Building green brands with social media: Best practices from case studies

As consumers increasingly perceive environmental problems and sustainability issues on a global scale, environmental consciousness is likely to play a greater role in the consumption process. This makes it imperative for companies to design and market green brands. At the same time, the growing importance of social media in today’s advanced technological environment is evident. Social media provide powerful opportunities for green brands to engage with consumers. Of the plethora of published work on both social media and green brands, very little of the research connects the two. This paper uses a case study methodology to investigate the significance of social media in promoting green brands and sustainable consumption. Findings suggest that those companies with innovative features on their social media pages that recognise their customers for their environmental actions, that support interactions among fans as well as between brand and fans, and that provide sustained information updates, can build successful green brands as well as gain trust and loyalty among their customers more easily than their competitors. The importance and implications of social media usage for green branding are discussed.