Why won’t you like our messages?
Which Facebook messages by corporations in the Netherlands are
engaging and which are not.
Name: Laura van Vlijmen Student number: 10627936 Master’s Thesis Corporate Communication Graduate School of Communication University of Amsterdam Supervisor: Christine Liebrecht Date: July 10, 2014
2 Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this Master’s Thesis is to get an overview of what type of messages corporations create for Facebook and which type of messages are successful in terms of engagement. Engagement being the cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral investment of the individuals in response to the message based on likes, shares and comments.
Methodology – To see which message types are used and which ones are successful, a content analysis was performed of the Facebook messages of 25 corporations that are active in the Netherlands. Per corporation 25 messages were analyzed (N=625). The codebook was formed on the basis of existing scientific literature and five top rated advice literature books.
Findings – The message types that were most successful were fun, information about the company and information about products & services. The most successful subtypes were showcasing products, core values/beliefs/cultures and contests.
Implications – The position of the corporation in society can now be viewed differently because of the opportunities Facebook offers. The role corporations have in the lives of individuals has shifted. A practical implication is that corporations could use this research to improve their social media strategies.
Limitations – The sampling method resulted in variables that were not normally distributed and therefore the significance testing of the successfulness of the message types was not possible. Also the coding allowed for choosing only the message type that was the main goal of the message while there was a lot of overlap between the types.
Future research – a deeper look into which message type is suitable for which industry could further improve the social media strategies. Also the aspect of webcare, which occurs often on Facebook, was not analyzed in this research. Therefore, further research on this topic will expand the knowledge on how corporations use Facebook.
Key words – message types, subtypes, successfulness in terms of engagement, media richness, dialogue, two-way (a)symmetric communication, corporate citizen.
3
Introduction
Social media is a phenomenon that has been on the rise for several years, starting as channels where individuals could interact with each other. Research has been conducted on how social media influence or affect these individuals. For example, research has already shown that there is a positive relationship between the use of social media and life
satisfaction, social trust, civic engagement and political participation (Helliwel & Putnam, 2004; Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008; Valenzuela, Park & Kee, 2009). All of this research has shown the importance of social media in the lives of individuals. Additionally the environment of social media has been changing in the past years. Where social media before was only used by individuals to interact with each other it is now also used for other purposes. Vorvoreanu (2009) points out that, since 2007, Facebook has opened its doors for everyone, including corporations. Not only by encouraging corporations to use Facebook as the channel to effectively advertise to the target audience but also to engage with customers by creating their own pages and interact with the fans. This is in line with the most ideal form of public relations two-way symmetric communication (Grunig, 2009). However, Vorvoreanu (2009) warns that corporations do have to keep in mind the Facebook culture and norms, it is a different channel to communicate with publics and accordingly also needs a different approach of communication to make it succeed.
According to Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarty and Sivestre (2011) social media is used by customers to create, modify, share and discuss internet content, including
corporations, which can eventually have an influence on a corporations reputation, sales and in extreme cases even the survival of a corporation. Different authors also stress that if corporations learn how to use social media for their business, they can use it to their advantage (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Kietzmann et. al, 2011; Mangold & Faulds, 2009; McCorkindale, 2010). Therefore it can be said that it is important to know what messages corporations create for social media. This will contribute to the shared knowledge between
4 corporations and can help them further develop their social media strategies for corporate communication.
However, research on how corporations use social media is still very limited. An example of research concerning corporate social media use is from McCorkindale (2010). McCorkindale (2010), as well as most others, did a quantitative content analysis of the Facebook pages of Fortune 50’s companies. Qualitative research about social media use by corporations is very rare and therefore there is a gap in literature. In this research the focus will be on the type of messages corporations create for Facebook. Previous research (Van Vlijmen, 2013) showed that communication professionals working in the corporate
communication business are inconsistent with their answers of how they use Facebook. Therefore it is important that an actual overview of how corporations use Facebook is created. Presented in this paper is an overview of the type of messages the scientific literature and advice literature books say corporations should create. In analyzing the
messages of the corporations there will be looked at what type of messages occur and if they are effective in terms of interactivity and engagement. Interactivity and engagement were mentioned as two measures of success in the interviews with corporate communication professionals (Van Vlijmen, 2013). Since Facebook is the most used social networking site in the Netherlands, it will be the channel that will be examined in this paper (marketingfacts.nl). A piece of the scientific knowledge gap that still exists in this area can be filled by doing this content analysis. Therefore the research question is:
Which types of Facebook messages by corporations are successful in terms of engagement?
Literature review
In the last decade there has been a shift concerning stakeholder attention towards corporations. Stakeholders have become more aware of corporations, leading to more scrutiny towards them (Johansen & Nielsen). This stakeholder awareness has put accountability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) high on the agenda’s of the
5 corporations. Having the approval of the stakeholders is very important for corporations because it is their license to operate and without some support of the stakeholders a corporation cannot survive (Johansen & Nielsen, 2011). As a result of this increased awareness by the stakeholders, corporations have sought new and adapted ways to communicate with these stakeholders. Their CSR communications have become more and more important (Johansen & Nielsen). CSR is not only about charity and sustainability and so on, but also about being a part of the society and the communities within (Cornelissen, 2008). According to Kelleher (2009), the only way for corporations to be recognized as a legitimate corporate citizen is by communicating more with stakeholders, by building the corporate reputation and by maintaining relationships, by showing they are part of the community.
