Social media has provided promotion and communication channels for organizations to reach their target audience efficiently and cost-effectively. Despite wide social media analytics applications in different areas, scant studies focus on NGOs. This research analyzes the use of social media by a well-known NGO, the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts Limited (HKGNA), on its presence and user sentiment on Twitter and Facebook to evaluate the brand image, engagement conditions, and promotion effectiveness. These findings showed a low usage frequency of their Twitter channel. Despite the overall positive sentiment, there are some deviations from their charity mission. Yet, their Facebook channel serves well for publicity, and the interaction is relatively active. Thus, more measures are necessary to improve the digital relationship between HKGNA and its targeted audience. Moreover, this methodology for data analysis serves as an example for other NGOs to improve their communication.
TopIntroduction
The blossom of social media brings numerous opportunities for different kinds of organizations to interact with the online community for multiple purposes, as further supported by ubiquitous mobile technologies (Yu et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2016; Lam et al., 2019; Lau et al., 2020; Fong et al., 2020; Dong et al., 2021; Yao et al., 2022; Chan et al.; 2020). Accordingly, many contemporary technologies are deployed and integrated to empower and manage various social media channels, leading to new research on social media analytics (SMA) (He et al., 2022; Fang et al., 2021; Deng et al., 2022; Xie et al., 2021). However, current applications mainly focus on social media utilization in commercial sectors (Gao et al., 2021; Cheung et al., 2022; Cheng et al., 2023) and occasionally on governmental services (Au et al., 2021a; 2021b; Chan et al., 2022). Yet, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often rely more heavily on social media for publicity (Jiang et al., 2022; Yu, Chiu, & Chan, 2022; Wang et al., 2022; Deng et al., 2022).
NGOs can use social media like Twitter and Facebook as strategic communication platforms for providing content and diffusion of information and increasing their audience (Jiang et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2022). Currently, many NGOs and non-commercial organizations are adopting social media without any communication strategy and thus cannot harness the full potential of their use (Jiang et al., 2022; Fong et al., 2020). Thus, social media data should be collected and analyzed to understand the aspects influencing communication policies.
Hong Kong Generation Next Arts Limited (HKGNA) is selected for this study to develop an in-depth understanding of NGOs’ social media utilization. HKGNA is a registered charity founded in 2009 by the internationally acclaimed pianist Michelle Kim (http://www.hkgna.com/). The mission of inspiring and cultivating artists in the new generation has created exciting opportunities for young artists, such as performing in world-class concert halls and studying with first-class musicians (Yu, Chiu, & Chan, 2022). Through a series of successful HKGNA Music Festival, HKGNA Music Competition, and various music therapy lectures and workshops involving over ten schools and NGOs, they have brought musical excellence to more than 2,000 persons and the local community.
To achieve its mission, HKGNA uses many social media platforms to promote its activities, find supporters and sponsors, and attract potential audiences and young kids with a genuine passion for music, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. This study conducted sentiment analysis based on tweets to reflect the public’s opinion about HKGNA and its brand image and an exploratory analysis of HKGNA’s Facebook public page to examine the trend of engagement and determine the factors influencing the interaction between the organization and its followers. This study fills the research gap and inspires more NGOs to refine the operation of their social media channels.