This study explores the AIDA model (attention, interest, desire, action) for social media promotion and community engagement for small cultural organizations. The internal situation and external environment were first analyzed with the SWOT analysis augmented with PEST analysis. Then, the authors show how the AIDA model can be used in social media marketing to improve public awareness, engagement, and thus participation in the organization's activities. As the global economy is getting linked to the internet and social media, utilizing the AIDA model for small cultural organizations contributes to effective information dissemination and increases interactions in the targeted community. The rise of social media has also triggered smaller organizations to consider how to survive under dynamic changes and fulfill their mission through better community engagement.
TopIntroduction
The field of public relations and marketing communication has been substantially changed with the success of online social networks, further enhanced by mobile technologies (Yu et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2016; Lam et al., 2019; Lau et al., 2020; Fong et al., 2020; Dong et al., 2021). As information is more readily available and accessible to the public, the interactive and ubiquitous digital world connects organizations and their customers more engagingly (Chan et al., 2020; Lam et al., 2022). As more and more people from various lifestyles spend time on social media and media consumption is gaining popularity, scholars and practitioners worldwide are trying to leverage consumers’ current online behaviors and find more appropriate marketing strategies (Wang et al., 2022; Deng et al., 2022). Globally, the number of social media users is expected to reach nearly 3.43 billion by 2023 (Statisca, 2020), while that number in China is estimated to be close to 800 million (Statista, 2019). Organizations are increasing their social media marketing budget and deciding on digital marketing channels to engage their user community (Wang et al., 2022; Deng et al., 2022; Lam et al., 2022). Among these channels, social listening has shown to be an effective strategy on the most popular online social platforms for marketers, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (HubSpot, 2020). Furthermore, many organizational successes come from increased media exposure, better website visits, and engaging a widened range of potential users through social media marketing (Yu, Chiu, & Chan, 2022).
On the other hand, COVID-19 has struck a double blow to social and economic development, resulting in extremely tight public budgets in the coming years (Yu, Chiu, & Chan, 2022; Leung et al., 2022; Huang et al., 2021; 2022). Thus, public agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs), and smaller organizations should reconsider how to promote their services better and fulfill their missions with a modest budget. However, traditional marketing channels are costly in operations and maintenance. Under this context, smaller cultural organizations that may not have broad audiences or provide living-essential services need to leverage low-cost social media solutions to gain support and participation from their target communities (Wang et al., 2022).