The Application of the Media Communication Theory in LinkedIn

The Application of the Media Communication Theory in LinkedIn

Introduction

The success of every business is dictated by how well it relates to customers. Proper customer relations are guaranteed by constant communication. Organizations in the modern business world are revolutionizing business communication by promoting online communication through various social media sites. Organizations are also using social media sites to create business connections.

LinkedIn is among the networking sites that have gained popularity over the years due to its significant role in creating professional networks in different sectors. Many companies and business entities rely on LinkedIn to identify the most qualified candidates to join their workforce. The content published on LinkedIn sites is professional, and building a company’s image engages potential customers and the organization’s employees (Thies, 2012).

The site mainly emphasizes business and professional topics, which is why it has gained popularity as the main corporate communication tool for brands and companies seeking new employees, new customers, and organizations that want to develop their brand image in the minds of different audiences. The site allows companies and businesses to add posts, pin the most vital ones at the top of the site, sponsor important posts, and target news.

In 2011, the site introduced the influencers’ program allowing users to publish their posts. The program has been embraced by different companies, including Microsoft, and had 294 million active users by July 2018 (Lipińska, 2018). The site has also been essential for individuals looking for better career opportunities as well as those interested in exchanging ideas, discussing professional issues, and talking about common interests. The site’s success has resulted in the widespread creation of LinkedIn accounts worldwide, with organizations using the site for communication purposes and enhancing brand awareness hence making the site a global communication tool used by professionals in different public and private business sectors.

The Semiotic Theory

Communication theories are applied to professional practices, including journalism, public relations, advertising, and television and radio production. In the business environment, communication theories are applied based on different components of communication practices such as media, messages, audience, and modern interactive web applications operating in the digital environment for message transmission. The media is transforming communication by incorporating organization, interactivity, channel, control, textuality, and content in communication hence creating a need to ensure all these attributes are considered when designing a communication. Communicators incorporate symbols and visual communication that prompt the audience to pay attention to the message being passed. The need for visual communication can be elaborated further by considering the media effects theory as a three-stage progression embracing a theory of strong effects that are evident in visual communication (Neuman & Guggenheim,2013). Communication also needs to create a distinction between agenda framing and setting, which are based on different ways of knowing (Chernov & McCombs,2019). The semiotic theory, in this case, sets the foundation for priming, which includes enhancing media effects among people by providing a fundamental viewpoint that human minds make decisions based on the existing preconceptions stored in their minds.

This essay will explore the extent to which the media effects theories, specifically the semiotic theory of communication, illuminate the professional practice of business communication in advertising. A relevant and specific example of the application of the theory in business communication will be used to demonstrate how the theory could be applied to achieve a specific outcome.

The semiotic theory was established by Saussure in 1857. It mainly originated from linguistics, the academic study of identifying all human phenomena, such as sociology, anthropology, literature, and psychoanalysis, as an internal structure and analyzing the relationship between elements (Marais, 2018). Sausser focused on studying the role of signs in human social life.

The theory, therefore, centers on understanding communication as a semiotic issue, which means that communication is an interactive process in a world characterized by open systems and subsystems organized throughout the flow of information in which semiosis or the action of signs is the main phenomenon. The theory posits that communication is an interactive behavior emerging as the propensity of living beings to interact in the process of creating conditions appropriate for survival and continuous evolution (Marais, 2018).

In social media communication, the theory is associated with the identification of the elements of the interactive media interfaces. The characteristics of the physical screen provide the meaning for the representation of various signifiers to be represented during various forms and kinds of communications. This tactic is ideal in interpreting different existing interactions in the use of social media in the modern world.

Social media’s interactivity considers the contextualization and interpretation of meaning without converting artifacts of meaning. Interactive media boundaries include definitive structures verbalized into syntagms via user interaction. The structure and forms of digital signs offer forms of expression. For instance, screen colors, different structures, and shapes are considered to be important forms of expression.

The text is the structure that is viewed as the content’s form. A lot of illustrations on screen are aimed at denoting something. The layers of meaning can, for instance, contextualize various signs based on what the user can understand as the meaning of the signs of how the user experiences or uses these signs. The use of the metaphor can more easily understand the interactivity of the media.

