Engaging fans and the community in social media: interaction with institutions of higher education on Facebook

Felicitas M. Brech, Uwe Messer, Brian A. Vander Schee, Philipp A. Rauschnabel and Bjoern S. Ivens

Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 2017, vol. 27, issue 1, 112-130

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.

Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jmkthe:v:27:y:2017:i:1:p:112-130

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DOI: 10.1080/08841241.2016.1219803

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