Abstract

Megachurches have a reputation for savvy use of digital media; however, little is known about their advertising strategy or which strategies elicit engagement. By assessing megachurches’ promotional content on social media, this study draws on the devotional campaign framework to examine audience-centric engagement strategies: God–Congregant, Church–Congregant, and Intra-Congregational. The quantitative content analysis of Facebook and Instagram posts from 15 megachurches in five countries revealed that megachurches used the combination God–Congregant & Church–Congregant engagement strategies, as well as the singular Church–Congregant engagement strategy, the most often. Yet, audiences engaged significantly more with posts using the God–Congregant engagement strategy when compared to all other strategies. The use of engagement strategies and engagement received on posts varied according to geographical location and cultural differences, suggesting there may be a cultural aspect to what earns engagement from followers. Advertisers looking to increase online engagement should focus their efforts on persuasive messages that include the object-audience engagement strategy. This study advances advertising theory on engagement by suggesting that engagement is contingent upon the engagement strategy utilized as well as the specific region’s norms around the brand and community.

摘要

大型教会以精明地使用数字媒体而闻名；然而，对于他们的广告策略或哪些策略会引起参与度知之甚少。通过评估大型教会在社交媒体上的宣传内容，本研究利用灵修活动框架来检验以受众为中心的参与策略：上帝-会众、教会-会众和会众内部。对来自五个国家的 15 个大型教会的 Facebook 和 Instagram 帖子的定量内容分析显示，大型教会最常使用上帝-会众和教会-会众参与策略的组合，以及单一的教会-会众参与策略。然而，观众对使用与所有其他策略相比，God-Congregant参与策略。参与策略的使用和帖子的参与度因地理位置和文化差异而异，这表明从追随者那里获得参与可能与文化有关。希望增加在线参与度的广告商应将精力集中在包括对象-受众参与策略在内的有说服力的信息上。本研究通过表明参与取决于所使用的参与策略以及特定地区围绕品牌和社区的规范，推进了关于参与的广告理论。