This idea of symbolic signs is very important in interactive media. For instance, windows are not iconic representations of the authentic windows but a symbolic depiction of the idea of windows. The concept is vital as the approach provides a deep comprehension of why interactive media focuses on screens. The collaboration between the designer, author, and user or leader results in a more interactive and engaging approach.

Semiotics become something deeper instead of just a description of interactive symbols. The utility or meaning reviewed is based on the evaluation of usability and users’ experience. The interactivity does not fully engage with the different interpretations of users and the meaning itself. Interpretation is vital in understanding interactive media. Thus, the codes of a semiotic concept are more relevant to understanding the functioning of interactive media.

Application of Semiotic Theory

The presentation of the semiotic theory is to provide how the theory and its structural elements function in a digital environment of interactive media. The most shared applications of the theory are films, visual images, and designs. The evolution of technology, including the internet, has created an overlap in personal computers and television.

The Internet platforms are being used in advertising that results in a change in the cultural differences between countries as they interact on social media. Organizations are embracing the non-static and static elements of interactive media, creating signifiers that may alter meaning, context, or use based on the way a user interacts with and perceives them. The most common coding or semiotic approaches in interactive communication are moving images and visual grammar.

They are, in most instances, used interchangeably and subconsciously. The success of online platforms such as LinkedIn relies on linguistic attributes and visualization, and the user has to rely on the non-visual and visual aspects to interpret content. The semiotic breakdown of paradigms focuses on substitution aspects, especially on connotations arising from the related words being substitutes to the related word.

The popularity and necessity of LinkedIn for a professional network imply that there is a need for the use of objects, symbols, and indices within the online environment. A diverse group of clients characterizes the current business environment. Ayanso (2014) argues that there is a need for a holistic business communication approach using indices, icons, or symbols due to the fact that words do not have similar meanings in all cultures and languages.

In some instances, the visual representation of various LinkedIn profiles can send more information than the written content, limiting the likelihood of misunderstandings because the meanings suggested by the visual representations are clear. In the use of LinkedIn in the business context, organizations may use icons and words equally based on the assumption that signs can convey meaning (Kapareliotis & Crosbie, 2014). The semiotic theory could be applied in establishing an organization’s reputation using images that send a message about the company’s role in improving the welfare of its customers and the community.

Communication Context

Despite LinkedIn’s low position as a communication tool in the business environment due to its emphasis on only communicating professionally, it is important to consider its function in different communication functions. There are six functions: increasing awareness of an organization’s existence; building an ideal company image; presenting an organization’s marketing activities; increasing the traffic on the organization’s website; supporting the recruitment and promotion of employees and building a community around the organization’s brand (Lipińska, 2018). Increasing the awareness of the organization’s existence in a target group includes informing the audience of the company’s profile. An ideal image of the company or warning the company’s image is achieved by presenting specific content and public relations activity of the selected content by promoting and presenting the industry research results. Presenting an organization’s marketing activities and its success is achieved by informing the audience about the patronage over a specific event or an event organized by the organization, where LinkedIn is expected to support the recruitment of those who will participate in the event. Periodical newsletter publications are used to increase the traffic on the organization’s websites and the interest of the organization’s audience. The recruitment and promotion of employees are supported by informing them about special actions completed by the company (Lipińska, 2018). Building a committed community around the organization’s brand and the ability to engage employees in communication on the social platform is achieved by presenting activities on the site as a shared communication project and assigning the brand ambassador’s roles to employees, which can enhance greater employee involvement in the organization’s business outside the platform and a sense of influence on the success of the company.

The Use of Visual Image in Establishing Company Image

For instance, an image sending a message of improving the welfare of its customers and the community could be used to ensure that the audience understands the language used by the company and gets a better idea of the company’s role in meeting those objectives delineated in the message. An image such as the one below could be used to express this message.

