Mining Company's Social Media Campaign: Analysis and Recommendations

This report analyzes the failure of a mining company's social media campaign, exploring the reasons behind the negative public reaction and backlash. It identifies the issues related to the company's approach to social sustainability and its engagement with stakeholders. The report delves into the theoretical underpinnings of the problem, applying perspectives of Neohumanism and Radical Structuralism to understand the organizational dynamics. It also proposes a risk management framework to mitigate potential issues in future social media campaigns, emphasizing the importance of aligning business objectives with social responsibility and employee engagement. The report highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to social media strategy, considering factors such as message framing, campaign type, and employee training to ensure effective communication and positive stakeholder relations.

ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS

Introduction
The present dynamic business environment exposes numerous challenges to the management
of the organisations, both in the form of external and internal challenges. One of the
significant aspects of the organisational operations is the interaction with the external
stakeholders, mainly the customers of the enterprise, with the development and usage of the
social media campaigns. The social media does not only facilitate the businesses in branding
and advertising activities, rather also aid in the corporate communications and grievance
resolutions (Babatunde and Adebisi, 2012).
The following report is aimed reviewing the important points of the social media campaign of
the enterprise which formed the chief cause of the failure. In addition, the executives would
be proposed a risk management framework that is imperative to be employed at the planning
stage itself for the social media campaigns. In addition, the report would make use of the
conflict based perspectives of Neohumanism and Radical Structuralist to assist the
management in the development of future social media campaigns.
Problem definition
One of the most significant concepts of the modern business functioning is the concept of
“social capital.” The social capital denotes a positive product of human interaction (Malecki,
2012). Certain elements that are comprised therein are the innovative ideas, information, and
future opportunities. The internet technology allows the formulation of the global social
connections and networks in many variations, in the light of the chief objective of the
business (Rodriguez, Peterson and Krishnan, 2012). The following picture is descriptive of
the chief characteristics of the social capital.

The social capital can have both negative and positive impacts. In the present scenario, in an
attempt to build on the social capital, the company has suffered backlashes for the social
media campaign. While the company had an aim to build a sense of shared values and mutual
respect, the key objectives of the mining business and the social media campaign did not go
hand in hand for the company, resulting in failure of the social media campaign. The two
main questions that are being raised in this scenario are stated as follows. Firstly, how a
business strategy can be successfully implemented internally, here in light of the social media
campaign. And secondly, how to mitigate risk from internal and external reactions?
Discussion of the problem and the related concepts
It is imperative for the businesses be socially and environmental accountable as well, apart
from being economically accountable, in the light of the principles of the corporate social
responsibility (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim, 2014). The said CSR principles call for an
entity to be considerate of the interests of the various shareholder groups, including the
environment and the community while aiming for the revenues (Kim, Park and Wier, 2012).
The said considerations are imperative as a means of deriving the various resources for the
conduct of the business. Some of the rising environmental concerns in the light of the mining
business of the entity are carbon emissions, inefficient waste disposal, carbon reporting and
others. In orders to succeed in long run, the businesses must pay attention to the above
mentioned social issues and incorporate them in the business objectives. Yet another vital
concept in the business functioning is the building of the employee social capital that are
imperative to implement the new business strategies in the organisation. As per the current
policy of the organisation, there is a lack of internal employee partisanship. Accordingly, the
company is suggested to indulge the employees in the various business strategies.
There have been prescribed four perspectives for the purpose of the analysis of the
organisations and various aspects of the functioning of the businesses (Burrell and Morgan,
2017). These are functionalism, social relativism, radical structuralism and neo humanism, as
suggested by Burrell and Morgan. According to the functionalism principle, a society is seen
as a structure with interrelated parts aimed at meeting the social needs of the individuals in
that society. The main aim of this approach is that a system should be developed that fulfils
the objectives of the decision-making and control purpose (Wellstead, Howlett and Rayner,
2017). The social relativism perspective is aimed at understanding the societies or the
organisations from the view points of the actors in societies Thus, the individual

consciousness and subjectivity is studied under this perspective. The main aim under this
perspective is to development of the mutual understanding and the facilitation of the sense
making. In contrast to the above two, the radical structuralism perspective is based on the
concept of the radical change as part of social reality (Hartley, 2010). The perspective follows
an assumption that radical changes are incorporated in the various aspects and strategies of
the business organisations. Lastly the neohumanism or the radical humanism is based on the
human consciousness (Maric, 2012). The perspective is based on the development of the
strategies in the organisation that is supportive of the deprived individuals and groups of
people that are the employees of the entity.
The two main theories that would aid the development of the future social media campaign
for the identity are the neohumanism and the radical structuralism. The employees of an
entity are rightly regarded as one of the chief assets of an entity because of the fact that all
other organisational functions are certainly dependent upon the quality of the human resource
personnel. Nevertheless, one of the chief causes for a business strategy can be the employee
resistance within an entity. Managing the employees is complex because of the diversity
involved and the complexities of human behaviour. Some of the techniques that may be
incorporated during the business strategy formulation so that the employees of the entity do
not become the partisan to the conflicts are stated below. The main thing to be noted here is
that with the efficient collaboration within an entity, an organisational strategy can be
implemented successfully. The employees can be involved by inviting their suggestions in
strategy formulation processes. They not only feel motivated, and tend to be less resisting
towards the change, but also instil creativity in the strategy formulation processes. Moreover,
it is imperative to provide the requisite training to the employees so that they can interact
efficiently with the stakeholders on the public platforms and understand and resole their
concerns efficiently.
The second chief theory that would aid in the future social media campaigns is the Radical
structuralism. The said theory calls for the analysis of the past data and the existing
ideologies while the formulation of the new strategies. In the present business environment,
the employees and other members are not involved much and the strategies are formulated on
the assumption that the same are carried out in right direction always. It is imperative for the
management to understand that there may be various causes for a failed social media
campaign. The chief causes may be wrong timing, wrong targeted audience, lack of training
to address negative feedbacks and others. Further, a social media campaign can also fail

