Nonprofit Social Media Usage: Expanding Outreach

through Dialogic Communication

Megan Sand
The Ohio State University

Abstract
In this paper, I hope to examine how FLOW, a local, grassroots, environmental organization, can
more effectively utilize their Facebook social media platform to benefit their mission, increase
their audience, and further their success. To do this, I utilized FLOWs Facebook analytics in
conjunction with academic research on social media trends and best practices, in order to
formulate suggestions for improvement. Environmental organizations often have a more divers
set of stakeholders, which can make targeted messaging on social media difficult and
overwhelming; however, my research suggests three target improvements can significantly
increase FLOWs Facebook outreach. FLOW lacks engagement across various age
demographics, particularly ages 18-34. Engaging these demographics relies on FLOWs ability
to generate dialogic, two-way symmetrical communication utilizing text posts that engaging
readers and promote conversation. This should be utilize in conjunction with various multimedia
to attract readers. In addition, posts should be scheduled at specific times during the day to
optimize exposure and encourage engagement. I conclude suggesting FLOW develop a
scheduled social media action plan to optimize outreach potential, ultimately expanding their
social media networking ability furthering their mission of community outreach, engagement,
and education.

Key Words: social media, grassroots, Facebook, dialogic communication,

outreach, demographics

Introduction
Friends of the Lower Olentangy (FLOW) is a local, Columbus grassroots organization
whose mission focuses on conservation and protection of the Lower Olentangy watershed, a 32mile section of the Olentangy river running from Delaware Country through the city of
Columbus. FLOW pursues their mission though community outreach and education, volunteer
programs, and coordination with other community partners including nonprofits, for-profit, and
public institutions. Currently, FLOWs social media networking is limited to Facebook; however,
the organization desires to expand their audience and further their mission by more effectively
utilizing Facebook and possibly other social media platforms to attract a wider demographic of
people within the watershed area. The question then becomes: How can more effective and
deliberate use of Facebook benefit FLOWs mission, increase their audience and further their
success?

Methods
First it was necessary to examine the effectiveness of FLOWs current social media
usage. Utilizing the analytics feature on Facebook, I was able to track and analyze various
aspects of FLOWs Facebook including: the demographics of users, number of people reached,
and number of people engaged by a specific post (includes likes, comments, and shares).
FLOWs Facebook analytics facilitated assessment of FLOWs current social media usage, and
in conjunction with academic research on social media trends and best practices, suggestions to
improve and increase FLOWs social media engagement and outreach were deduced.

Results
Environmental organizations often have a more divers set of stakeholders, which can
make targeted messaging difficult and overwhelming [1]; however, Facebook is the most widely
utilized social media platform [2] and has the ability to facilitate what Ferber, Foltz, and Pugliese
[3] characterize as three-way communication, the potential to cross age and gender
demographics. Currently FLOWs Facebook reaches an almost equal number of men and women
with in the seven age groupings (Figure 1). Instead, FLOWs Facebook struggles to expand their
reach across age demographics. As the PEW Research Center [4] notes, social media usage

