Date of Award

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health

Department

Health Science and Human Ecology

First Reader/Committee Chair

Harding, Kassandra

Abstract

Background: Globally, people are active on social networking sites (SNS). Utilizing social networking sites for public health purposes is a potential avenue to provide health promotion campaigns to large audiences. Even so, little evidence is available that provides the extent of this possibility and more importantly, the practices needed to create a successful health promotion campaign on social networking sites.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if engagement on Facebook differed by type of engagement during a post acquisition period and to understand which post type (i.e., quote posts, resource posts, video posts, and blog posts) material received higher engagement in a breastfeeding social media marketing campaign in Ghana.

Methods: Four post type material were distributed during the campaign (i.e., quote posts, resource posts, video posts, and blog posts). Data representing key performance indicators (i.e., exposure and engagement) were extracted from Facebook after the two week post acquisition period, which was a period of garnering users to the campaign’s Facebook page. Additionally, data were from Facebook 1 week after the material was posted on the Breastfeed4Ghana Campaign’s Facebook Page. A Wilcoxon-Signed Ranks Test was performed to determine the peak performance during the post-acquisition of each amplification and applause on Facebook. A one-way ANOVA test was conducted followed by Bonferroni’s post hoc test to determine differences between the posts type.

Results: The 23 Facebook posts during the two-week post acquisition period received a median (IQR) applause (i.e., number of likes) of 47(19, 509) and amplification of 6 (4, 14). It took a median of 5 (3, 9) days to reach peak applause and 2 (1, 4) days to reach peak amplification. The median engagement score between applause and amplification was significantly statistic. Campaign materials received an average (SD) exposure of 1111 (860) on Facebook. Applause was the most prevalent form of engagement (mean (SD) “likes”: 30.98 (23.18)), followed by amplification (“shares”: 8.16 (6.00)). Engagement scores for quote and resource posts was statistically significantly greater than engagement scores for blog and video post (p<0.05).

Conclusions: The study findings conclude that days to peak performance on Facebook was higher for applause, rather than amplification. Across the four post type materials distributed during the campaign, quote and resource posts received greater levels of engagement in comparison to video and blog posts after one week.

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