The

Use of Social Media for Nonprofit Brands

The Use of Social Media for Nonprofit Brands

Bridget K. Duffy
Spring Hill College

CMM 335.01
Dr. Sharee Broussard
November 20, 2015

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Abstract
The goal of this research paper is to determine how nonprofit brands can benefit from
social media engagement. Social media is rapidly growing and changing the world of
communications. The main purpose that social media serves is the ability of interaction and
sharing. This pilot study was conducted to explore branding from the perspective of social
media. The study will specifically find out if respondents will have a positive affinity toward a
nonprofit organization with which they have engaged online. The study was examined through
the lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to determine if nonprofit brands can benefit from
social media engagement.
Students from Spring Hill College were surveyed to answer 17 questions regarding
engagement and affinity towards a nonprofit organization with which they have a connection to.
Once data was collected, the figures were entered into SPSS Software Statistics Software. The
research ran four separate tests on the collected data: frequencies, descriptive, crosstab, and
reliability. The collection of the data unfortunately did not support the researchers hypothesis.

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Introduction
For most individuals social media is no longer a curious phenomenon, as it has
fundamentally changed the way people interact and communicate with one another. However,
social media is not just a way for individuals to communicate with one another; one of their
many advantages is the ability to share of knowledge and information online among different
groups of people. Today it has been witnessed that most businesses also engage in social
networking while promoting their products and services. Social media as a medium of promotion
contributes, through its immediacy, to a healthy and direct relation between brands and their
public in an online environment (Baruah, 2012, p.1).
Nonprofit organizations are using social media platforms to communicate with targeted
audiences and competing organizations about what exactly they have to offer. According to
Stride and Lee (2007), one of the ways that nonprofits are responding to competition is by
adopting branding techniques. Brand orientation is beneficial to nonprofit organizations since it
plays a monumental role in developing trust, strengthening awareness amongst targeted
audiences, and increasing gifts from donors. Naylor, Lambert, and West (2012) found that
before the advent of social networking, consumers were forced to guess at the identities of a
brands supporters on the basis of advertisers or the identity of spokespeople. Despite the
growing demand, nonprofit organization marketers have not yet fully defined the most effective
ways to place charitable appeals. However, research now suggests that consumers are
increasingly relying on social media to learn about unfamiliar and new brands.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model is a dual processing theory that is based on the idea
that attitudes guide decisions and other behaviors. According to Bitner and Obermiller (1985), a
key variable in this process is involvement, the extent to which an individual is willing and able

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to think about the position advocated and its supported materials. The purpose of this pilot study
is to explore brands from the perspective of social media engagement toward nonprofit
organizations. It will be examined through the lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to
determine how nonprofit brands benefit can from social media engagement.
Literature Review
Brands are critical in distinguishing, or setting apart companies and organizations. A
brand represents a set of promises, implies trust, consistency and expectations to targeted
audiences (Davis, 2000 p.4). Brands are considered to be most beneficial when they are unique,
remembered by everyone, and hold true to the organizations mission (Mullin, 2006). According
to Kylander and Stone (2012), brands provide a simple and effective medium to convey the
benefits offered by organizations and the goods and services that are offered. Among other
things, brands enable the development of trust between the nonprofits and targeted audiences,
provide protection from competitive pressures and can raise the organizations profile. Once trust
is broken, it is almost impossible for nonprofits to bounce back and they do not have the funds or
resources to fall back on (Fogel, 2009). Yet, Kylander and Stone (2012, p. 2) found that branding
in the nonprofit sector appears to be at a stand still in its development when it comes to their
branding efforts.
Many nonprofits use a narrow approach to branding, while using it solely as a tool for
fundraising. However, many others are moving beyond revenue focus and exploring wider and
more strategic roles, such as strengthening internal identity, consistency, and capacity (Kylander
& Stone, 2011, p.2). Brands in nonprofit sectors are not only important to the audience but also
extremely important to the reputation of the organization. According to Coehlo, (2015) brands

