Modern Marketing and Involvement of the Audience of Non-Profit Organizations in Communication in Social Networks

Abstract

Aim. The presented study aims to describe the process of involving the target audience of nonprofit organizations in communication in social networks from the perspective of modern marketing goals.Tasks. The author conceptualizes the notions of “involvement” and “engagement” as mechanisms of marketing communications; determines the range of methods and tools used by non-profit organizations in their marketing practices to enhance the engagement of the target audience in communication in social networks; assesses the degree of engagement of the target audience of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in social networks in the context of industry-specific features and the NPO’s location in order to analyze efforts aimed at involving the audience in communication in social networks through the example of non-profit organizations in the city of Perm.Methods. In modern marketing theory, the shift of the marketing paradigm towards continuous interaction between companies and customers at each stage of their contact with the organization appears imminent. It becomes necessary to maintain a certain level of customer engagement in communication as a cognitive and behavioral construct of the communication process. In this regard, the methodological basis of the study is determined by cognitive and behavioral approaches as key theoretical constructs in the representation of the phenomenon of involvement of the target audience in the communication process.Results. Marketing tools for involving the target audience of non-profit organizations in communication in social networks at each stage of the customer journey are identified; the degree of involvement of the target audience in communication with Perm’s socially oriented non-profit organizations (SO NPOs) in such social networks as VKontakte and Instagram is characterized from the perspective of consolidating the scientific view on the specifics of marketing goals for promoting organizations in the non-profit sector. The author substantiates the need for a systematic diagnosis of the conditions that determine the degree of the audience’s engagement in communication in social networks from the perspective of marketing goals for attracting public attention to the activities of civil institutions.Conclusions. The features of communication with the target audience on social network platforms in the marketing practice of promotion are identified with allowance for the industry-specific features of non-governmental non-profit organizations and their location. It is established that higher engagement of the target audience in communication in social networks is characterized by consistency in information placement; broad coverage of the community audience in a social network, which is estimated by the number of subscribers; posts being viewed by a great number of people, far exceeding the number of subscribers; many likes on community posts; presence of comments and reposts; a link from the social network to the official website of the SO NPO; attraction and use of user content in the community; horizontal connections within the community, networking.