How Managers Can Create Value from Strategic Framing of Social Media

Strategic framing of social media tends to refer to the use of different platforms for marketingtactical purposes. This conceptual paper advances the fields of Business-to-Consumer marketing and strategic management by demonstrating how social media become conceptually framed and, in turn, how these frames influence what the manager will consider as the optimal use of social media for a given situation. More specifically, we identify six conceptualizations of social media, of which the first three regard social media as tactical tools for enhancing communication to and from end users. Such conceptualizations prevent the use of social media as strategic tools and thereby limits a strategically relevant and - for consumers - more meaningful engagement, thereby reducing potential customer value.The other three conceptualizations, we identify, regard social media in gradually more disruptive ways that enable companies and stakeholders to collaboratively create new products, services, business models, markets, and a sustainable world community. By bridging marketing strategy and business strategy the proposed conceptual framework enables managers to critically identify and scrutinize their strategic frames as a point of departure for fully creating value from social media.