Let’s face it: Using Chernoff faces to portray social media brand image

Abstract

The age of social media sees that brands are consciously utilizing social media to reach existing customers, acquire new ones, establish credibility, maintain reputation, or simply become part of the conversation. Those who manage brands need to understand the strategic importance of their visibility, the sentiment toward them, and the passion with which they are discussed in the most popular social media relative to competitors. This study describes a source of data of brand visibility in social media, and then presents a simple yet powerful graphical tool for portraying this information. This permits, it is contended, a means of quickly assimilating and understanding this information. The managerial implications of the approach are discussed, its limitations are acknowledged, and avenues for future research are identified.