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need to realize that it is not just a one-way conversation where they can talk to consumers. It is
not only talking about someone to your targeted audience, but also getting your audience to talk
about you. In order to do so, nonprofit organizations are being forced to break away from
traditional marketing and engage in more efficient and beneficial ways to reach and engage their
targeted audiences. The focus should be on the images, feelings, beliefs, and values of the
targeted audience. It is the emotional connection, understanding, involvement from the audience,
and brand experience that leads to success. Kylander, Quelch, and Simonin (2007) suggest that a
powerful brand that portrays the mission can increase funding, public awareness, consumer
confidence, and donor support. Yet, nonprofit organizations still continue to struggle to know
where to begin and how to convince their audiences that their efforts are worthwhile. The
changes that nonprofits can make now and over time to build stronger brands do not necessarily
always have to be costly (Fogel, 2007).
According to Campbell, Lambright, & Wells (2014), social media are a group of internetbased applications that are built on the ideological and technical foundations of Web 2.0 and
allow for the creation and exchange of user generated content (2014 p. 656). Social media refers
to websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. These sites are
considered to be a driving force of the digital media revolution and have recently become the
most popular online activity and the primary source of information (Tsai & Men, 2013).
Individuals are able to create, share, exchange information, and ideas in a virtual type
community and network. Social media use has become more widespread, accessible, and
common in recent years with advances in mobile technology and the Internet. According to Pew
Research Center, 76 percent of adults are Internet users who use at least one social media sight
(Perrin, 2015). Online social networks have undoubtedly entered into a mainstream culture and

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have become integrated into the daily routines of millions of people worldwide (Quinton and
Fennemore, 2012 p. 37). Trade publications have reported that, consumers use social media
more frequently than corporate websites when searching for information on a company, brand, or
product (Tsai & Men, 2013 p.1).
The expansion of social media has provided new outlets of interaction with brands and
has the potential to change a wide variety of practices in nonprofit organizations (Karapiska,
2014) by giving the audiences the ability to participate more effectively and frequently.
Referring back to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the basic idea is that when a person is
presented with some type of information, elaboration will occur (Yocco, 2014). This theory
suggests that people express either high or low elaboration when they encounter a message. The
level of elaboration then determines which processing routes the message takes: central or
peripheral (Yocco, 2014). There are different levels of involvement when it comes to online
brand-related activities. Consumer engagement with brands on social media sites can be seen
through different levels of involvement. A consumer, who is just quickly scrolling through the
brands information such as simply just reading about the organization or scrolling through his or
her news feed, is someone who has very low involvement and uses peripheral cues to engage
with the brand. This will result in short-term change if any change at all. According to Tsai &
Men (2013), when audiences contribute to the page content provided by brands or other users,
such as taking polls on Facebook, engaging in wall post conversations, and commenting on the
videos or pictures posted on the brands social media, the audiences are acting with high
involvement and are much more likely to mount long term change and a positive image about the
brand. The social and communal environment of brand social networking pages constitutes

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virtual brand communities where advertisers can engage consumers at a more intimate and
interactive manner, rather than a mere advertising platform (Tsai&Men, 2013).
Social media channels like the ones listed above enable brands and organizations to
engage with their targeted audiences whenever and however they want. According to (Palinkas.
2013) these channels can be used as a direct and immediate network of two-way communication
between the organization and targeted audiences. These channels provide a permanent way to
maintain relationships and stay in immediate contact with audiences and organizations.
However, in order to do so, organizations need to provide content that will engage the targeted
audiences online and understand the audiences involvement for interacting with brands on their
social networking sites. Individuals will then continue using social media if their social
interactions result in relational and informational value from continued engagement with the
platform (Kettinger & Tao 2008).
When using social media, organizations tend to post in order to reach out to their targeted
audiences and receive a response. Responses such as a like, retweet, comment, or share are all
examples of social media engagement. For instance, communicating with consumers via social
media through wall posts or comments, enables users to engage with the brand, while expressing
their likes and dislikes and sharing content with other people in the social media realm. Engaged
consumers contribute to the brand reputation and recognition with other online communities and
can be a crucial source of knowledge. High consumer engagement is also essential for future
growth while low engagement can produce loss in sales and negative reputations. This relates
back to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, highly involved and engaged audiences will have lost
lasting positive effects and lowly involved engaged audiences will have short-term and minimal
effects on the organization. Engagement is particularly relevant in the case of social networking

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communication because these sites are relationship-centric. Engagement within these pages,
including those of a brand, naturally leads to the cultivation of meaningful relationships.
The content posted on social media also influences consumers attitudes and engagement
toward brands. Engagement is all about content, it must be relevant in ways that will provoke
people into talking and responding. Content is no longer something that is pushed out, it is an
invitation to engage with organizations brands (Fullerton, 2001, p. 35). Consumer engagement
is considered to be an effortful behavioral commitment to a brand. This engagement is a function
of ones effort, behavior acts and propensity to recommend the brand in social media. From the
secondary research above, which grew from this studys research question: How can nonprofit
brands benefit from social media engagement leads to the following hypothesis: Respondents
will have a positive affinity toward a nonprofit organization with which they have engaged
online.

