Corporate brand communication: beyond-modern realities in a social media landscape

Abstract

This article contributes theoretically to corporate brand communication literature by identifying the realities of corporate brand communication practices in a beyond-modern and social media landscape. It is widely acknowledged that the advent of the internet has created distinct opportunities to connect and communicate with stakeholders. Yet endeavours to explore the opportunities to employ corporate brand communication in a social media landscape to achieve differentiation and awareness of the corporate brand are limited. The proposed combination of two brand orientations as perceived by Balmer (2013), namely corporate brand and total corporate communication, and the resultant broadening of these views to a corporate brand communication orientation in a social media context could address this gap. Finally, a comparison is drawn between the total corporate communication outlook and the contemporary corporate brand communication orientation to illustrate the various points of contact available to the organisation in a social media landscape.