All in all, though the study’s focus is narrow, this paper fills a research gap in the performing arts. In doing so, the understanding of the phenomenon and its importance for arts marketing will be enhanced.

scholarly journals Crisis Communication Preparedness Practices Among U.S. Charitable Organizations: Results From a National Survey

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110145
Author(s):  
Ryan P. Fuller ◽  
Antonio La Sala
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Negative Word ◽  
Organizational Crisis ◽  
Crisis Planning ◽  
Charitable Organizations ◽  
Major Stakeholder

Organizations should prepare for crises, through identifying crisis concerns, having written crisis communication plans, and designating teams for crisis planning and response, for example. Nonprofit organizations, which represent an important sector of U.S. society, are no different in needing to prepare, but to date, a review of their crisis communication preparedness is lacking. Therefore, a national online survey of 2,005 U.S. charitable organizations was administered to determine nonprofit organizations’ adoption of an anticipatory perspective of crisis management. The anticipatory perspective shifts the organization’s focus from reaction to crises to anticipation of them. According to the survey, 75% of organizations reported at least one organizational crisis in the 24 months prior to taking the survey (circa 2017–2019). Loss of a major stakeholder was the most common organizational crisis that had occurred and the greatest future concern. Most nonprofits (97.5%) reported implementing some crisis communication preparedness tactics. Importantly, charitable organizations can enact communication preparedness tactics without significantly detracting from program delivery. Moreover, given the general concerns within the sector, nonprofit organizations should prepare specifically for loss of a major stakeholder and technologically created crises such as data breaches and negative word of mouth on social media.

The Value of Brand Fans during a Crisis: Exploring the Roles of Response Strategy, Source, and Brand Identification

2021 ◽  
pp. 232948842199969
Author(s):  
Hayoung Sally Lim ◽  
Natalie Brown-Devlin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Brand Identification ◽  
Communication Source ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Selection Of

Using a two (crisis response strategy: diminish vs. rebuild) × three (source: brand organization vs. brand executive vs. brand fan) experimental design, this study examines how brand fans (i.e., consumers who identify with a brand) can be prompted to protect a brand’s reputation during crises and how the selection of a crisis spokesperson can influence consumers’ evaluations of the crisis communication. Being buffers for their preferred brands, brand fans are more likely to accept their brand’s crisis response and engage in positive electronic word-of-mouth on social media. Brand fans are more likely to evaluate other brand fan’s social media accounts as a credible crisis communication source, whereas those who are not brand fans are more likely to evaluate brand and/or brand executives as credible. Findings provide theoretical applications in paracrisis literature pertaining to social media but also practical implications for brand managers to strategically utilize brand fans in crisis communication.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document