The Ways Of Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts For Today’S Consumer: The Opinions Of Consumers And Experts

This research examines the ways of how companies advertise their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts to the consumers. It examines how effective those ways, methods and channels are. The research analyzes studies conducted in the field of CSR with a thorough literature review and compares them to the results gathered from in-depth interviews with experts of CSR field that follow the tendencies of the consumer’s needs and execute CSR strategy and campaigns, as well as the results from a focus group with consumers. The research found that in order for the company to have a great return on investment on their CSR efforts, meaning for their CSR promotional activities to be successful, companies have to first make sure their supply chain is transparent, employees are treated well and so forth, thus the company would not create backfire or cause controversy. Also, it was found that the most effective platform to advertise company’s CSR efforts is social media by using content marketing, as well as using the third party as an information source is quite beneficial because it insures credibility, and choosing the CSR issue that is related to the business of the company. The research also found that consumers are quite skeptical and cynical toward some of the CSR campaigns. Consumers often find CSR campaigns not to be genuine but rather solely based on profit or covering up social irresponsibility on the behalf of the company. However, when the CSR is embedded at the core of the brand consumers find CSR very compelling and appreciate it greatly.