Using Contents to Improve Social Media Engagement on Sina Weibo: Case HAMK

Abstract

This thesis is commissioned by HAMK. HAMK is the abbreviation and brand name for Häme University of Applied Sciences. It is a multidisciplinary higher education institution located in Hämeenlinna, Finland. As part of its international marketing project for the Chinese market, HAMK started its presence on the Chinese social media outlet Sina Weibo in October 2014. The purpose of this thesis was to find out for foreign universities on Sina Weibo, how content types and characteristics influenced social media engagement, especially the engagement of sharing. Therefore, HAMK can utilize this study result to improve its social media engagement performance on Sina Weibo in the future.

Besides researching and reviewing the relevant literature, the author also conducted a case study as empirical research. Based on the method of content analysis, the case study analysed a total of 412 contents on Sina Weibo published from five foreign universities including HAMK.

The findings showed different content types and different content characteristics had a different influence on social media engagement, also on the engagement of sharing for foreign universities for Sina Weibo, and certain types and characteristics had a higher positive or negative influence.

This study contributes to the existing knowledge of using contents to improve social media engagement. It especially provides insight for the commissioning university HAMK for its possible plan to improve the social media engagement on Sina Weibo in the future.