Brands and sustainability communication: Content analysis of social media shares with samples from Türkiye and the world

The world is in constant change. Businesses also need to adapt to these innovations. Especially in today's competitive environment, companies that want to grow and survive have become obligatory to take the necessary steps. Globalization and transformations in the field of economy and industry, technological developments have caused the concept of sustainability to gain more importance. With the increasing importance of sustainability, society has begun to demand that companies be more sensitive to the environment and society; making sustainability a critical factor affecting the success of businesses. Brands continue to work with the understanding of social responsibility in order to leave their competitors in a competitive environment. In this context, it is more important than ever for brands to properly examine their customers and create marketing plans by making effective decisions. Within this framework, it is becoming an inevitable necessity for a complex discipline such as communication to gain functionality in a sustainable corporate structure. Sustainability communication is the process of replacing sustainability strategy with employees, stakeholders, society and customers. In order to understand the general framework of the concepts of sustainability and sustainable communication, it is important to know the historical development and contribution of the actors involved in this development. The aim of this study is to examine the social platforms of the brands within the scope of the research, Capital 500, Fortune 500, BIST SUSTAINABLE, ISO 500, FTSE4 Good index list based on six brand data, both within Turkey and in the field of social platforms operating on a global scale. Within the scope of the target, 2025, 126 sharing analysis units of the brands in social media accounts were selected as and evaluated by quantitative content analysis method. As a result of the research, sustainability is 71.5% environmental area in size and in terms of message types, 90.5% of the content is informative. Brands take a serious approach with a ratio of 79.4 '% in terms of the language and style they use Emotional, humorous or exaggerated expressions are not included. The platforms with the most interaction in terms of social media platforms are; X (46.8%) and Instagram (43.7%). Content types vary across platforms; for example, videos and photos are usually preferred on Instagram, while banners stand out on X. The most preferred format among content types was video (49.2%). This is followed by a banner with a ratio of 38.1 '% and a photo with a ratio of 12.7%. Instagram was the most shared platform from social media posts analyzed by movement from research findings. Within the scope of the research, the rates of using the social media platform in the sustainability sharing of brands; 24,8% in China, 3,1% in Ulker, Zorlu Holding 15,0%, Microsoft 11,9%, Patagonia 17,4%, Unliever 27,8 '%. It has been found that the most of local brands is Grassa, Unilever from global brands.