because of a set mentality of the clients and consumers, labour strikes, inappropriate conducts
of the employees or the members of the entity. Thus, each of the aspects must be carefully
studied before formulating a new business social strategy.
Risk Management Framework
One of the important factors that regulate the modern day businesses is the social media
usage. With the ever increasing number of the social media users across the globe, it is
essential for the company executives of the enterprise to understand the significance of the
same and to design efficient social media campaigns in the light of brand objectives, legal
compliances and market risks (Castronovo and Huang, 2012).
The first step of the risk assessment framework is to identify the types of the risks that may
be faced by the entity in light of the business of the mining industry that is the area of
operation of the entity. While every company wants to make the best use of the social media,
the inefficient planning process, nature of business, technological risks and other factors can
lead to a failed social media campaign. It is imperative for the company executives to
recognise that a numerous factors contribute towards the failure of the social media
campaigns in the form of risks. The first significant risk is that of the fraud. The hackers may
misrepresent the entity on the public platforms and can indulge in fake announcements,
causing the company’s brand image into risk. Further such hackers may lead to upsurge the
stock prices and then be profiting from the same for their own benefits. The second chief risk
is that in context of the intellectual property where the data and information can be misused
by the people both inside and outside the company either accidentally or maliciously. The
key non-public information can surface in the public domain which can impact the company
revenues. The third chief risks are presented through the installation of the malware or the
rogue software on computers, resulting into fraudulent transactions and stealing of the
information data. Further, the privacy violations can occur of the users’ information which
can be misused by selling of the same for personal benefit of intruders. Lastly, a social media
campaign can also fail because of the inefficient content and communications being posted
which do not match with the key objectives of the enterprise (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).
Hence, a social media of an entity can fail due to any of the above listed risks. In the
presented case, the company has faced backlashes from the public for its sustainable social
media campaign, while the company is engaged in the mining activities. Thus, the company
is exposed to the fourth type of risk which can result in severe brand damage.

After the assessment of the risks, the next step in the framework is to manage the risks. It
must be noted that no business risk can be completely avoided because of the dynamic nature
of business environment and the various stakeholder groups and interests involved. However,
the same can be brought to an acceptably low level that the impact of the residual risks is
negligent.
Suitability of business for social media campaign
The first step to the management of the risks is to make sure that business is suitable for the
social media campaign. The company must conduct a comprehensive study of the market and
make use of the monitoring service such as Google Analytics to study the market sentiments
about the industry, product and brand. If the sentiments are generally negative about the
brand, it is imperative to fix the issues in the products first, before launching the social media
campaign. For instance, the company may first decide to resolve stakeholder issues with
respect to environment, job creation and likewise first by actually indulging into field work.
Phrasing of message
The next step is the careful message framing which involves the testing of the words/taglines
or the hashtags that are already in the use to review if they have negative sentiments attached
by the audiences earlier. This is because the words and hashtags can be twisted by the
audiences to take on a new meaning. It is imperative to note that the charity does not go hand
in hand with people unless the benefitted state about the changes they experienced. Hence,
the company must avoid the use of the word charity in their social campaigns. The employees
and other members can be involved in the strategy formulation processes, by which not only
they feel a part of an entity, but also that there is more creativity in the formation of say social
media messages.
Choosing the type of campaign
It is imperative to note that an enterprise must create a balance between the seasonal
campaign as well as the evergreen campaign. This is because, if an evergreen campaign fails,
the negative sentiments remain in the market for the entity. In the given circumstance, it is
essential to note that the company’s main business objective and activity is linked to the
mining activity that is chiefly related to the environmental issues. Hence, instead of the
choosing of the charity campaign, the company must choose the environmental health

campaign by indulging into activities that improve the environmental health and should
display the same in its campaign.
Choosing the platform and timing
It is further important to note that timing and the choice of the platform is a very important
component in the social media campaigns. While the platforms like Twitter and Facebook
can lead to extreme controversy and are not in much control of the entity, Instagram and
Pinterest are easier to control by moderating the comments and posting the meaningful
photos of the groundwork done. It is suggested for the entity to first do the actual charity
work and programmes for the stakeholders, post the details of the same on platforms like
Instagram and then further the same on wider platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Response to feedbacks
Last but not the least, responding to both negative and positive feedbacks is very important.
Instead of shutting down of the campaigns when faced by negative comments, the better
response of the entities should be assuring the customers for investigations and solution of
their core problems. The employees must be trained efficiently for responding to the negative
sentiments.
Conclusion
The discussions conducted in the previous parts aid to conclude that the managers of today
have a greater responsibility of the consideration of the interests of the various stakeholder
groups. One such important consideration is that of the societal needs in light of the
preservation of the environment and addressing various societal issues. In the present
scenario, an entity attempts to address the various societal concerns by launching a social
media campaign on lines of making the business of the entity sustainable. However, the said
social media campaign has failed and social media aspect of the business has been shut down.
The above report was an attempt to study the relevance and vitality of the building of the
social capital for a business. Further, various theories are studied to develop an efficient risk
management framework. The two chief theories that guided the development of future social
media campaign and risk management framework were the neo humanism and the radical
structuralism. As a result, it is recommended to the entities to get the employees and
members more involved and review the previous ideologies. Accordingly a step wise step
risk management framework is proposed for the management of the organisation.

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