Category Archives: KEYSTONES’ blog

Branding with social media

BrandingThe phenomenon of brand building activities through social networks has received little academic attention, above all in the media industry. We tried to shed light on branding approaches for media companies in interactive times. It notably appears crucial to understand the way in which media firms can maintain a consistent brand identity in current conditions. 

The case of RTS, the Swiss French speaking public radio and television broadcaster has been analyzed. The study focuses on the creation of a new job position, the digital communication manager, and analyses the managerial implications that the introduction of this figure brings to media companies.

Results suggest that the loss of control over brands should be taken into account by firms when interacting online. Public service media companies have to take the lead in term of online content production policies as their brand identity will otherwise be affected. The change of paradigm brought by social media implies a better understanding and a pro-active use of technology from monitoring to branding. 

To know more about the topic, please check this article “Branding with Social Media at RTS” by Cinzia Dal Zotto, Stéphane Matteo and Giulia Spolaor, published in Mike Friedrichsen and Wolfgang Mühl-Benninghaus (eds.) “Handbook of Social Media Management”, Springer 2012.