The audience could interpret the image in different ways. One of the interpretations is that the company embraces diversity. This is based on the different skin colors of the hands holding the plants. Another interpretation is that the arrangement of the hands in a circle indicates that the organization promotes collaboration and teamwork to achieve a shared goal. Following that interpretation is that the organization promotes the equal growth of its stakeholders based on the size of the plants, which are all at the same level of growth. This image also illustrates that the organization focuses on meeting the interests of everyone, which is why the plants have all grown the same, with none growing more than the others. In sum, the image could be used as the organization’s LinkedIn profile picture placed below the company logo.

The groupings can be used to imply that LinkedIn users can efficiently and clearly communicate. The network is more language-oriented, friendly, and efficient than a simple representation of visualization or language. The demonstration of linguistic approaches and theories focuses on considering LinkedIn’s central approach to linguistic representations. These representations are vital in achieving the site’s primary objectives of efficient online communication.

The linguistic approach adopted by LinkedIn should ensure that members are not lost due to inefficient or poor communication. In LinkedIn, communication is based on the international change in language to facilitate communication between different societies or how communication is developed or could be developed through social media. The change in language is suitable considering user diversity in social networks. The verbal and visual linguistic codes embraced will impact user behavior and the general approach taken by businesses regarding social media.

Application of the Semiotic Theory in Establishing Company Image

The context of the message in the scenario is to establish the company’s reputation by informing the audience about unique aspects of the organization that they may not know about, such as values, diversity, and management of relationships with customers, employees, and other stakeholders. The visual image considered in the scenario will provide a narrative of the organization’s culture of embracing diversity, teamwork, and equality.

The image creates a corporate identity that focuses on how an organization intends to be viewed or perceived and how the company expresses its values to clients. The central values of honesty, integrity, and accountability are communicated using the visual image in the scenario. The unique position of an organization is created in stakeholders’ and customers’ minds via its conveyed values.

Industry Applications of the Semiotic Theory

In public relations, corporate reputation is important because it is the main communication practice that the company’s clients can relate to. Barnes (2018) defines reputation as how audiences can distinguish between the unique attributes of a company. The information presented by businesses on online platforms is about the quality of products and how the customer takes care of its customers, hence encompassing how customers are treated and whether their problems are resolved. Yoon et al. (2008) argue that social media is a powerful medium for building strong customer relations and enhancing satisfaction.

Brand recognition includes considering corporate image or the company’s ability to meet customer needs and preferences to evaluate corporate reputation. These factors work together both externally and internally to create awareness of the company’s reputation. A customer’s perception of corporate reputation includes the extent to which an organization is bad, excellent or well-known, believable, trustworthy, reliable, and reputable.

According to McCorkindale & Distaso (2013), the issue in understanding the Internet and corporate reputation is that it is viewed as a communication channel for organizations instead of a meaningful environment where the most vital concept of reputation is developed using social realities developed as a narrative.

The distinctiveness of a company’s visual images requires creativity, and it should match the strategy used in the organization. An organization achieves distinctiveness by bringing together aspects of its strategy and vision through emotionally appealing features and attracting attention by sending a unique message.

The linguistic trademark’s ability to act as a signifier is partially reviewed based on legal doctrines such as genericise, dilution, and distinctiveness. These categories define the unique semiotic properties of a brand or trademark in opposition to the product. The conventional doctrine of characteristic distinctiveness relates to a particular linguistic aspect of a brand.

When companies familiarize themselves with potential clients, it is important to focus on the ideal image, adhere to the expectations set by institutions, and gain recognition as legitimate members of society, hence making reputation management about building a solid corporate reputation. There is a current trend of using social media platforms to communicate and build reputation because social media platforms stand out as the most impactful channels in terms of exposure, sales, and recognition.

Considering the use of visual communication is one of the most effective ways of drawing viewers’ attention, thus passing the intended message to as many recipients as possible. Research on visual communication has been conducted in different disciplines such as science, communication, art, and psychology. Visual communication passes information and ideas through imagery and symbols, affecting viewers cognitively or affectively, or both ways.

When information is passed through images via a particular medium, the viewer’s brain processes the images and deduces them to create an understanding via personal filters that are made up of personal experiences, social and cultural backgrounds, and attitudes. Studies indicate that visual advertisement incorporating more information and lacing any logical load is more persuasive compared to verbal communication because it conveys a lot of information within a short time.

