Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is when a company operates in an ethical and sustainable way and deals with its environmental and social impacts (Collier, 2018).
It is important that the company operates in a way that demonstrates social responsibility. One reason is that consumers are now increasingly aware of the importance of social responsibility, and they actively seek products from a business that operates ethically (Collier, 2018). If the company takes an interest in wider social issues, rather than those just impact their profit margins, this will attract customers who share the same values and improve the company’s public image (Collier, 2018).
Besides, simple changes in favour of sustainability, such as using less packaging, will help to decrease the company production costs (Collier, 2018). By embracing CSR, company establish itself as one committed to going one step further by considering social and environmental factors, which can make the company stand out from its competitors in the industry (Collier, 2018).
Below table is a global survey (2018) shows the ranking of global companies based on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation.
Corporate Influencers
Influencer marketing is a well-known strategy that many brands leverage to reach out to their customers and engage them.
For the tourism company, there are certain advantages influencer marketing can provide. Firstly, it helps to reach a relevant audience. For example, if the company want to promote a restaurant, then looking for a successful travel or food blogger can help to engage the right followers (Barker, 2020).
Secondly, it is also comparatively less expensive and time-saving. If the company is targeting a micro-influencer such as blogger, it does not need a huge budget. Micro influencer collaborations are economical when compared to collaborations with celebrity influencers. Besides, working with an influencer, the company does not need to create great content as the influencers know what is the best way to create content to appeals to their followers (Barker, 2020).
However, working with the wrong influencers can do more harm than good. If the company does not collaborate with the right influencers, it can cause great damage to the reputation of the brand (Barker, 2020). One example I can imagine is if the U.S. government CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) uses Donald Trump as an influencer to promote COVID-19 related health and safety to the public, surely it will do more harms than good.
Other recent headlines also exposed there is a fine line of the influencer behaviors between inspiring the online community and incurring unbridled wrath. One example is a Czech couple was traveling in Bali drew ire after apparently splashing themselves with holy water at a temple and posting images of it to their Instagram account with tens of thousands of followers (Mendez, 2019).
References
Collier, E. (2018, Jan 26). The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility for Your Business. Retrieved from https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/importance-of-corporate-social-responsibility/
Barker, S. (2020). The Pros and Cons of Using Influencer Marketing for Your Brand (Updated April 2020). Retrieved from https://shanebarker.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-influencer-marketing/
Mendez, L. (2019, Sep 02). Inside the complicated world of the travel influencer. CCN Travel. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/travel-influencers/index.html
Tourism Management 