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Methodology
The survey was distributed to a convenience sample of 64 participants. The surveys
were distributed on the campus of Spring Hill College to students ranging from ages 19-46. All
surveys were distributed to students in the Fairway apartments, cafeteria, and an on-campus
sorority. All respondents were asked to respond honestly and anonymously. Each student was
asked to sit alone and take the survey to avoid unaltered views of their peers.
Majority of the questions asked were focused on engagement and affinity towards
nonprofit brands while using different types of social media. Q1 of the survey was a string
question, which asked the respondent to write a nonprofit with which they are connected to
online and think of that particular organization while completing the survey. The next 11
questions were scale questions, which asked the respondent various questions that related to the
researchers hypothesis, theory, and research question. The scale questions included Q2-Q12 and
were ranked as follows: strongly agree (5), agree (4), neutral (3), disagree (2), and strongly
disagree (1). Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q9, Q10, Q11, & Q12 relate back to the researchers
research question, focusing on nonprofit brands and social media engagement. Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4,
Q6, Q8, Q9, Q10 & Q11 relate back to the researchers hypotheses, focusing on engagement,
nonprofit organizations and brand affinity. Q3, Q6, and Q9 relate back to the Elaboration
Likelihood Model with focus on motivations and engagement.
In a separate section nominal questions regarding gender use of social media, and types
of social media most often used included Q14, Q15, Q17, Q18, Q19, and Q20. Ordinal questions
regarding age and hours including Q13 and Q16. After each survey was distributed, the results
received were entered into the SPSS Statistics 17.0 software. Once the data was entered,
frequencies were ran on all variables to see the certain ways in which respondents responded.

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Descriptive Statistics were ran strictly on the research scale questions to allow the
researcher to see if the responses were clustered around the mean or were dispersed. This also
allowed the researcher to view the average response and standard deviation. Standard deviation
measures the variation in responses in each question. When standard deviation is high,
respondents answered differently and when standard deviation is low, respondents answered
correspondingly. Crosstabs were run between three scale questions and one ordinal question to
see if different parts of the researchers questions pointed to the hypothesis. Lastly, a reliability
analysis was run to see if the researchers variables, taken together, tend to measure the same
basic thing.
Data Analysis
The surveys were distributed as a convenience sample and the results cannot be applied
to a population. All respondents answered each question of every survey; no questions were
skipped. The students surveyed were a majority of 19-25 years of age, being a total of 87 % of
the survey participants. Individually, 4.7% of the respondents were 26-35 years of age, 3.1%
were 36-45, and 3.1 % were 46+. The gender selected turned out to be female dominant, 44 (69
%) females and 16 (25.4%) male respondents completed a total of 64 surveys. Facebook was
favored by 57% of respondents, Twitter with 11%, Instagram with 27%, and other social media
(such as Google+, LinkedIn, etc.) with 4.7%. Most respondents are active on social media at
least 1-5 hours a day, registering for 40.6% of the participants. Of those surveyed, 74 % engage
with their specific nonprofit brand through Facebook.
In order to see how often the respondents chose a specific answer, frequency tests were
run on all 17 questions. Respondents were asked to think of a nonprofit and focus strictly on that
nonprofit while answering the questions. The most often answered nonprofit organization was

