28. Patronage and Sponsorship in the Online Communication Management of Ecuadorian Companies for Improving Visibility in Digital Social Media

The advertising channel through the social media shows a lack of efficiency due to the so called “saturation effect”, which stimulates audiences attention and protects them from advertising impacts. Therefore, advertisers have turned to new ways of communication, such as the action communication because of the importance and application it has. Action communication comprises two complementary tools such as patronage and sponsorship. Action communication has emerged as a major strategic tool in corporate and commercial communication for the management of Corporate Social Responsibility and the relationship with stakeholders through accountability shown in their websites. While in the United States and Europe this strategic and operational approach of communication has been an important development in the past twenty years, in Latin America it is at an early stage, and in the case of Ecuador, it is still in a hatching stage. To determine the current state in Ecuador, an exploratory research was carried out by analyzing the contents of the websites of the twenty five first companies which have mostly turned over as well as their presence in social media and the perception from their audiences.