The selection of the right channels to communicate this message through is very important and must therefore be high on level of media richness. Media richness means that the medium used to convey a message will reduce the ambiguity and uncertainty of the message by the amount of information the channel allows to be transmitted, such as social cues and gestures (Daft & Lengel, 1986, as cited by Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009). Media richness consists out of four elements: language variety, multiplicity of cues, personalization and rapid feedback (Kaplan & Haelein, 2009). With language variety is meant the ability to use natural language. Multiplicity of cues refers to the number of ways the information can be communicated. Personalization is about the ability to make the message your own. And the fourth is the option of giving very rapid feedback through the medium. This means that if a channel is very media rich it offers the best opportunity to get the message through without uncertainty and ambiguity, which is necessary if a corporation wants to show the public they want to be part of the community. Although social media were not invented yet when this theory was found, it can be applied to it. Social media networking sites are medium-high on the level of richness (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009). Social networking sites are mainly ‘rich’ because of the endless possibilities for self disclosure and the feedback mechanisms (Dellarocas, 2003; Kaplan & Haelein, 2009). Individuals, but also corporations, can share
6 through social media what they are doing and thinking and how they want to represent
themselves using words, photo’s, video’s, likes, shares, comments, emoticons and moods. The multiplicity of cues and personalization is thus high. On the other hand, the use of natural language is lower. This is because, with video being the exception, you can use only written words that cannot convey elements such as tone of voice. Rapid feedback
opportunities can be directly linked to the two-way asymmetric and two-way symmetric dialogue with consumers and other stakeholders that social media can offer (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). The feedback options and the two-way (a)symmetric dialogue that is possible through social media offers advantages but also disadvantages. Advantages could be engagement, interaction, use of human voice, building trust and credibility and relationships through dialogue (Dellarocas, 2003). But there could also be disadvantages, like being the unwanted guest or the pinball effect (Cho & Huh, 2010; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). With the pinball effect corporations will start a two-way asymmetric dialogue but what happens with the information after they provided it is completely out of their hands. Corporations provide content but it will be taken over by the consumers and the corporation can only try to steer it now and then (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). Through the feedback mechanisms of likes, shares and comments the individuals will continue the dialogue. So if corporations use social media networking sites effectively and in a proper way they can build trust, credibility and relationships by creating an online word of mouth network through the feedback
mechanisms the individuals use, but if they do not proceed with care it could harm them by being an unwanted guest and creating a negative word of mouth stream (Dellarocas, 2003).
Besides Facebook being a channel through which corporations can communicate their accountability and responsibility, Facebook also has changed the way corporations communicate and market their products and services. Corporations have set goals as to what they want to accomplish with using Facebook and created messages which they believe will help reach these goals for them. However, Facebook is known as platform of the people and not the corporations. As said above, it is therefore important that corporations take into account what their target audiences want from them on this channel before they set
7 any goals and strategies because the individuals they are targeting have expectations that have to be met to a certain extent.
In essence, two main reasons for individuals to ‘like’ corporate pages have come forward: corporate ability association (CAA) and corporate social responsibility association (CSRA) (Haigh, Brubaker & Whiteside, 2012). With CAA is meant the posts about the corporation and their products and services. Individuals ‘like’ corporations to stay up to date about what they have to offer. An example of this is a promotion post in which the individual is offered a discount of some sorts (Haigh et al., 2012). With CSRA is meant the posts about the CSR activities of the corporation. An example of this is a post about a charity in which the corporation is involved (Haigh et al., 2012).
Taking into account why individuals ‘like’ corporations, the corporations can set goals based on what they want and what the consumers want. The main reason corporations want to use Facebook, besides showing that they are a part of the community, is to use it as a marketing tool (Dekay, 2012). Facebook allows corporations to have direct contact with clients, potential customers and employees (Dekay, 2012). Another important reason is that Facebook offers useful demographic data that can be used for customized advertisement. Besides a marketing tool Facebook is also used for Public Relations (PR). Facebook is used for PR because it is a channel where information can be disclosed and disseminated (Haigh et al., 2012). It is also a channel for the ideal form of PR, the two-way symmetrical system (Grunig, 2009). Facebook is a channel where the corporation has a direct line to (potential) customers and employees, therefore it allows for two symmetric communication where the corporation and the individuals or groups in society can directly engage in dialogue (Cho & Huh, 2010). A criticism to this ideal form is that it is near to impossible to establish true symmetric communication. However, Facebook and other social media are channels that do allow dialogue and are therefore seen as very important for corporations.
Thus, it can be said that some of the goals of the corporations and the expectations of the consumers correspond with each other. CAA can be linked to the goal of the corporation to use Facebook as a marketing tool. Also CSRA can be linked to the goals of the
8 corporation to use Facebook for PR and two-way (a)symmetrical dialogue. However, there is a balance that needs to be maintained. Based on the literature discussed above, Facebook can play a very important role in CSR communication and marketing, but consumers do not want to be overloaded with marketing and advertisement because that will turn the
corporation in an unwanted guest. Therefore the marketing goal should not overpower the other goals.
However, just knowing the goals of the corporations and the expectations of the individuals does not explain what makes a message successful in the eyes of the corporation. Previous research in which corporate communication professionals in the Netherlands were interviewed indicated that for a Facebook message to be successful it needed to be engaging and create interaction (van Vlijmen, 2013). Since this thesis is concerned with the Facebook behavior of corporations it is important to view engagement in this perspective as well. Therefore when engagement is mentioned it is the engagement from an individual to the corporation or the brand. Taking this into account the following definition is used in this thesis, Customer Brand Engagement (CBE) is defined as: “the level of a customer’s cognitive, emotional and behavioral investment in specific brand interactions” (Hollebeek, 2011, p.555). So when a message is supposed to be engaging it means that it should trigger cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral investment. A comparable split is also present in the persuasive literature. It has been proven that by writing persuasive texts, the attitude and/or the behavior of the recipient can be influenced (Hoeken, Hornikx & Hustinx, 2009). Thus if the Facebook messages are framed in a persuasive way they could influence behavior and/or attitude. Three themes identified under this CBE are immersion, passion and activation (Hollebeek, 2011). With immersion is meant that the customer is ‘absorbed’ or very ‘focused’ on the content displayed, it gets their complete attention. With passion it is meant that the customer feels very positive about the content and wants to share that, which can be related to influencing attitude. And with activation is meant that customers are willing to invest in the brand by actively interacting with the brand, thus influencing behavior. In the research by Van Vlijmen (2013) interaction was viewed as the result of engagement. So what
9 is interaction? The interviewed professionals (Van Vlijmen, 2013) answered that it required the customer to do something, for example liking the post, giving a comment, sharing the post or watching a video. Immersion, passion and activations are the three key elements for making these messages succeed in terms of engagement and interaction. First of all, with immersion the attention of the consumer will be drawn. When the corporation has caught their attention, the message can create passion and influence attitude but also activate and influence behavior. Visible passion and activation on Facebook can be translated to liking, sharing and commenting, which will be the measures for successfulness in this research. With liking individuals show their passion and with sharing and commenting they show activation. Keep in mind that the entire emotional and behavioral investment of the
consumers is not visible on Facebook. Another form of activation could be that, for example, the viewer of the messages actually buys something.
