The Use of Selected Social Media Platforms by South African-listed Companies for Stakeholder Engagement

This study aimed to determine whether South African-listed companies use social media to engage with stakeholders. Emerging economies are experiencing rapid growth, which increases the need for transparent communication to build trust with investors to facilitate resource exchange. Social media has changed many aspects of communication by offering instant, interactive channels that can reach numerous stakeholders. However, there is limited research into the utilization of social media for stakeholder communication within emerging economies. This study aimed to address that topic and examined the social media practices of listed entities to determine whether companies use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for stakeholder engagement. These findings provide a broad understanding of how companies utilize social media to engage with stakeholders. A content analysis of 19 253 posts made by companies on social media was performed. The findings confirm that companies use social media for stakeholder engagement and that most companies chose to use several social platforms as opposed to only one. However, Twitter (X) and LinkedIn were the two most popular platforms used, followed by Facebook and Instagram. On Facebook and LinkedIn approximately 90% of posts related to stakeholder engagement posts and thought leadership and corporate social responsibility (CSR) posts were favored by companies in terms of stakeholder engagement.