Public Response on Social Media to a Social Marketing Campaign for Influencing Attitudes towards Boating Safety

The purpose of this research paper is to assess the response on Facebook to a social marketing campaign for recreational boating safety. The campaign ran for the 2018 and 2019 boating seasons in British Columbia, Canada. Messages related to boating safety were delivered in multi-media formats, including ten Facebook posts. All public comments on the campaign Facebook page in response to the ads were included in the analysis. Comments were reviewed for tone and subject; those that related directly to the campaign or boating safety-related topics, such as alcohol use or enforcement, were labeled positive, negative or neutral in tone. Metrics such as likes and shares were also noted. The overall engagement rate (defined as engagements over people reached) was 4.1%. The posts were liked >7000 times and received 901 shares. A total of 219 comments were analysed. Almost half of the comments were positive (n = 106, 48.4%). Fifty comments were off-topic (22.8%), 45 were neutral (20.5%) and 18 were negative (8.2%). The majority of comments were positive, indicating that the campaign performed as planned and was generally well received by the people for whom it was intended. Comments illuminated prevailing attitudes towards risks, injuries and safety practices related to recreational boating. Positive comments valued safety as an aspect of having a pleasant experience, rather than a barrier. Negative comments were about perceiving reduced fun of boating, rather than objecting to the campaign itself. As a component of a multi-media social marketing strategy, Facebook can be a source of instant feedback from the campaign audience.