Fostering organizational intangible assets through strategic social media influencer communication

Abstract

Building trust among stakeholders has become a key issue for organizations and their strategic communication management. Trust is commonly viewed as one of the most essential organizational intangible assets and, thus, an important source of value for organizations. This reality merits further examination of how intangible assets can be fostered through strategic communication. A modern instrument for such efforts is strategic social media influencer communication, i.e., the utilization of social media influencers (SMIs) in the attainment of organizational strategic goals. In practice, such efforts are commonly understood as influencer marketing, where SMIs are used mainly as endorsers and the goal is to affect the purchase intentions of consumers. This study uses mixed methods and three sub-studies to examine how strategic SMI communication creates both opportunities and risks for organizations in fostering their intangible assets. Sub-study 1 examines the perceptions of four Finnish public sector organizations that engaged in strategic SMI communication during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The qualitative case study explores how these organizations argued for the use of SMIs, as well as their perceptions of possible risks and rewards introduced by strategic SMI communication. Sub-studies 2 (N = 302) and 3 (N = 250) focus on stakeholders and their perceptions. These quantitative studies examine possible positive and negative effects from strategic SMI communication on organizations and their intangible assets. The results indicate that organizations can foster their intangible assets through strategic SMI communication. In this context, SMIs can be viewed as agents of intangible assets for organizations, broadening the idea of SMIs as endorsers. This opens new avenues for understanding the nature and the possibilities of strategic SMI communication. Introducing SMI communication as a way of fostering intangible assets suggests that SMI communication covers more than just endorsements, expanding the opportunities of strategic SMI communication. The effects of strategic SMI communication are traced back to influencer capital, which can be harnessed to benefit organizations. Enhanced organizational intangible assets also reflect on the SMI and their influencer capital. However, eroding influencer capital can also hurt organizational intangible assets, and damaged organizational intangibles can affect influencer capital negatively. Therefore, it is suggested that strategic SMI communication entails a constant interplay between organizational intangibles and influencer capital, with both positive and negative effects for both. Strategic SMI communication, thus, appears to be a balancing act between the available risks and rewards, with these effects impacting not only organizations, but also SMIs and stakeholders.

Keywords: social media influencer; strategic communication; intangible assets