All in all, based on the information above, the goals of the corporations to use Facebook are known and what they consider to be a successful Facebook message.
However, what type of message strategies can be applied to reach these goals successfully. Based on literature mentioned above, the message types will be divided based on the categories: message types that influence behavior and message types that influence attitude. Message types that influence behavior are for example: direct marketing (Dekay, 2012; Van Vlijmen, 2013) and promotion of (sponsored) events (Dekay, 2012). Direct marketing is defined as messages that directly try to sell to the consumer, for example a message about a upcoming sale (Dekay, 2012; Van Vlijmen, 2013). A promotion of a sponsored event is a message about an event the corporation is involved in or organizes herself (Dekay, 2012). Message types that influence attitude are for example: informational announcements and fun postings (Dekay, 2012; Van Vlijmen, 2013). Informational
announcement are messages that disseminate information about the company or products and services (Dekay, 2012; Van Vlijmen, 2013). And fun postings are the posts that do not serve the other four types. Fun postings are usually asked in a question. An example is: “It is almost weekend, what are you going to do?”. There were also two subtypes found by van
10 Vlijmen (2013): offering promotions and deals and sharing achievements of the corporation. Offering deals and promotions are an integral part of the message type direct marketing. Sharing achievements of the corporation overlaps with informational announcements. Van Vlijmen (2013), however, also found one that was not mentioned by Dekay (2012): webcare. With webcare it is meant that customers can pose questions on the corporate Facebook page to which the corporations responses to help the customer. It is the digital version of customer service.
The research by van Vlijmen (2013) gives an indication of how corporate
communication professionals think about social media use. One of the main findings in the research by van Vlijmen (2013) was that there was controversy in the answers of the professionals. They were asked about the type of messages they created for Facebook and more than eighty percent answered that their goal was to be interactive and engaging, as mentioned above. However, when they were asked if they used Facebook for dialogue with their customers seven of the sixteen interviewees say that they do not use Facebook for dialogue with their customers and more than half does not see the added value of using Facebook for dialogue with their customers. But this is in contradiction with engaging and interactive posts in which the corporation is eager for a response from the customer. This shows that the corporate communication professionals in the Netherlands are not a hundred percent clear in how and why they use Facebook. This can have an effect on the
effectiveness of the post if they are not sure what they want to reach with it. From these answers it can be derived that some corporations do not have a clear strategy on how to use Facebook or they have no strategy at all.
The aim of this research is to get an overview of how Facebook is used by
corporations and what message types are the most successful. The method that will be used is a content analysis based on the scientific literature that is previously mentioned and additional advice literature.
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Research design
In this part of the thesis the method will be discussed. It will give an overview of the materials, the codebook, the operational variables and the procedure.
Materials
The materials which were examined in this research are Facebook messages of twenty-five Dutch corporations. Of each corporation twenty-five messages were analyzed. This means that the corpus exists out of 625 messages. The messages have been collected from the 22nd of May 2014 on backwards and have not been randomly selected. The decision to not use random sampling is based on the goal of the research, which is to give an
overview of how Facebook is used by corporations. Therefore, the most recent messages have been selected in order to get the most current and accurate overview.
To get a representative sample of the business to consumer (b2c) corporations that use Facebook, the first twenty-five corporations were selected from the list of the top 100 Facebook brands in the Netherlands on Socialbakers.com. This top 100 list is based on the number of fans/likes that the Facebook pages have. With this number of corporations it can be assured that the sample contains a variety of corporations in different industries. Also, by selecting the top twenty-five corporations, it is ensured that the pages with the biggest reach were analyzed. Larger corporations often are an example to similar smaller corporations. Therefore, these larger corporations are a good representation of where Facebook use by corporations is headed in the Netherlands. The corporations that have been selected are divided up in industries so that in the analysis the industries can be compared. These are the corporations per industry:
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Table 1 Corporations per industry
Industry Corporations
1. Online corporations -Vakantieveilingen.nl -thuisbezorgd.nl -Uitmetkorting.nl -bol.com
2.Supermarket -Albert Heijn -Lidl Nederland 3.Clothing -Stylefruits - H&M
-Hunkemöller
4.Department stores -Bijenkorf -Hema -V&D 5.Holiday -KLM -Arke
6.Body care products -Zwitsal -AXE Nederland -Dove
7.Food & Drinks -Coca Cola -Heineken -McDonalds NL -Red Bull
8.Technical -Media Markt NL -Samsung Mobile
NL
9.Rest category -ING Nederland -IKEA Nederland
Codebook
The codebook has been comprised by using advice literature and scientific literature. Five best selling advice literature books on social media use by corporations have been analyzed on effective Facebook message strategies. Content Rules by Handly and Chapman (2012), Social Boom by Gitomer (2011), Likable Social Media by Kerpen (2011), The New
Rules of Marketing & PR by Meerman Scotts (2013) and The Zen of Social Media Marketing
by Kabani (2013). From this analysis themes and patterns and descriptions of situations could be derived, which became message types and subtypes. These five books are mentioned as best in several lists of top social media books.
13 Here the codebook is presented. The elaborate codebook with all the explanations and instructions can be found in appendix 1.
Table 2 Codebook
Influencing behavior message types subtypes
A. Direct marketing 1. Urging to buy
2. Promotions & benefits 3. Discounts
4. Contests 5. Providing value
6. Customer success story B. Promotion of (sponsored) events 1. Sponsored events
2. Own events Influencing attitude message types subtypes
C. Information about the company 1. Company achievements 2. Core values/beliefs/culture 3. Heritage
4. Articles related to business
5. Info about current issues in society 6. Reference to own blog
D. Information about the product & services
1. Showcase product
2. Education about products 3. Heritage
4. Review of relevant materials E. Fun
F. Employee as ambassador 1. Employee in the spotlight 2. Employee experiences
3. About the day to day business G. Webcare
Content style variables Codes
Does it have a visual? 0. No
1. Yes Is there a question to like, share or
comment?
