Comunicación en tiempos de crisis : implementación de campañas en Facebook y Twitter para afrontar problemas de reputación online en las organizaciones. Caso campaña “Juntos Levantemos Ecuador” de Tiendas Industriales Asociadas TÍA S.A.

Abstract

Social networks have become an important tool for an organization thanks to the high level of reach and the low cost of advertising. However, the risk of going through an online reputation crisis increase s due to the predominant use, the easy generation of content and the space they offer to users to freely express their opinion, causing any company to be at risk of facing this kind of problems. That is why it is beneficial to implement strategies that allow to overcome cases of this type to reestablish the reputation in a successful way. This work focuses on the social networks crisis faced by Almacenes TÍA, after the earthquake in April 16, 2016, and its subsequent improvement thanks to the development of a campaign aimed at the reconstruction of the affected areas. For the development of the research, the mixed research method was used, applying the content analysis technique to obtain quantitative results through the categorization of the publications an d reactions of Facebook and Twitter during the crisis and after the launch of the campaign; also, the in-depth interviews with network users, the company's communication department members and experts who have handled success cases. The results showed that the crisis was ephemeral and the campaign was misunderstood, among other aspects, for the value defined for the donation of the blocks, considering that the company’s target audience is in the mid-low and low social stratum.