Moving Social Marketing Beyond Personal Change to Social Change: Strategically Using Twitter to Mobilize Supporters into Vocal Advocates

Journal of Social Marketing, vol. 4, pp. 240-260, 2014

31 Pages Posted: 23 Feb 2015

See all articles by Jeanine Guidry

Jeanine Guidry

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) - Department of Social and Behavioral Health; Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) - Center for Media+Health

Richard Waters

University of San Francisco - School of Management

Gregory D. Saxton

Schulich School of Business, York University

Date Written: May 23, 2014

Abstract

Social marketing scholarship has regularly focused on how organizations can effectively influence changes in awareness and behaviors among its targeted audience. Communication scholarship, however, has repeatedly shown that the most influential form of communication happens between members of the same peer group. As such, it is imperative that organizations learn how to engage audiences and facilitate the discussion about organizational messages between individuals. Social media provide platforms for such conversations as organizational messaging can be shared and discussed by individuals with others in their networks. This research examines what type of messaging on Twitter is most effective for helping move social marketing beyond focusing on personal changes to find out what messages help turn members of the public into vocal advocates for these organizations’ social changes. Through a content analysis of 3,415 Twitter updates from 50 nonprofit organizations, this study identifies specific types of messages that are more likely to get stakeholders retweeting, archiving, and discussing the organizations’ messaging. Through these stakeholder behaviors, social marketing has stronger influence as it transitions from organizational to interpersonal messaging.

Keywords: Social Media, Twitter, Vocal Advocacy, Online Engagement, Situational Theory of Publics, Social Marketing, Nonprofit Organizations, Charities

JEL Classification: L31

Suggested Citation

Guidry, Jeanine and Waters, Richard and Saxton, Gregory D., Moving Social Marketing Beyond Personal Change to Social Change: Strategically Using Twitter to Mobilize Supporters into Vocal Advocates (May 23, 2014). Journal of Social Marketing, vol. 4, pp. 240-260, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2568262

Jeanine Guidry

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) - Department of Social and Behavioral Health ( email )

One Capitol Square
830 E. Main Street, 9th Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
United States

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) - Center for Media+Health ( email )

901 West Main Street, Room 2216
Richmond, VA 23284-2034
United States

Richard Waters

University of San Francisco - School of Management ( email )

San Francisco, CA 94117
United States

Gregory D. Saxton (Contact Author)

Schulich School of Business, York University ( email )

4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://social-metrics.org

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