0. No 1. Yes Is there a question to click on an external
link?
0. No 1. Yes
14 Is the message written in a storytelling way? 0. No
1. Yes Variables for measuring successfulness
How many likes? Number
How many shares? Number
How many comments? Number
Operational definitions of the variables
Direct marketing means that the message is directly trying to sell the product or service to the customer. This can be by marketing the worth of the product or service or by offering something extra like a prize or a discount (Dekay, 2012; Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011).
Promotion of (sponsored) events is when the message calls the viewer to participate in an event. This can be an own small event but also a larger sponsored event. But it is always an event to come. The goal of the message is to promote the event (Dekay, 2012; Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011).
Information about the company refers to the messages that are disseminated and contain any information about the company with the purpose to inform the consumer and to influence the attitude of the consumer. Not to sell (Dekay, 2012; Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011).
Information about the products and services are the messages that contain
information about the product or service of the company. The purpose of these messages is to inform and to influence the attitude, not to sell directly (Gitomer, 2011; Handley &
Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011).
Fun refers to the type of message that is very informal and is meant to be fun. This can be ranging from a joke or a memorable quote to a post which wishes the consumers a good weekend. The most important factor of this type of message is that the main goal is to be fun. It has no other goal (Dekay, 2012; Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011).
15 Employee as ambassador means that in these messages the human element of the company is displayed by showing the employees that work at the company. These are the employees that are normally not visible for consumers (Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011).
Webcare is the type of message where the company addresses resistance and objections concerning the company and its services or products. This is with the purpose of helping the consumer and offering a solution or an explanation. This is only for pro-active webcare (Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011).
The content style variables are what is mentioned in the advice literature as extras. An accompanying visual makes the message stand out more. Asking for likes, shares or comments is beneficial for the stimulations of the receivers. If you want to generate more conversion to your website, you can also ask them to click on a link. Finally they describe storytelling as a trick with words that will create immersion and keep the attention of the receiver. The definition of storytelling is presented in the elaborate codebook in appendix 1.
Lastly, the measures for successfulness are based on the literature by Hollebeek (2011). If a post is engaging and creates interaction there will be passion and activation, which can be translated to likes and shares for passion and commenting for activation. These three scores combined are the variable successfulness. Likes, shares and comments are added to create the variable successfulness. The decision was made not to weigh these items because it is very hard to determine an appropriate value. It could be argued that for example a comment is more successful than a like and a share is even more successful than a comment. However, in the posts corporations often ask for likes, shares and/or comments to be able to participate in a contest, which nullifies any other value of liking, commenting or sharing.
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Intercoder reliability
The reliability of the codebook was ensured by using a second coder who analyzed twenty percent of the messages (125 messages). This twenty percent was selected using the systematic random sampling method. Each fifth message was selected to be coded by the second coder. The second coder was instructed at the hand of an instruction form attached to the codebook (see appendix 1). After reading the instructions and the elaborate codebook with all the operational definitions the second coder had the chance to ask questions and clear up any confusion. The lead researcher and the second coder practiced twenty
messages, which were not part of the actual corpus, together which could represent difficult decisions in coding.
Performing the intercoder reliability test Krippendorff’s Alpha on the variables of the message types and the subtypes resulted in scores all above an alpha of .88. That means that all variables coded by the two coders have a good reliability. This was expected because most variables were nominal and thus straight forward to code. The more difficult subtypes were thoroughly discussed and practiced and therefore also scored high on reliability. Also, when testing the subtypes it was only for the selected cases based on message type. Variables employee as ambassador, webcare and the rest category did not appear in the subsample.
Table 3 Intercoder reliability results
Variables Krippendorff’s Alpha
Direct marketing .9135
Direct marketing subtypes .9581
Promotion of (sponsored) events 1.000 Promotion of (sponsored) events subtypes 1.000 Information about the company .9192 Information about the company subtypes .9720
17 Information about products & services .8985
Information about products & services subtypes
.8895
Fun .9797
Statistical tests
Because this research is exploratory and most of the variables are of a nominal level there was no extensive statistical testing. The most important features are the descriptive statistics of each message type and its subtypes and their successfulness. Also the message types were compared to each other on the bases of their successfulness in likes, shares and comments. Additionally the different corporations were compared within the same industry and the different industries to each other in order to find out which industries are more successful and if there are corporations that stand out within their own industry.
Results
First it was checked whether the data looks normal or not and if there are any
abnormalities, to get a sense of what to expect. There were 625 (N=625) messages analyzed with no missing values.
The variables concerning message types and subtypes were all nominal variables. But within the variables it can be said that the different options were not normally distributed. Also for the ratio variables of measuring success the data is not normally distributed. This could have an effect on the results. However, the sample (N=625) is reasonably large and therefore the fact that the variables are not normally distributed is an interesting finding by itself.
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Descriptive results
Before starting the significance testing it is important to get an overview of how corporations use Facebook, what message types and subtypes they use most, because this is a representation of how the corporations portray themselves to the public. When
examining how much each message type has been used there are two types that stand out (see table 4). Direct marketing is the message type which is used the most (n=235) and Webcare is the type that has not been used at all in this sample. However, keep in mind that in this research only pro-active webcare was examined and not exchanges between
corporations and consumers within the response sections of the posts. Both fun (n=177) and information about products & services (n=141) were also used extensively more than the other types.
Based on table 4 it is clear that the most used message types are direct marketing, information about products & services and fun. But most message types also have subtypes. By knowing the main message type the purpose of the message type is determined, but identifying the subtype brings a better understanding of how corporations go about it in the actual messages, how they execute the message to reach the purpose.
First of all in the direct marketing message type (n=235) the subtypes that were used the most are: contests (26%), discounts (23.4%), providing value (23%) and urging to buy (16.6%). Promotions & benefits and Customer success story were used the least.