among Internet users between the ages of 18-49 has exponentially increased in the past decade
(Figure 2). This trend continues within Facebook, where the majority of users are between 18
and 34 years of age (Figure 1). This is the exact age demographic FLOW struggles to reach. This
demographic is particularly important given that 70% of Facebook users engage with the social
media site on a daily basis, and the majority of participants who actively engage (sharing,
posting, liking, etc.) are within this demographic. Luckily, the Ohio State University (and its
50,000 plus student body) falls within the Olentangy watershed, and FLOW already has a history
of engaging with different student organizations. In order to expand their networking and further
their mission, it is imperative FLOW engage this population via social media.
Increasing engagement on social media (no matter demographic) relies on two aspects:
the types of posts and timing. Research has found that nonprofit organizations still primarily use
social media to disseminate information similar to websites or newsletters [5]. And given that the
missions of many environmental organizations include educating the public, such organizations
are more likely to utilize social media in this way [6]. This point held when examining FLOWs
Facebook posts within the last year. Posts were largely Status or Link posts, conveying
information regarding events, thanking volunteers/participants, or linking users to news or
informative articles. While FLOW is successful at stimulating low to moderate engagement, such
as likes and shares, often described as one-way communication [5], information dispersion
posts do little to capitalize on what Kim, Chun, Kwak, and Nam [1] call the inherently
interactive nature of the Internet [that] can offer cost-effective, fast, and two-way communication
between organizations and their stakeholders (p.593). Facebook posts of this nature would be
considered high-engagement posts
It has been observed that environmental nonprofits do sporadically employ more
interactive posts that illicit some high engagement, i.e. comments, but after a comment is made,
interactions often does not continue [5,6]. After examining FLOWs post for the past year, high
level engagement has been generated sporadically within particular types of posts. Figure 3
illustrates the frequency of likes, shares, and comments on FLOWs Facebook posts within
the last year. Trends within the high-engagement posts included: posts referencing another
community partner (be it for-profit, nonprofit, or public), event promotion or thank-yous
utilizing photos, as well as multi-media video posts. While these posts on average only elicited
one or two comments at the most, the post clicks, likes, and shares were still substantially

higher than the majority of informative, one-way communication posts. Research suggests
audiences are more likely to engage with posts based on what Cho, Schweickart, and Haase [5]
describe as two-way symmetrical communication. Posts should be aimed at stimulating
dialogic communication by asking publics opinions or feedback or encouraging publics to be
involved in organizational activities [5, p.567]. Posts with these rhetorical affordances
combined with various multimedia such as videos, photos, and even audio can generate not only
increase low engagement, but high-engagement as well.
Of course, no matter the subject of a post or how it is presented, to attract a stakeholders
attention post must appear on their dashboard when they are on Facebook. The timing of a post
is just as crucial as its content. Facebook analytics shows the majority of FLOWs current fans
are online anytime between 9 A.M. and 10 P.M., with activity rising steadily from 3 P.M. to 5
P.M., after which the number of online users quickly decreases. This parallels research that
suggests early afternoon is the most effective time to post in order to reach the highest number of
viewers in a given day [7]. In addition, studies have found Facebook engagement on the
weekends is 32% higher than during the week with the exception of Thursdays, which also tend
to have higher levels of engagement [7]. Utilizing these basic guild lines, it will be more likely
people will have time to actually engage with interactive posts when they are utilized by FLOW.

Conclusion
FLOWs Facebook analytics proves, despite FLOWs struggles to create highengagement posts via Facebook, the organization is able to generate significant low to moderate
level engagement. This can provide a good foundation to increase and expand social media
participation and outreach. In order to expand their audience and more effectively reach various
demographics, creating a social media plan emphasizing various types of posts to generate
communication between the organization and other stakeholders should be developed. Posts
should be scheduled to optimize outreach potential, and followed up on, responding to comments
and generate dialogue. And while working with social media its important to remember, it is a
platform to not only spread information, but generate dialectic relationships contained within
and outside of digital platforms. By engaging their already loyal volunteer network within digital
space and applying the suggestions above, FLOW can expand their social media networking
ability furthering their mission of community outreach, engagement, and education.

Appendix 1: Figures
Figure 1. FLOWs likes demographics (source: Facebook)

Figure 2. (source: PEW Research Center)

Figure 3. FLOWs Facebook Likes, Comments, and Shares between May 2014 and May
2015 (source: Facebook)

References
1. Kim, D., Chun, H., Kwak, Y., & Nam, Y. (2014). The Employment of Dialogic Principles in
Website, Facebook, and Twitter Platforms of Environmental Nonprofit Organizations. Social

Science Computer Review, 32(5), 590-605.

2. Duggan, M., Ellison, N., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A., Madden, M. (2015). Social Media Update
2014. PEW Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/socialmedia-update-2014/
3. Ferber, P., Foltz, F., & Pugliese, R. (2007). Cyberdemocracy and Online Politics: A New
Model of Interactivity. Bulletin of Science, Technology, & Society, 27(5), 391-400.
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http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/
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