Social Media Evaluation for Non-Profit Organizations
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Social media evaluation for non-profit organizations The case of Oxfam Italia Master Thesis Author: Giuseppe Antonio Coco Thesis Supervisor: Jessica Gustafsson Department of Informatics and Media Specialization in Digital Media & Society Uppsala University, Sweden Autumn 2014 Abstract The thesis presents an evaluation of the Facebook page of the Italian non-profit organization Oxfam Italia from November 2013 to March 2014. The research’s aim is to analyze the community which follows the organization, how this community interacts with it and how the moderators of the page communicate with its followers. The research aims also to find ways to increase Oxfam Italia’s performance on Facebook. The theoretical framework focuses on non-profit marketing and its peculiarities, Social Media Marketing and notions such as engagement and brand community. The methods used in the research consist in data mining and content analysis. Data have been gathered from Facebook Insights and through the issuing of FQL queries from the Facebook Graph API. The research found out that Oxfam has more female followers than male (62% vs 36,5%), the age range of them is 25-44 years. Oxfam’s presence, in particular, is very rooted in the region of Tuscany (where its headquarter is). Facebook followers showed a very good attitude toward the organization, even though criticisms are common, and Oxfam used its social media presence mainly to update the followers concerning ongoing activities and to urge to on-line activism. The users’ favourite engagement method was “liking” photographic contents. Keywords Social media evaluation – Non-profits organizations – Non-profits marketing – Facebook – Oxfam Italia – Facebook Graph API – Facebook Insights – content analysis II Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... II Table of contents ................................................................................................................III List of figures and tables.................................................................................................. VII Acknowledgments ...........................................................................................................VIII 1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aim of the research ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 PRs and web 2.0...................................................................................................... 1 1.3 What is Oxfam? ...................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Why is it an interesting issue? ................................................................................. 3 1.5 Research question .................................................................................................. 3 2 Background and Previous Research................................................................................. 4 2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 4 2.2 What does non-profit mean?.................................................................................... 4 2.3 What is non-profit marketing................................................................................... 6 2.3.1 Peculiarities of non-profits’ marketing......................................................... 7 2.4 Humanitarian NGOs and SMM ............................................................................... 9 2.5 Previous research on non-profits and internet ........................................................ 10 2.6 Social media marketing evaluation........................................................................ 13 2.6.1 Difficulties of evaluation........................................................................... 13 2.6.2 The SN ROI .............................................................................................. 13 3 Theoretical framework ................................................................................................... 16 3.1 Challenges for social media campaigns ................................................................. 16 3.2 Social Media Marketing: efforts to build a brand community................................. 16 3.3 The theory of the “three lacks” .............................................................................. 18 3.3.1 Lack of understanding of the communication medium............................... 18 3.3.2 Lack of social media strategies.................................................................. 19 3.3.3 Lack of methods for effectiveness evaluation ............................................ 19 3.4 Algorithms regulating the news feed: Edgerank model.......................................... 19 3.5 The three-step analysis .......................................................................................... 21 3.5.1 The importance of the user analysis........................................................... 21 3.5.2 The importance of content analyses........................................................... 22 3.5.3 The importance of engagement analysis .................................................... 23 3.5.4 How to trigger on-line engagement............................................................ 24 III 4 Methodology.................................................................................................................... 26 4.1 Introduction to the methodological chapter................................................... 26 4.2 Evaluation framework for social media brand presence as a model............... 26 4.3 Interpretation of the model and used methods............................................... 29 4.4 Data sources and software used.................................................................... 30 4.4.1 Facebook Insights ............................................................................ 31 4.4.2 Facebook Graph API........................................................................ 32 4.5 Data gathering and management................................................................... 33 4.5.1 Demographics .................................................................................. 33 4.5.2 User categorization .......................................................................... 34 4.5.2.1 How to obtain the list of the contents published by Oxfam Italia....................................................... 34 4.5.2.2 How to obtain the list of the users which have interacted with each single content.......................................................... 35 4.5.3 Content analyses .............................................................................. 37 4.5.3.1 Content analyses: topics, sub-topics and purposes ................ 38 4.5.4 Engagement analysis........................................................................ 39 5 Results of the research and interpretation..................................................................... 41 5.1 User analysis: Oxfam Italia’s followers........................................................ 41 5.1.1 Demographics .................................................................................. 42 5.1.2 User categorization .......................................................................... 45 5.2 Content analyses .......................................................................................... 51 5.2.1 User-generated content analysis ....................................................... 51 5.2.1.1 Oxfam Italia’s followers’ user-generated content analysis .... 52 5.2.2 Topics and sub-topics’ division ........................................................ 53 5.2.3 Thanks, endorsements and positive attitude...................................... 53 5.2.4 Criticisms......................................................................................... 53 5.2.4.1 Criticism toward unfair initiatives ........................................ 54 5.2.4.2 Wrong resource management ............................................... 54 5.2.4.3 False or inaccurate reports.................................................... 55 5.2.4.4 Accusations of advertisement ............................................... 55 5.2.4.5 Anti-semitism accusations.................................................... 56 5.2.5 Requests........................................................................................... 56 5.2.6 Scarlett Johansson............................................................................ 57 IV 5.2.7 Empathy........................................................................................... 57 5.2.8 Off-line initiatives and donation mentions........................................ 57 5.2.9 User-generated content analysis: interpretation................................. 58 5.2.10 User-generated content analysis: PRs suggestions .......................... 61 5.3 Oxfam-generated content analysis................................................................ 61 5.3.1 Invitations or references to off-line activities.................................... 64 5.3.2 Attempt to engage users in on-line initiatives .................................. 64 5.3.3 Updates concerning achievements in on ongoing activities..............