Paradox of Videos:Case Study of MNEs about the Challenges of Strategic Communication in Social Media

Though business studies of social media are mainly focused on large firms <br/>these studies do not prevent firms from the specific pitfalls of social media. <br/>Firms are operating densely and simultaneously in several marketing <br/>channels. Mainly their message leans on purely commercial purposes, but <br/>sometimes, the message contains strategies or values of the company. This <br/>study focuses on intentional and unintentional strategic communication on <br/>social media (SCSM) emphasizing the role of videos in SCSM. According to <br/>found “paradox of videos”, large firms provide videos, that are possible to <br/>interpret as “strategic videos”, but their popularity is minor – or even <br/>negative - among the audience. This multi-case study considers four <br/>companies and their multichannel strategizing and SCSM. Analysis reveals <br/>the importance of the attitudes of the “median customer” and the difficulty <br/>of having successful videos, which are focused on affecting the values of the <br/>customers. Sometimes successful SCSM and ROI of social media investments <br/>are even partly in the hands of consumers, consumer coopetition, and the <br/>other firm’s stakeholders.