Brand crisis communication through social media: A dialogue between brand competitors on Sina Weibo
Corporate Communications: An International Journal
ISSN: 1356-3289
Article publication date: 1 February 2016
Abstract
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.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study is sponsored by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities” in UIBE (Grant No. 14YB18), and also supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of the Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 14YJC740010). The author is grateful to Michael Goodman and Christina Genest for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Citation
Wang, Y. (2016), "Brand crisis communication through social media: A dialogue between brand competitors on Sina Weibo", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 56-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-10-2014-0065
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited