The Use of Social Media by Local Government Units to Communicate with Stakeholders
In these times of growing competition among local government units (LGUs) to win domestic and foreign clients, promotion is becoming increasingly important. Traditionally, promotion was associated with messages and incentives to use the subproducts on offer. Also, it involved LGUs' efforts to remain distinct from the competition. These functions now prove insufficient, however, as consumption is shifting towards the virtual world as a result of the emergence of new technologies and ever growing access to the Internet. It has become necessary for LGUs to build interactions that enable cities and regions to pursue publicity and encourage the use of their services, as well as to gain valuable information to, for instance, see whether their decisions are right, or to identify the weaknesses of the local products and services. This shift in the approach to promotion is facilitated by an ever increasing customer engagement in co creating local value. Given the ongoing transformations within the environment of LGUs, there is growing reason to shift from the traditional promotion strategy driven by oneway communication towards marketing communication, which is "a specific process of interaction and dialogue" [Wiktor, 2013, p. 14] between an LGU and its target audience. Due to the specific nature of the audiences, who "are involved in and affected by LGUs' efforts to achieve their objectives, thereby indirectly influencing the way entire LGUs function" these audiences should be considered as stakeholders [Kuzniar, 2013, p. 9]