CREATING CORPORATE PERCEPTION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The evolving internet technologies deeply impact every aspect of human life. In an increasingly digital world, communication tools also undergo this transformation. The communication process, which began with shapes drawn on cave walls, has evolved into communication through mobile devices and borderless free sharing known as social media. Billions of people worldwide produce billions of pieces of content daily through social media channels, swiftly consumed by others.

Social media content, easily generated by individual users through the advanced features of mobile devices, holds a different meaning for businesses and organizations. Contents produced for corporate benefit are coded to create a corporate perception among target audiences. Organizations effectively managing corporate perception reach broader audiences, navigate crises more easily, and achieve greater revenue.

The COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the entire globe, led organizations to engage in an unexpected perception management process. With the announcement of the first COVID-19 case in Turkey on March 11, 2020, Turkish institutions became part of this process. This study, conducted to investigate the importance of content production in corporate perception, examines the content of the social media accounts belonging to the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT). In this research, which takes into account the content shared on TRT's social media accounts during the COVID-19 pandemic, determining what TRT addressed in its social media content during the COVID-19 pandemic is identified as the main issue. Additionally, the study explores the general purpose of the content, whether it carries corporate perception elements, and if so, which corporate perception elements it possesses.