Introduction
With the issue of sustainability attracting the attention of different stakeholders such as environmental activists, consumer groups, government agencies, corporations, and policymakers, chances are high that it will continue to affect different industries. Businesses that embrace the idea of conservation find it easier to meet their business partners’ needs. Corporations can make real commitments to sustainability by reducing energy consumption and wastes. This discussion explains how such undertakings and actions should be communicated using social media.
Sustainability and Social Media
Companies that introduce sustainability efforts in their business models will become competitive in their market segments. This is possible since the challenge of environmental degradation is currently affecting many societies and regions. Some of the initiatives that can be taken seriously by firms include reducing emissions, conserving energy, and minimizing wastes (Castello et al. 426). These actions must be supported by leaders, followers, and other stakeholders. Businesses can go further to encourage their customers, suppliers, and partners to embrace similar initiatives.
Once these aspects become part of an organization, it is necessary to communicate every action to different stakeholders. The use of social media platforms stands out as the best approach or gamble. In order to achieve positive results, the utilization of social media must be guided by a powerful plan. To begin with, corporations have to identify the right channel or media (Borne). After selecting the best platform such as Facebook.com, a company should compose suitable messages and captions or photographs to ensure that the targeted individuals are engaged. Celebrities can be considered in order to encourage more people to embrace similar sustainability practices. For example, H&M used a powerful approach to inform more people on Twitter about its efforts (Walker). It came up with the hashtag “WorldRecycleWeek” that featured a top musician in an attempt to encourage its customers to reuse or recycle their clothes.
Cortado and Chalmeta argue that companies that want to inform different people about their sustainability actions using social media must engage them in real-time (6). This means that information and photographs must be shared instantly. Customers or users of social media platforms will be able to follow each story and improve their practices. Borne encourages business leaders to embrace the power of more than one platform. For instance, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram, and Facebook can be used to engage many followers.
A study by Goldsmith revealed that many businesses relying on social media to communicate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) were using a unidirectional approach (45). This means that such companies were only sharing their stories with their customers and users without getting their responses. An effective communication model should, therefore, be structured in such a way that social media users can discuss, share, and exchange ideas with the targeted organization or leaders. The move can empower different companies to implement superior sustainability actions (Kahle and Gurel-Atay 72). Criticism should also be taken seriously in order to come up with better CSR models. Such communication strategies should also be improved continuously by identifying emerging social media networks and engaging more groups.
Conclusion
This discussion has revealed that many corporations are embracing the concept of environmental conservation. It would be appropriate for such companies to use social media efficiently in order to share and communicate their actions. This will be achieved by engaging more users and delivering the right content. Continuous improvements will also make the communication process effective.
Works Cited
Borne, Gregory. “Using Social Media to Communicate Sustainability.” Huffington Post, 2016, Web.
Castello, Itziar, et al. “Strategies of Legitimacy Through Social Media: The Networked Strategy.” Journal of Management Studies, vol. 53, no. 3, 2016, pp. 402-432.
Cortado, Francisco-Javier, and Ricardo Chalmeta. “Use of Social Networks as a CSR Communication Tool.” Cogent Business & Management, vol. 3, no. 1, 2016, pp. 3-18.
Goldsmith, Elizabeth. Social Influence and Sustainable Consumption. Springer Shop, 2015.
Kahle, Lynn R., and Eda Gurel-Atay. Communicating Sustainability for the Green Economy. Routledge, 2014.
Walker, Leon. “How to Use Social Media to Communicate Sustainability.” Environmental Leader, 2014, Web.