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the American Heart Association, with a valid percent of 6.3. Some responses supported the
researchers hypothesis. A total of 40 participants, approximately 63% strongly agree that they
have a positive reaction to a brand because it is trustworthy and 38% of respondents strongly
agree that when using social media, they tend to be highly engaged in content they are interested
in. Participants that disagreed that they are highly engaged in content that they are interested in
were 4.7 %, a difference of 33%. Based on the participants responses, it was interesting to see
that 28.1% of people disagree that the most interaction had with the nonprofit organizations
brand was not through social media. Questions focused on engagement, social media, affinity
and nonprofit organizations, all resulting in majority strongly agree or agree answers.
Results varied among the frequency tests and some but not all questions remained consistent.
The descriptive statistics that were run showed that five out of the eleven responses had a
minimum response of one (strongly disagree) a maximum response of five (strongly agree) and 6
questions had a minimum response of two (disagree). The average respondent either disagreed or
strongly agreed to each question. After analyzing the results, the researcher was able to see that
questions were answered inconsistently, with responses varying from respondent to respondent.
The standard deviation for six out of the eleven questions ranged between 1.017-1.333 and five
out of the ten questions ranged between .689 and .873. The question with the lowest standard
deviation of .689 regarded having a positive reaction with a brand because it is trustworthy.
Crosstabs were run using scale questions dealing with positive affinity and engagement.
Both of these questions pointed directly towards the researchers hypothesis. A crosstab was run
between scale questions two and six, Q2 deals with having a positive reaction to the brands
because it is trustworthy and Q6 deals with being engaged in content that is interesting. The
crosstab resulted in a Pearson Chi-Square of .210, a much larger number than .05. Based off of

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the crosstab resulting in a larger number, it seems to describe that there is no mathematical
connection between positive affinity and engagement. Finally, a reliability analysis was run on
questions three, six, nine, eleven, and twelve; all scale questions report back to the researchers
research question. The Cronbachs alpha coefficient is -.031, which shows that the scales within
the instrument do not exhibit internal consistency reliability.
Results
After research and convenience sampling, the results, unfortunately did not fully support
the hypothesis: Respondents will have a positive affinity toward a nonprofit organization with
which they have engaged online. Research shows that the scale questions proposed by the
researcher were not measuring the same thing; therefore, the scale was flawed. This research
shows that the two scale questions crossed had no significance towards each other. In other
words, respondents will not always have a positive reaction or be interested while engaging in
social media content.
Some responses were surprising to the researcher; such as Q17 regarding which social
media site is most preferred when engaging with a brand online. With Facebook and Twitter
being the highest and most powerful social media platforms, the researcher anticipated these two
social media sites to be the most often answered question. It is interesting that Instagram, not
Twitter is the second preferred social media site used when engaging with brands through social
media. Due to Q11, the researcher also uncovered that 28% of respondents disagreed that the
most interaction had with a brand is not through social media, while 22% said that they did. It
was interesting to observe the results to this question especially because the survey was revolved
around social media use.

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Although most answers resulted in strongly agree and agree answers, the alpha
coefficients did not support the questions asked by the researcher. Crosstab relationships usually
determine if a hypothesis can be supported. Since eight out of 64 respondents chose neutral for
the crosstab question and the Pearson Chi-Square is not statistically significant, it doesnt affect
the rest of the answers from other respondents. There is no significance between people who
have a positive affinity to brands with which they are highly engaged with online. Since the
crosstab produced ineffective results, the hypothesis was not supported by the data collected
from the respondents and the results are not due to chance.
Conclusion
Based off of data analytics and results, researchers can conclude that the hypothesis was
not fully supported. However, the pilot study conducted for this research paper appears to be
very useful. It can be perceived from this research that young adults are very active and engage
with various types of social networking sites for hours at a time. Adults strongly agreed that they
would be highly engaged to a brand if it were of high importance. Secondary sources do provide
examples supporting social media and engagement, however the results received did not confirm
this information.
If the researcher were to test the hypothesis again, questions could be asked in a way that
focused and remained consistent within a single topic, not two. All questions asked by the
researcher ought to remain at one universal theme, more questions should have centered on
engagement and affinity rather than social media and nonprofit organizations. Instead of the
researcher asking the audience how they engage, questions could have been centered on how the
nonprofit engages with the audience. If the researcher were to attempt this study again, more
males would be included to show a broader selection of results. The researcher should also

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consider a different way of distributing the survey in order to increase age variety from the
participants. It can be concluded that social media has some type of effect on nonprofits brands.
It can be seen that engagement cannot generate itself. In order for nonprofit organizations to
benefit from social media, nonprofits need to engage with their audiences as well, instead of the
audience engaging in the nonprofit.

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Appendix A

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Appendix B

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