Combining both verbal and visual communication has been embraced by most organizations because of its impact on the intended audience. The impact of visual communication is connected to a person’s inclination, which further impacts consumer attitude, recall, and behavior. Organizations use images to create a corporate visual identity on the LinkedIn platform, thus distinguishing itself from other similar companies and enhancing its reputation based on portraying a positive image.

According to Westcott Alessandri (2008), a corporate visual identity includes a symbol, name, typography, logo, slogan or color, and other additional graphical elements that the organization may consider appropriate. The corporate symbol or logo has the potential to express the attributes of an organization. The elements of corporate visual identity are used in communication and on various applications such as corporate clothing.

The organization may also use the elements on the company’s social media platforms to enhance recognisability. It should be aligned with the organization’s identity, culture, structure, historical roots, and strategy (Watson, 2016). Once an organization identifies its essence, aims, what it stands for, and how it differs from others, a good visual identity can be developed. In our case, we have already identified that the organization aims to promote diversity and equality and bridge the community and clients to achieve the required growth, thus creating a favorable reputation.

Corporate visual identity can be seen as the symbolic element within an organization’s identity mix. The organization will focus on maintaining a good image on the LinkedIn platform by getting more attention from the audience through a solid and unique corporate visual identity that can be easily interpreted.

Generally, the communication technique used by LinkedIn users upholds the standards of the group they identify with and the various approaches suggested by a company, such as the use of photographs, images, or any other visual elements that may indicate linguistic approaches used by users (Wallwork, 2014). Users also avoid various linguistic problems by using images and trying to acquire a better common approach either to their networking approach or the techniques used for recruitment. Users have the freedom to choose any communication or language that allows them to express their message better. A user can enhance their profile for more straightforward communication (Carter, 2012).

The preference considered to improve communication should be clear when either logos or signs from various companies are used. Language, in this case, is richly based on speech, linguistic symbols, and signs. Any extra information comes intentionally from the user, and the profile is founded on the user. In most cases, users are required to follow a specific format or outline that is similar to the other users. The use of standard headlines to attract the attention of users ensures that the size of the visual information is enhanced to create clarity and catch the attention of users who may be scrolling the site viewing different profiles.

Conclusion

The modern business environment requires organizations to use social media to increase their exposure by communicating with existing and potential customers. Professional online platforms such as LinkedIn are becoming popular due to their role in creating professional networks that can facilitate the organization’s growth. The age of social media interactions has significantly impacted business communication, including the communication approaches used to pass specific messages.

Different communication theories can be used to interpret business communication on social media platforms and why organizations may prefer specific communication approaches over others. For instance, the semiotic theory is the most appropriate for interpreting visual communication in public relations and advertising in the business context. The theory focuses on the relationship between visual images, logical and cognitive understanding, and interpretation of the content viewed by various social media platform users.

The ideal communication context that suits the application of the theory is using visual images to rebuild a company’s reputation by informing the audience about an organization’s values and cultures using images that are easy to interpret. It is, however, important to select images that viewers can identify with to avoid making the message too complicated. For instance, in the communication conceptualization selected in this paper, plants were used to signify growth, and the arrangement of hands in a circle was used to signify unity and collaboration. In contrast, the different skin colors signified diversity. This implies that the organization embraces equality, diversity, and teamwork to attain a shared goal.

References

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Research Question: How do LinkedIn users use the social platform to construct their social and political worlds? The exploration of the overall impact of their interactions and expectations of these interactions will be conducted.

Theory: Uses and Grats 2.0. S. Shyam Sundar & Anthony M. Limperos (2013) Uses and Grats 2.0: New Gratifications for New Media, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57:4, 504-525, via the uses and gratifications theory in which there is volitional action, not impassive reception.

The writer will need to find additional sources from the research journal list. The blog with the stats on LinkedIn users and users will indicate who they are and how they use the social platform.

Please follow closely the guidelines and the rubric for this research paper. The professor has agreed to my updated proposal with the understanding that I “need to find more research to support using the theory to advance political ideologies.”