Engaging fans and the community in social media: interaction with institutions of higher education on Facebook |
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Authors: | Felicitas M Brech Uwe Messer Philipp A Rauschnabel Bjoern S Ivens |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Marketing Intelligence, Otto-Friedrich-University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany;2. Department of Management Studies, The University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, MI, USA |
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Abstract: | Although many universities use social media to interact with stakeholders, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Drawing on theories of self-presentation and community engagement, we develop a theoretical model to explain these crucial outcome factors. We then test the model based on secondary data from 159 universities. Our findings reveal the double-edged nature of community size: universities with a strong reputation tend to have more Facebook fans, but having many Facebook fans has detrimental effects on individual fan engagement. Furthermore, the frequency of updates is a crucial factor, as too frequent and too infrequent updates lead to lower levels of fan engagement. We discuss theoretical implications for online communities and derive implications for social media managers. |
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Keywords: | Social media marketing higher education community engagement |
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