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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

Research in Brief

The characteristics of the e-inuence of Community

Managers: Issues for the e-reputation of organizations
Francine Charest , Johanie Bouffard
Information and Communication Department, Pavillon Louis-Jacques Casault, 1055, avenue du Sminaire, local 5457, Qubec,
Qubec G1V 0A6, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: E-inuence, or digital inuence, arises from a favorable or unfavorable public assessment
Received 13 July 2014 by new media users of the behaviors, products, and services of organizations, which may
Received in revised form 16 February 2015 have an impact on the online reputation of these organizations. What characterizes this e-
Accepted 16 February 2015
inuence? The results of an empirical qualitative research with 20 social media managers
or Community Managers active in Quebec organizations shows ve signicant indicators
Keywords: of e-inuence.
Community managers
2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Digital communication
E-inuence
E-reputation
Public relations management
Social media appropriation

1. Introduction of the problem

Katz and Lazarsfeld demonstrated the role of the inuence of opinion leaders and their impact on the decision-making
processes of people in their networks. Since the advent of social media (SM), researchers have been interested in e-inuence
and its impact on e-reputation. E-inuence is an integral part of e-reputation, and allows the image of a business to be
aggressively managed on the Web. As for e-reputation, it represents the expression and evaluation of the opinion of Internet
users through the use of Web tools. It is these accumulated opinions visibility which then impacts upon the image of an
organization. This raises the problem of the management of e-reputation. E-reputation is in large part communication, since
the world today is built around issues of communication, image, and reputation. In the literature review identied in the eld
of corporate communication, certain characteristics of e-inuence are related to individuals and others to organizations. For
individuals, a set of traits, called the Big Five includes the following ve characteristics: sincerity, excitement, competence,
sophistication and ruggedness (Aaker, 1997). These have inspired Correa, Willard Hinsley, and Gil de Zniga (2010), who
developed the Big-Five Model, a social media use: they claim that extroverted users and users more open to new experiences
use social media more frequently, while users who are more emotionally stable use them less frequently. According to Acar
and Polonsky (2007) these less frequent and more stable users are followed by small networks, create quality content, and
represent opinion leaders on Web 2.0. As for e-inuence indicators particularly attributed to organizations, De Marcellis-
Warin and Teodoresco (2012) show three factors susceptible to inuence the intangible assets of an organization linked
to the credibility of the organization: its expertise, the condence that it inspires in its audience, as well as the efcient

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 5817423028.

E-mail addresses: francine.charest@com.ulaval.ca (F. Charest), johanie.bouffard.1@ulaval.ca (J. Bouffard).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.02.006
0363-8111/ 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Charest, F., & Bouffard, J. The characteristics of the e-inuence
of Community Managers: Issues for the e-reputation of organizations. Public Relations Review (2015),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.02.006
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management of its communications. Some of these e-inuence indicators are practiced by Community managers (CM) in
SM (Heiderich, 2011).

2. Method

The general objective of this qualitative descriptive study was to identify the characteristics of e-inuence from the point
of view of CM and analyze their impact on the e-reputation of organizations. The recruitment strategy used through LinkedIn
platforms and by local networks allowed for 20 CM from Montreal and Quebec to be interviewed. To be eligible, they had to
meet three selection criteria: (1) be employed in an organization active in SM for at least 2 years; (2) occupy an SM post in
an organization for at least 12 months; and (3) manage at least two social platforms (Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
The grid of semi-structured interviews addressed organizational objectives related to the presence of their employer or
client on SM, the strategies deployed, and their uses. In order to identify the inuence characteristics, we rst asked the
CM to name people, organizations, brands, or any other entity present in SM which, according to them, exert an inuence
on their online communities. Afterwards, they were asked to identify the characteristics of these entities which show an
inuence over the organizations. The data were analyzed according to the Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data developed
by Ericsson and Simon.

3. Findings

3.1. Objectives, strategies, and uses

In total, the participants indicated 29 different goals related to the presence of their organization in SM, which are
categorized in order of importance in the following way: (1) disseminate information, (2) develop and maintain a market,
(3) create and maintain relationships, (4) interact and communicate, (5) develop a digital identity, (6) watch, listen, and
provide a presence.
The results, however, have shown that the strategies are not as well dened as the targets. Indeed, there are not enough
recurring results to highlight strategic trends in management practices. As for uses, they are as follows: dissemination,
watching, conversation, research and data collection, and nally, sharing and collaboration.

