Facebook Engagement for Craft Entrepreneurs in Malaysia : Project BATU
- December 19, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: Entrepreneurship, IJRSI
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VII, Issue XII, December 2020 | ISSN 2321–2705
Facebook Engagement for Craft Entrepreneurs in Malaysia:Project BATU
Ng Kar Weng
INTI International College Subang, Malaysia
Abstract:-
Objectives | Local craft entrepreneurs were struggling to get their products and services sold to the market in Malaysia. With the development of mobile internet and technology, the trend of consumerism has rapidly changed in the last few years with the boom of the online marketplace. To confront the consumption trend, the local craft entrepreneurs should take advantage of social media platforms for their business start-up. The main purpose of this paper is to prove that local craft entrepreneurs can turn hobby into profitable activities by approaching an online platform in their business start-up. Also, to identify the opportunity for local craft entrepreneurs to engage their target audiences or prospect customers via social media, e.g Facebook.
Methodology & Tool | the data for this study was collected from a craft entrepreneurship pilot project – Project BATU Facebook page. Photo posts were captured within 20 days, from 20 April 2019 to 10 May 2019, as the experimental business start-up stage of the pilot project. All data collected were related to total engagement per post (sum of all follower’s reactions, comments & shares) and were analyzed to calculate the Engagement Rate of Post (ER post) and Average Engagement Rate of Post (Av. ER post). The design thinking process was applied as an innovative model to expand encompass human-centered processes in this research.
Results | the numbers of fans and their total engagement rate is increasing. Social photos could be the ‘holy grail’ of social media engagement according to an expert. Therefore, The 15 photo posts were then categorized into 3 posts types: Product information, Announcement shout-out & Activity moments. The result shows activities relevant photo posts are easier to engage audiences’ attention and interest.
Discoveries | this study shows that craft entrepreneurs can engage their target audiences as early as the start-up stage of their business through Facebook page activities. Obtaining insights about audience responses and engagement increased when social activity relevant content shared and reached the audience’s news feed. When the engagement rate increased, the post can reach more audiences on Facebook. It could help local craft entrepreneurs to perform better online by increasing their brand awareness and exposure.