Moreover, in the information about products & services message type (n=141) the subtype that was used most was showcasing product (83%). This is an unexpected finding because this subtype was added later on in the codebook when it was discovered in pre-testing with messages that were not part of the corpus. This subtype is thus not a way to successfully build your social media presence and reputation according to scientific literature (Dekay, 2012; Van Vlijmen, 2013) and the advice literature (Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011). Nonetheless it is the subtype that is used
19 most across all message types, with the exception of fun. Fun is used more but has no subtypes.
Table 4 Overview usage message types and subtypes, N=625.
Message type Usage Influencing behavior types
Direct marketing - Urging to buy
- Promotions & Benefits - Discounts
- Contests - Providing value
- Customer Success Story Total N=235 (37.6%) - n=39 (16.6%) - n=23 (9.7%) - n=55 (23.4%) - n=61 (26%) - n=54 (23%) - n=3 (1.3%) N=235 (100%) Promotion of (sponsored) events
- Sponsored events - Own events Total N=33 (5.3%) - n=13 (39.4%) - n=20 (60.4%) N=33 (100%)
Influencing attitude types
Information about the company - Company achievements - Core values/beliefs/culture - Heritage
- Reference to own blog Total N=33 (5.3%) - n=6 (18.2%) - n=8 (24.2%) - n=11 (33.3%) - n=8 (24.2%) N=33 (100%) Information about products & services
- Showcasing product
- Education about the product - Heritage
- Reviews of relevant materials Total N=141 (22.6%) - n=117 (83%) - n=22 (15.6%) - n=1 (0.7%) - n=1 (0.7%) N=141 (100%) Fun N=177 (28.3%) Employee as ambassador - Employee in the spotlight Total N=3 (0.5%) - n=3 (100%) N=3 (100%) Webcare N=0 Rest category N=3 (0.5%) Total N=625 (100%)
20 Furthermore, it is also important to view the content style variables because in the advice literature these were mentioned as options to create a good post. The first element that the advice literature mentions will create more attention for their posts is an
accompanying visual. However, in this research message sample only two messages did not have a visual, therefore it is impossible to say anything concerning the importance of having a visual or not. Moreover, advice literature suggested that storytelling was a good way to frame a message successfully. In this sample storytelling was only found three times, therefore nothing can be said on this matter either. To generate more attention to the
corporate website or other relevant links it was suggested in the advice literature to include a link in the post and asking them to click on it. In this sample there were 304 messages were this occurred. Finally, advice literature indicated that asking for a like, share or comment would stimulate the viewers to do so. The results of this are discussed thoroughly in the next part concerning successfulness of the messages.
Successfulness of message types and subtypes
Based on the usage of the message types discussed above it can be said that direct marketing, information about products & services and fun are the most used message types. It can also be said that the subtypes that were used the most are contest and showcasing products & services. However, this research also aims at knowing which message types and subtypes are the most successful. Successfulness is based on the added number of the likes, shares and comments per post. The higher the number the more successful the post.
When analyzing the successfulness of the message types and the subtypes there are no significant effects found with an ANOVA test. This is because the variables are not
normally distributed and it is impossible to find significant effects if one group has only 3 cases (employee as ambassador) and another has 235 cases (direct marketing).
Furthermore, it was checked if there were significant results if the message types promotion of (sponsored) events, information about the company and employee as ambassador were
21 computed, but this did not change anything. However, since this research is an exploratory research and the sampling was on purpose it is useful to look at the level of successfulness although it is not statistically significant.
Therefore it can be concluded that these message types are most successful: fun, information about products & services and information about the company (table 5). This is very interesting because this means that direct marketing, which is used the most, is not very successful. Table 5 also displays very high standard deviations. This means that there is a lot of differences within message type and how successful they are.
Table 5 Successfulness Message types, standard deviation between brackets.
Message type N Total
successfulness Mean of Successfulness Direct marketing 235 180473 767.96 (1394.90) Promotion of (sponsored) events 33 17623 534.03 (1010.00)
Information about the company
33 50866 1541.39 (5131.43)
Information about products & services
141 432423 3066.83 (5782.80)
Fun 177 723784 4089.18 (9441.99)
Employee as ambassador
3 359 119.67 (143.117)
Besides knowing the most successful message types, which provide the purpose of the message, it is also important to know the most successful subtypes because the subtypes are what eventually is viewed by the consumer. Examination of the different subtypes indicates that showcasing products & services (M= 3528.65, SD= 6205.50) is the most successful, followed by company heritage (M=2996.91, SD=8657.86), contests
22 (M=1213.93, SD=1939.89) and promotion of sponsored events (M=1121.15,
SD=1425.36).(overview of all subtypes is available in appendix 2).
Comparing between industries
In the collected data there are eight distinct industries and one rest category. For testing if one industry is performing significantly better than another an One-way ANOVA was performed with a Tukey post hoc test.
Results indicate that some industries indeed differ significantly in successfulness compared to others. We cannot assume equal variances because Levene’s F-test gives a p smaller than .001. The ANOVA gives the following results. F(24, 600)= 19.73, p< .001, ῃ² = .128. This means that the effect size is medium. In table 6 the means of successfulness are displayed per industry.
Table 6 Successfulness of the different industries, standard deviations are between brackets.
Industries Successfulness mean
Online corporations 517.65 (1092.26)
Supermarkets 867.17 (1492.02)
Clothing 4459.60 (6643.74)
Department stores 337.27 (380.40)
Holiday 5853.18 (10264.85)
Body care products 628.37 (724.56)
Food & Drinks 5191.58 (724.56)
Technical 1327.90 (2126,83)
Rest category 509.44 (543.61)
Tukey’s post-hoc test indicates that the industry clothing is significantly more successful then: Online corporation (Mdifference= 3941.95, p=.010), Department stores
23 Furthermore, the industry holiday is significantly more successful then: Online
corporation (Mdifference= 5335.53, p<.001), Supermarkets (Mdifference=4986.02, p=.016), Department stores (Mdifference=5515.91, p=.001), body care products (Mdifference=5224.81, p=.002) and technical (Mdifference=4525.28, p=.049).
