The Importance of Managing the Communication Network on Social Media: Does a Big Brand Guarantee Promotion Success?

Abstract

Organizations are increasingly relying on social media to attract attention and build engagement with online communities. Effective promotional activity required more than using the big brand and huge followers. Although social media offers an effective form of two-way communication, not all organizations understand how to make marketing strategies on social media work effectively. Therefore, this study aimed to describe public-organization interactions in X using social network analysis. A quantitative descriptive method was adopted, and the unit analysis was the #promo-bri hashtag. Data were collected and processed using social network analysis with Netlytic and visualized using Gephi software. The results showed that in X, influential and well-known organization accounts were not necessarily effective in spreading promotional hashtags across the network. Hashtag diffusion was broader when actors engaged in conversation and acted as bridges that connected multiple communities. Based on the Strength of Weak Ties theory, social media promotion also needs to focus on the weak ties, which provided bridges that expand across communities and made the campaign more efficient. The result of this study showed the importance of organizations using influencers or actors who were credible and actively interacted with other communities, as well as managed the social network to enhance reach.