Decoding the employee influencer on social media: applying Taylor’s six segment message strategy wheel

Abstract

Purpose The paper aims to examine how employees influence their employer’s brand by applying Taylor’s (1999) six segment message strategy wheel in an employee influencer context. Design/methodology/approach The research uses a content analysis of employees’ public social media posts – including captions and images – to analyze the message strategies employees use to promote their employers. Findings While ego and social were popular message strategies in both the images and captions, the findings evidence the varying message strategies employees use in text-based versus image-based messages. Four “imagined audiences” of employee influencers are identified: current customers, prospective customers, current employees and prospective employees. Research limitations/implications The research provides insight into how employees act as influencers in building their employer brand on social media. Practical implications A unique measurement tool is developed that can be used by companies and future researchers to decode employees’ online communications. Originality/value This research contributes to theory and practice in the following important ways. First, the research provides a modernization of an existing framework from an offline setting to an applied industry context in an online setting. Second, this research focuses on a subtype of social media influencer, the employee influencer, which is an underdeveloped area of research. Third, a unique measurement tool to analyze text-based and image-based social media data is developed that can be used by companies and future researchers to decode employees’ online communications.

The impact of employees’ social media advocacy on attitudes toward the brand: the mediating role of parasocial relationships

“…Given that employees are considered a subtype of social media influencer (Jacobson et al, 2023), the mechanisms involved in influencer marketing are also expected to apply to the domain of employee advocacy. It is thus proposed that informative value positively affects an employee advocate's credibility, which leads to the following hypothesis:…”

“…Social media influencers may lack truthfulness, sincerity and transparency (Lee and Eastin, 2021), which results in reduced trust by associated companies and their followers, whereas employees as influencers are known for contributing to the reputation, image and brand of an organization (Ruck et al , 2017). Employees can thus be considered a subtype of social media influencer (Jacobson et al , 2023) and have recently been recognized by marketers as an organization’s internal resource. As key internal stakeholders, employees fulfill boundary-spanning responsibilities within an organization through their active involvement in communicative actions (Lee and Dong, 2023) and use of social media platforms.…”

Influence of social media influencers and testimonials on consumer attitudes and purchase decisions for Scarlett Whitening products

“…Marketing via social media is used when a company wants to direct marketing efforts to specific individuals called influencers (Biaudet, 2017;Glucksman, 2017). These influencers are aligned with brand values and are used by companies to find potential customers (Jacobson et al, 2023). Apart from that, influencers also provide new information and have the ability to influence the attitudes and behavior of other people, including helping potential customers make purchasing decisions.…”