And finally the industry food & drinks is significantly better then: Online corporation
(Mdifference= 4673.93, p<.001), Supermarkets (Mdifference=4324.42, p=.015), Department
stores (Mdifference=4854.513, p<.001) and body care products (Mdifference=4563.21, p=.001).
Besides knowing what industries are significantly better than others it is also interesting to know that three corporations differed significantly from the rest, F(24, 600)= 19.73, p< .001. The three companies that were most successful compared to each other were KLM (M=11071.88, SD=12571.44), H&M (M=9861.44, SD=8886.86) and Red Bull (M=17008.60, SD=16169.75), all with a p smaller than .001 to the rest of the corporations. On top of that, Red Bull is significantly better than KLM (Mdifference=5936.72, p=.002), and H&M (Mdifference=7147.16, p<.001). (The means of the other corporations can be found in appendix 2).
Asking for a like, share or a comment and its influence on
successfulness of the message.
In this research there was also measured if the messages specifically asked the consumer to like, share or comment on the message. Corporations assume that by posing this question the successfulness of the post will increase. However, the opposite is true. An independent sample t-test shows that there is a significant relationship between asking for a like, share or comment and the successfulness of the post. Levene’s F-test tells that equal variances cannot be assumed (p<.001) for asking or not asking for a like/share/comment, resulting in a significant effect of this question on successfulness, t(598)=2.40, p=.017. However, when examining the means of successfulness, the mean when the question is not asked is higher (M=2804.11, SD=7169.735) than when there is asked for a like, share or
24 comment (M=1220.23, SD=2934.833). This means that there is a significant relationship in the opposite direction of what could be expected. Advice literature indicates that asking for a like, share or comment will stimulate the public to do so, but the opposite is true. When the public is asked to like, share or comment they do less so than when they are not asked.
Meanwhile, when examining if asking for a like, share or comment has an effect on the number of comments per message there is a different result. Levene’s F-test again shows that equal variances cannot be assumed (p<.001) and the independent t-test indicates that there is a significant effect of asking for a like, share or comment on the actual number of comments, t(287)=-4.47, p<.001. When asked to comment the mean is higher (M=256.79,
SD=469.82) than when not asked (M=104.24, SD=251.14).
Conclusion
With the rise of social media use and thus also Facebook use by corporations it has become more and more important to get an overview of how corporations use this channel and if what they do is successful. Therefore a content analysis of Facebook messages by large corporations active in the Netherlands has been performed to answer the research question: Which types of Facebook messages by corporations are successful in terms of
engagement? With engagement is meant the cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral
investment of individuals, created by such a message (Hollebeek, 2011), which was measured by the likes, shares and comments.
So to answer to the research question, there are a few message types that are successful on Facebook in terms of engagement. First of all the fun messages that play on emotion and try to show corporate citizenship are successful (Hollebeek, 2011; Johansen & Nielsen, 2011; Kelleher, 2009). On the contrary, message type direct marketing was not very successful while it is the message type that was used the most. Furthermore, the message types information about the company and information about products & services are also successful, especially the subtypes showcasing product, company heritage, core
25 values/beliefs/culture. From direct marketing there was one subtype that was successful in terms of engagement and that was contests. On top of that, this research indicated that a way of increasing dialogue is to ask for a comment. Dialogue is considered to be very valuable for corporations. All this information could help improve the Facebook use of corporations by showing them what types of messages are successful in terms of
engagement but also by showing that the message type that they use the most is not that successful. It also gives a better understanding of how corporations try to position
themselves in the society, which is very important for understanding the relationships
between corporations and individuals and the way they communicate with each other. In the next part the findings will be discussed in more detail and will be related to relevant literature.
First of all Haigh et al. (2012) indicates that why individuals like corporations is
because of corporate ability association (CAA) and corporate social responsibility association (CSRA). Both types of associations can be found in the message types that the corporations have used in this research. However, the messages on CRSA are really scarce while the subtype for these types of messages is the fourth most successful in terms of engagement. This could indicate that corporations are missing a huge opportunity here by not posting these types of messages more. On the contrary corporations do post a lot of CAA messages. The message types that correspond with this association are direct marketing, information about the company and information about products & services. But where information about the company and information about products & services are reasonably successful, direct marketing is not. However, direct marketing is the message type is that is used the most. This information could be used by corporations to improve their Facebook use.
Secondly, corporations have been warned that Facebook, and other social media, are channels of the public and that they have to be aware of how they use it, that it is not a new channel to overload consumers with advertising and marketing, that they can come across as an unwanted guest (Kaplan & Haelein, 2010; Kietzman et al. 2011; Mangold & Faulds, 2009; McCorkindale, 2010). However, direct marketing is the message type that is being used to most by corporations. 37.6% of all messages analyzed (N=625) were direct
26 marketing messages. And theory is correct that this is not a successful strategy because tests indicate that direct marketing is less successful then four other types of messages. The subtype within direct marketing that is successful is contests. Results show that when
corporations hold contest the consumers do like to participate. This type of message is classified in this research as influencing behavior, which is the main purpose, but indirectly it is also influencing attitude because consumers feel that the corporations is willing to invest in their consumers as well (Gitomer, 2011).
On the other hand, fun messages are very successful in this sample. Fun messages that do not try to persuade people to buy anything are an example of what Hollenbeek (2011) describes as engaging. Fun messages play on emotion and thus trigger cognitive, emotional and behavioral investment, which will lead to immersion, passion and activation (Hollenbeek, 2011). By being funny, corporations try to become a part of the community and to be
recognized as a corporate citizen (Johansen & Nielsen, 2011; Kelleher, 2009). If corporations are recognized as a corporate citizen they secure their license to operate (Johansen & Nielsen, 2011). Other subtypes that are successful are: showcasing the product, company heritage and core values/beliefs/culture. These three message types also play on the emotion of consumers and are therefore successful. Especially with company heritage and core values/beliefs/culture corporations can try to show their corporate social responsibility and that they are part of the community as a corporate citizen.
