Exploring social media dialogic communication strategies in the oil and gas industry: practitioner, organization and audience perspectives

Purpose This study aims to investigate social media dialogic communication in the Canadian oil and gas (O&G) industry. It explores the perspectives of communication practitioners, actual company practices and stakeholder engagement, aiming to identify gaps between practitioner expectations, organizational strategies and audience interaction. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-method approach was used, involving 21 interviews with communication practitioners and a content analysis of 1,347 social media posts from O&G companies. The interviews provided qualitative insights into practitioners' views on dialogic communication, while the content analysis assessed actual practices and audience engagement of dialogic communication on Facebook. Findings Findings reveal diverse views among practitioners. Junior practitioners favor social media for dialog, emphasizing transparency and responsiveness, while senior practitioners express concerns due to the industry’s controversial nature. The content analysis showed companies prioritize information richness and personalization, but actual dialogic interaction (e.g. responding to audiences) is rare. Audience engagement (likes and shares) increases with dialogic content, though comments tend to decrease as messages become more dialogic. Originality/value This study extends the dialogic communication framework by incorporating industry-specific challenges. It proposes additional context-specific principles, such as personalization and third-party endorsement, to better fit social media and industry contexts. The research offers a comprehensive view of dialogic communication from the perspectives of practitioners, organizations and the public, providing insights for improving engagement strategies in controversial industries like O&G.