3.2. Inuence characteristics

By order of importance, the most signicant characteristics for CM are: ex aequo, personality and substantive content,
omnipresence in social media, the creation of a community of interests, and the credibility of the contents. The least signicant
characteristic, ranked 12th, is the number of subscribers.
One of the most important characteristics, personality, refers to inuence criteria oriented toward human characteristics,
that is, the adoption of a human voice, the presence of opinion content reecting an assumed personality (funny, irreverent,
controversial, positive, etc.) For example, one participant mentioned that someone was inuential on SM because she is
close to people (Participant #14), and another because of the slightly quirky side of an organizations bloggers: they are
always more or less controversial (Participant #7). These personality traits are shared by Aaker (1997), Acar and Polonsky
(2007), as well as Correa et al. (2010).
Substantive content corresponds to rigorous and diversied content which stimulate interactions, encourage experi-
mentation with new uses and mode of communication, or which arouses curiosity. [Frequency], is not really the most
important, it is more about quality; is a statement associated to opinion leaders on Web 2.0 raised by Del Carmen, Del Amo,
Orenzo-Romero, Gomez-Borja, and Gomez-Borja (2011).
The third important characteristic is that of omnipresence. This is dened by the omnipresence of the person or the
organization only in SM, or simultaneously in SM, traditional media and non-media spaces (e.g. stores and conferences).
The omnipresence of organizations in SM facilitates the participation of Internet users and allow allows interactivity to be
created, stressed Heiderich (2011).
The creation of a community of interest and content is, for its part, dened by the creation of an ecosystem surrounding
the brand, as well as by the creation of a community of interests, content, or practice. In the same vein, Heiderich (2011)
recommended interesting Internet users with content reaching their interests in order to have an inuence among platform
users.
As for the credibility of the entity, it encompasses both that of the CM and that of the organization, according to the
respondents. The expertise and the trust that they inspire (CM and organization), as well as the efcient management of
communications by the CM are perceived as characteristics which play on inuence, as stated also by De Marcellis-Warin
and Teodoresco (2012).
Finally, contrary to widespread popular belief, the least signicant inuence characteristic is the number of subscribers.
I never look at that! (Participant #12). To this effect, Acar and Polonsky (2007) emphasized that it is opinion leaders who
have a smaller network on the social Web but are more likely to share quality content on the organization that have an
inuence.

Please cite this article in press as: Charest, F., & Bouffard, J. The characteristics of the e-inuence
of Community Managers: Issues for the e-reputation of organizations. Public Relations Review (2015),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.02.006
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4. Analysis and conclusion

The study results have identied ve characteristics inherent in the concept of e-inuence from the point of view of CM.
In order of importance, they are, ex aequo, personality and substantive content, the omnipresence of organizations in social
media as well as in other traditional media, the creation of a community of interests, and nally the credibility of the CM
and the organization. As for the number of subscribers on the different organizational platforms, it is ranked 12th that is,
last when it is not combined with a qualitative characteristic, such as the personality of the CM.
However, the least signicant communication planning practice, that is, the absence of a strategy for social media by
CM, puzzles us. Indeed, few SM managers took the strategic dimension into account in the daily exercise of their functions
in different organizations platforms. Although Facebook, the premier social media, has existed for a decade, might the fact
that this communication practice is still not integrated into the overall communication plan of organizations be due to its
relative newness? By not developing strategies on the platforms, managers deprive themselves of adequate interaction with
a privileged rst-hand source of information, as well as of the possibility of positively inuencing the perception of their
public with regards to the e-reputation of their organizations.
Finally, we wonder whether these new forms of interactive and instantaneous communication, generated by a new Web
2.0 media ecosystem are planned in the short, medium, or long term. This is a matter of vision and changing communication
logic which herald the end of business as usual according to Solis. Thus, might strategic planning be more easily conducted
in organizations that know how to transform their ways of doing things with new tools in an integrated communication
context that would better meet the needs of organizations in the 21st century? This is a question that will guide our future
work.

References

Aaker, J. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34(3), 347356.
Acar, A. S., & Polonsky, M. (2007). Online social networks and insights into marketing communications. Journal of Internet Commerce, 6(4), 5572.
Correa, T., Willard Hinsley, A., & Gil de Zniga, H. (2010). Who interacts on the Web? The intersection of users personality and social media use. Computers in
human behavior (Vol. 26) Austin: University of Texas (Accessed 10.09.13).
De Marcellis-Warin, N., & Teodoresco, S. (2012). La rputation de votre entreprise: est-ce que votre actif le plus stratgique est en danger? Rapport bourgogne,
Cirano (Centre interuniversitaire danalyse et de recherche en analyse des organisations). http://www.cirano.qc.ca/pdf/publication/2012RB-02.pdf
Del Carmen, M., Del Amo, A., Orenzo-Romero, L., Gomez-Borja, C., & Gomez-Borja, M. A. (2011). Classifying and proling social networking site users: A
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Please cite this article in press as: Charest, F., & Bouffard, J. The characteristics of the e-inuence
of Community Managers: Issues for the e-reputation of organizations. Public Relations Review (2015),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.02.006