Another important reason for corporations to use Facebook is that it allows for the ideal form of PR, two-way (a)symmetrical communication (Grunig, 2009). Two-way
symmetrical communication is becoming more and more important because it is a direct line with the stakeholder and allows for intensive personal relationship building and maintaining (Cho & Huh, 2010; Grunig, 2009). Because of this two-way symmetrical communication corporations have to opportunity to start dialogue with their consumers and that is very important in these times of stakeholder scrutiny (Johansen & Nielsen, 2011). This research has indicated that asking for a like, share or comment will increase the number of comments on a post. So it can be concluded from this that asking to comment and thus start the
27 dialogue with the corporation is successful and consumers actually engage more in dialogue with the corporation. Based on the messages in the corpus, corporations mainly ask to comment if they want the opinion of the stakeholder on their product and services and their actions. By asking the consumer or stakeholder to comment the corporations shows that they are interested in them and that they are open for a conversation.
Implications
Based on the findings in this research there are a few implications for the field of science but also for the practice of Facebook communication by corporations. First of all, it can be established that Facebook can be a very rich medium if used correctly (Kaplan & Haelein, 2009). Corporations have the opportunity to use a multiplicity of cues to convey the message and to make it very personal and to receive very rapid feedback. Furthermore, this research confirms that Facebook can be used by corporations to earn a place in the
community (Johansen & Nielsen, 2011). Through Facebook corporations can communicate more with stakeholders, build on their corporate reputation and maintain relationships (Kelleher, 2009). This could influence the place corporations take in the lives of individuals. The effort of corporations to become a corporate citizen and thus part of the community makes it easier for individuals to identify and/or affiliate with certain corporations. In this time, where social networking sites are very popular, mass self-communication has become more popular to (Castells, 2007). Mass self-communication means that individuals communicate more about themselves, their identity and what community they are part of, in a many to many communication form (Castells, 2007). Corporations have taken a place in how individuals, that are not an employee of the corporation, create their ‘self’ (Mead, 1934). Because corporations are becoming corporate citizens they take a place in the ‘ME’ process of an individual’s identity. The attitude and values of a corporation can become something a individual wants to associate himself or herself with. Facebook allows these individuals to show their community what they want to associate themselves with through likes, shares and
28 comments, which is mass self-communication (Castells, 2007). This research shows that individuals do like, share and comment and thus associate themselves with a corporation. Facebook and other social networking sites have changed the position of corporations in the lives of individuals.
In addition there are also practical implications of this research. Foremost this research gives an overview of what message types are being used and which ones are successful. The message type that is used most in the sample of this research is direct marketing. However, this is a message type that is not very successful in terms of
engagement. This could indicate that corporations have to change their strategies because their messages are not working. The research also indicates which message types are successful and which subtypes are successful. Based on this information corporations may decide that their balance of message types needs to be changed to improve their social media presence.
Limitations
Besides the implications there are also few limitations concerning the actual research but also what could not fit in the scope of this research. First of all, because of the way the data was sampled the variables were not evenly distributed. This prevented that in terms of successfulness there could be found no statistically significant results. Moreover, because the coding only allowed for choosing one message type and one subtype it cannot be known for sure why certain message types and subtypes were successful. This is because there is a lot of overlap between the types. A direct marketing message could be funny but if the main purpose was direct marketing it was coded as such. Accordingly the likes that this message then received could be because it was also funny and not because the consumer wants to buy something.
Furthermore, one of the most important points discussed in the literature review is the option of two-way symmetrical communication that Facebook offers. However, the design of
29 this research only allowed for the examination of the posts that were created by the
corporation itself and the counting of the number of comments. This meant that it could not go more in depth on the dialogue itself and the webcare that often takes place on Facebook. The content of the comments on these messages stay hidden and therefore also the nature of the dialogue could not be determined, for example if human voice was used and how corporations deal with negative comments. On top of that this research design does not allow to track what happens after the individuals have liked, shared or commented on a post. For example if they actually clicked on a link or bought something. This research only says something about the successfulness in terms of engagement and nothing else.
Future research
There is definitely need for further research on this topic, using this research but also with other variables and different research methods. The Facebook use by corporations is still developing and changing and in a year or even a few months the results of such a research could be completely different. Therefore a repeat of this research would be very important. Furthermore, in this research the focus was not on what message type was more suitable for which industry. It could be that certain types of industries thrive better on a particular type of message than another industry. For example, the clothing industry may thrive better on subtype showcasing product than for example the technical industry. Therefore, it could be very interesting to do this research again with a different sampling strategy so that they variables are normally distributed and with a focus on the industries.
Also, as mentioned in the limitations, this research does not focus on the concept of webcare. But this is a very important aspect as to what Facebook, and other social
networking sites, have brought as an advantage for corporations. This direct line with the consumers is something that needs to be explored further through content analysis and interviews with customer service departments in corporations.
30 Another suggestion for further research is surveys or interviews with the receivers of the messages instead of a content analysis. This is important because it will bring a better understanding of what they want on Facebook and what their motivations are for liking, sharing or commenting on a message. By researching the motivations of the receivers the perspective is changed from viewing social media use of corporations from the corporation perspective to viewing the social media use of corporations from the receiver’s perspective, which will give a better understanding of how they experience this presence of the
corporations of these relatively new channels.
So to conclude, this research can be considered one of the first steps in the right direction for understanding social media use by corporations and what effect this has on both corporations and individuals.
31
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33
Appendix 1 - Codebook
This research will be about the Facebook use of companies. It will focus on It will look into the messages created by companies for consumers. The focus will be on what type of messages companies use and which ones are the most successful.
Instructions:
You will code the message with the guidance of the codebook. The codes have to be filled in in the spss file that has been delivered to you. Before you start, read this codebook carefully. If you have any questions, ask them before you start coding.
Step 1: Look at the message.
Step 2: Determine what the purpose of the message is in terms of communication strategy.
This can be to influence behavior or to influence attitude. With influencing behavior is meant that the message calls you to do something, like buying something. Asking for a like,
comment or share does not fall under influencing behavior. Influencing attitude means that the message is created to make you feel good about the company, that your attitude towards the company becomes more positive.
