The purpose of the study was to explore how a social networking site, Facebook, is utilized for fan communication and engagement in the context of performing arts organizations. The study was motivated by a general lack of social media studies in the field of performing arts (Hausmann & Poelmann, 2013), and the present study aimed at contributing to this existing research gap in the field of International Business Communication. The overall objective of the present study was to examine a Finnish performing arts organization’s (i.e. Tero Saarinen Company) external communication activities targeted to its fans on a social networking site Facebook. More specifically, the present study aimed at identifying what kinds of opportunities Facebook and other social media provide for the case organization and how it could improve its Facebook page and other social media channels to better communicate and engage with its fans in the future. Consequently, the main research question of the study was:
RQ: How could TSC improve its Facebook page and other social media to better communicate and engage with its fans?
The main research question was approached with the following two sub-questions:
SQ1: What are fans’ expectations of TSC’s Facebook page and general social media presence?
SQ2: How does TSC’s Facebook page foster dialogue and engage with the fans?
The analytical framework of the study consisted of three main elements: 1) social media with an emphasis on Facebook as an application, 2) a performing arts organization (TSC), and 3) fans as a specific stakeholder group. Furthermore, as performing arts can be considered as “difficult brands”, the research problem was analyzed by taking the central challenges of difficult brands into consideration. Moreover, the aim of the analytical framework was to represent a tripartite base, which combines together the communication channel, the product and the specific stakeholder group, TSC’s fans.
The analytical framework assumes that it is essential to know all of these three elements and their special characteristics thoroughly in order to plan and execute successful and effective communication.
The present study followed a mixed-methods research approach with an emphasis on the qualitative research method. The study was positioned in the field of performing arts and focused on examining a Finnish contemporary dance company, Tero Saarinen Company, as a case organization, making the study a single case study. The primary data stem from one semi-structured theme interview with the case organization and an online survey that was conducted among the case organization’s Facebook fans.
Furthermore, secondary data was collected through online observation, which focused on observing the case organization’s website, social media channels and specifically its official Facebook page. A mixed-methods research approach was selected to be able to collect extensive data from several sources and a case study approach was selected to gain rich and in-depth understanding of one specific organization.
The study resulted in four main findings. First, TSC’s fans appear to be generally fairly happy with TSC’s current Facebook page, general social media presence and the level of activity in the current social media channels. The findings indicated clearly that the fans are extremely interested in TSC and its activities and probably therefore have rather high expectations of content. The findings suggest that the fans expect TSC to provide more meaningful and in-depth content, for which blog is seen as an ideal platform. Second, the findings also indicated that many fans expect TSC to be present in social media in “a new way”. Third, the findings showed that TSC’s Facebook page fosters dialogue and engages with the fans only on satisfactory level despite the fans’
great interest in TSC. Fourth, it was found that there are four main factors that have an effect and possibly limit TSC’s social media presence. These included: lack of resources, being under the company entity (i.e. “Tero Saarinen Company”), founder Tero Saarinen’s views on social media, and TSC’s art-centric focus in all its activities.
To answer the main research question of the study, “How could TSC improve its Facebook page and other social media to better communicate and engage with its fans”, the findings provided many valuable outcomes. The findings showed that as TSC’s fans appear to be extremely interested in TSC and its activities, TSC could invest more in providing its fans more meaningful and engaging content. The findings also showed that Facebook is a relevant and rich channel for TSC to be present but the findings provided also insights concerning the implementation of new social media channels. A blog was considered to be the only genuinely interesting prospective channel – otherwise the fans do not see a real need for TSC to extend its social media channel selection. The findings also showed that TSC should invest in fostering two-way communication and the feeling of a community, if TSC desires to fulfill its objectives concerning dialogic communication and fan engagement, which it has set to its Facebook page as well as to turn the Facebook page into an interactive channel and exploit it to its fullest extent. All in all, the present study argues that TSC has an ideal brand fit for social media, which enables TSC great opportunities to better communicate and engage with its fans both on Facebook and also in other social media. In conclusion, the findings suggest that TSC should invest particularly in providing its fans meaningful and engaging content and improve its Facebook page towards a social media channel that fosters two-way communication, discussion and interaction with the fans.
In conclusion, the findings of the present study support the reviewed literature, but also provided valuable new information concerning how the case organization views the topic of engagement and dialogue and what are the factors that possibly constrain the case organization’s intentions for interaction and two-way communication. For instance, there were similarities to Cho et al. (2014), Preece and Wiggins Johnson (2011) and Waters et al. (2009) in the way both performing arts and non-profit organizations use
social media and how they generally engage and interact with their audiences. The challenge of engaging with others in a platform that has originally been created for people to keep in touch with each other has been acknowledged also in the reviewed literature (e.g. Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Schaffer, 2013) as well as the challenge of having enough resources for maintaining an active presence on social media (Briones et al., Waters et al.). The key findings concerning fans’ expectations of content and the new kind of presence for TSC in social media cannot be drawn as such from the reviewed literature. Nevertheless, these findings were reviewed through the analytical framework and the reviewed literature provided many points of resemblance that were used to reflect in relation to those specific findings. The most notable difference in contrast to the reviewed literature was the fact that the present study found that a leading figure of a performing arts organization can have an impact on the organization’s social media presence considerably.