International
Trends on CSR
ASIA
by Jeffrey Ying
[email protected]
Social Media: a Natural Fit for CSR Communications
E ff e c t i v e e n g a g e m e n t a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h
stakeholders is the cornerstone of any CSR strategy.
However, businesses have typically struggled to ?nd the
appropriate methods of engagement to ensure the right
level of participation and feedback from stakeholders.
The current shortcoming of CSR or sustainability
communications is that they are usually one-sided with little
to no engagement. This could lead to information being
communicated which may not be relevant to what your
stakeholders want to know. It's hard to cater to everyone's
interests and trying to ?t everything into one Sustainability
Report can create an information overload. The other
downside is that your stakeholders don't want to hear just
the good things that happened over the past year, they also
want to know what challenges the company is facing. Better
yet, they want to voice their concerns directly to the
company and have them addressed.
Over the past few years, businesses have taken advantage
of social media in their marketing and brand strategy, using
it effectively to mobilize customers and to promote their
image. Social media offers businesses a direct link to their
customers and it gives customers an open platform to the
company. As usage of social media continues to increase,
many businesses are seeing the bene?ts this has for their
brand if utilized effectively. Yet it is not just communications
and marketing experts who are taking notice of social
media; those who are involved with sustainability
communications are seeing the advantages too.
Seventh Generation, a United States company which sells
cleaning and personal care products, has developed a
successful social media strategy around their sustainability
communications. 'Seventh Generations Twitter account
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