Step 3: Knowing the purpose find out which corresponding message type it belongs to.
There are two message types that influence behavior: direct marketing and promotion of (sponsored) events. There are five message types that influence attitude: information about the company, information about the products and services, fun, employee as ambassador and webcare. There is one extra variable that is the rest group. This rest category you must only use if you cannot place the message in any other message type. You can never choose more than one message type and subtype. Always choose the most prominent if you have doubts.
Step 4: When you have identified the message type, look for the subtypes corresponding to
the message type. There are two message types without subtypes: fun and webcare. With those two message types you can skip this step and also step 5.
34 Step 5: When you have chosen the subtype you fill in the corresponding number in spss. For
example: You have identified the message as direct marketing, subtype is discounts. Go to the direct marketing variable in spss and fill in a 2.
Step 6: Next you check if the message has an accompanying visual (Photo or video). If yes
fill in 1, if no fill in 0.
Step 7: Is there a question in the message for a like, share, or comment? If yes fill in 1, if no
fill in 0.
Step 8: Is there asked for a click to an external site or is there an external link incorporated in
the post? For example a link to the official website or the blog of the company. If yes fill in 1, if no fill in 0.
Step 9: Is the message written in a storytelling way? Explanation of what storytelling means
is included in the codebook. If yes fill in 1, if no fill in 0. Step 10: Fill in the number of likes
Step 11: Fill in the number of shares
Step 12: Fill in the number of comments
36 Influencing behavior:
Message type: Direct marketing (Dekay, 2012; Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012;
Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011)
Explanation of the Message type:
Direct marketing means that the messages is directly trying to sell the product or service to the customer. This can be by marketing the worth of the product or service or by offering something extra like a prize or a discount.
Subtypes:
1. Urging to buy (When the message only asks you to buy without really offering something else)
2. Offering promotions & benefits (when the company offers a sample of the product or a product for free if you buy something else.)
3. Discounts (When the company offers a discount, for example: Curacao, book your flight
now! €499 pp if you book 4 seats!)
4. Contests (when the message is to invite you to join a contest and win something. An example of this is: Make a tile with the funniest line your mother always says for mothers
day, share it and win the tile plus a giftcard of €50,-.)
5. Providing value (why is it valuable for the customer to have your product. This is a more covert marketing attempt. Sketching an image that makes the customer want to have the product. An example of this: Our new Axe fragrance is out. This fragrance makes women
even want you more. The women of your dreams will not be able to say no to you!)
6. Customer success story (This type of message shows the story of a customer who used the product or service of the company with success and shares his or her experience with
37 Message type: Promotion of (sponsored) events (Dekay, 2012; Gitomer, 2011; Handley &
Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011)
Explanation of Message type:
This is when the message calls the viewer to participate in an event. This can be an own small event but also a larger sponsored event. But it is always an event to come. The goal of the message is to promote the event.
Subtypes:
1. Sponsored event (This is when a company promotes an event that they do not organize themselves but an event they are an investor or sponsor of. It helps them if you attend because you will be exposed to their company name in a positive setting. Example: Coca
Cola: Richard Berrios, Luis Catro, Gener Almanza and Yorling Tenorio. Nicaragua. It's their cup. It's Everyone's Cup. What does The World Cup mean to you? For more information, Like the Trophy Tour on Facebook.)
2. Own event (This is when the company organizes an event themselves. An example of this is when Media Markt promoted the signing session of the band Di-Rect in their
38 Influencing attitude:
Message type: Information about the company (Dekay, 2012)
Explanation of Message type:
These are the messages that are disseminated and contain any information about the company with the purpose to inform the consumer and to influence the attitude of the consumer. Not to sell.
Subtypes: (Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011)
1. Company achievements (These are messages that inform the consumers about what your company has achieved. Example: Today is the day we celebrate or 10 year
existence! Or KLM: We transported 10000 people this month.)
2. Core values/beliefs/culture (This type of message informs the customer of the values, beliefs and culture of the organization. An example of this can be that the company helps a charity that reflects the value of what they stand for.)
3. Heritage (These messages refer to the history of the company. Example: Good
memories.. this is the first café that sold Heineken! #throwbackthursday)
4. Articles related to business (When an external link is shared from an article that is
relevant to their business. Example: ING shares an article that explains that the recession
is near the end.)
5. Info about current issues in society (This is when the company gives information about current events that are relevant to their business directly inside a Facebook post, no links. Example: ING shares information about what it exactly means if a DDoS attack
occurs)
6. Reference to own blog (This is when the messages shares the news that a new blogpost has come out and provides you with a link. Example: Check the new column of our Chief Oranje Officer:. The purpose of the message is to inform you of the reference to the blog. This is different to just the presence of a link in a message.
39 Message type: Information about the products and services (Gitomer, 2011; Handley &
Chapman, 2012; Kabani, 2013; Kerpen, 2011) Explanation of Message type:
These are the messages that contain information about the product or service of the company. The purpose of these messages is to inform and to influence the attitude, not to sell directly.
Subtypes:
1. Showcase the product (This type of message has no other purpose than just showing products. Example: Stylefruits added four pictures in the album ‘what is your favorite?’) 2. Education about product (When the message is trying to explain something about a
product. For example how the product is made.)
3. Heritage (These are messages about the history of the products. Example: Lets test your
Axe knowledge! Do you think Axe Hair was produced before or after 2010?)
4. Reviews of relevant material (for example if Samsung reviews a app that can be used on their devices)
Message type: Fun (Dekay, 2012; Gitomer, 2011; Handley & Chapman, 2012; Kabani,
2013; Kerpen, 2011)
Explanation of Message type:
This type of message is very informal and is meant to be fun. This can be ranging from a joke or a memorable quote to a post which wishes the consumers a good weekend. The most important factor of this type of message is that the main goal is to be fun. It has no other goal.
Example:
The Heineken Chief Oranje Officer delivered the Sambashirt to us. We tested it immediately.. [video of the Albert Heijn ‘face’ doing a samba dance in the shirt].
