Background and Context:
Facebook provides numerous metrics which can be used to evaluate interaction with a Facebook page, the most common including number of Likes, Engagement and Reach. These quantitative metrics are commonly used to report on estimates of growth and consumption, but the numbers do not necessarily indicate if a Facebook page is being used for its intended purposes.
The Make Smoking History (MSH) Facebook page, created in September 2012, was designed to engage people affected by, or interested in tobacco cessation between the ages of 18-54. Comments on Facebook posts have been identified as a valued element of interaction but Facebook does not provide a tool to analyse the depth of this data.
Aim:
To provide a more thorough evaluation of interaction with the target audience on Facebook, by incorporating qualitative data analysis as well as quantitative data analysis.
Strategy/Tactics:
Posts shared by MSH included motivation images, videos, statistics, news articles, negative effects of smoking, positive effects of quitting. Posts and comments on the MSH Facebook page were accumulated from September 2012- September 2013 for use in our analysis.
Programme/Policy Process:
Quantitative data such as reach and consumption metrics were downloaded from Facebook’s inbuilt analytics tool ‘Facebook Insights’. Comments, Likes and Shares by Facebook users on MSH posts were captured directly from the MSH Facebook page, imported into NVivo software and coded to identify thematic trends.
Outcomes/What was learned:
Analysis of the data indicates the timing, type of post (photo, link, video etc.) and content/theme of posts producing the greatest response from users. The themes generating the most interaction have then been compared to the objectives of the MSH Facebook page to provide direction for future posts. This presentation will discuss the key themes of this evaluation and will help inform other tobacco social media campaigns.