A framework of social media engagement: Case studies with food and consumer organisations in the UK and Ireland

• Social media engagement has potential to improve organisational responsiveness.
• We develop a framework based on case studies with UK and Irish organisations.
• The framework facilitates a more interactive and proactive view of responsiveness.
• Social interactions, content strategies and information sources are key elements.

For organisations that interface with a large audience (i.e. governments, businesses, consumer bodies, non-profits), there are expectations that engagement on social media can improve responsiveness. The paper develops a framework of social media engagement based on a case study with food governance and consumer organisations in the UK and Ireland. Application of the framework identifies three key capabilities that can frame the contribution of social media engagement in this context: (1) consistency in managing social interactions, (2) creating content to engage with specific audiences and (3) using social media as information sources to develop network alertness. Moving beyond simply characterising social media engagement in terms of the speed and volume of social interactions, this study contributes to a more systematic examination of the concept as an enabler of organisational responsiveness.