Socialna omrežja, kot je Facebook, ponujajo vrsto priložnosti za učinkovito množično komunikacijo. Te so pogosto uspešno izrabljene s strani marketinških podjetij, ki v njih vidijo sredstvo za povečevanje profita, medtem ko institucije – ki bi iste principe lahko uporabile za izobraževanje in spodbujanje javnosti k družbeno koristnim vedenjem – v aplikaciji principov učinkovite množične komunikacije tradicionalno zaostajajo.
V pričujoči študiji se osredotočamo na enega od tovrstnih principov, in sicer na strategije psihološkega ciljanja, pri katerih pošiljatelj sporočila poskrbi za ujemanje Facebook oglasov s psihološkimi karakteristikami posameznika, ki bo oglasu izpostavljen. Medtem ko pretekla literatura razkriva nekatere koristi psihološko ciljanih strategij v kontekstu komercialnega marketinga, v pričujoči študiji raziskovanje psihološkega ciljanja premikamo v kontekst socialnega marketinga in nadgrajujemo s preverjanjem mnogih – do tega trenutka slabo raziskanih – elementov. Pri tem se osredotočamo na tri raznolike teme, ki imajo znanstveno podporo in bi lahko koristile posameznikom ter družbi v celoti (cepljenje proti gripi, preventiva demence in zmanjševanje ogljičnega odtisa), Facebook objave pa prilagajamo posameznikovi ekstravertnosti, odprtosti ali pa obema omenjenima osebnostnima lastnostma hkrati (profil osebnosti).
Za preverjanje učinkovitosti psihološko ciljanih strategij v kontekstu socialnega marketinga smo pripravili dva eksperimenta. V prvi študiji (laboratorijska študija) preverjamo pretežno kognitivne mehanizme, prek katerih bi psihološko ciljanje lahko vodilo do želenih izidov, kot je vedenjska sprememba, in sicer samoporočano naklonjenost Facebook objavam, pozornost, zajeto s sledilnikom oči in spomin, merjen z računalniško nalogo. Na vzorcu 98 udeležencev ugotavljamo, da oglasi s kongruentno ekstravertnostjo in kongruentnim profilom osebnosti kažejo konsistentne koristi v primerjavi z inkongruentnimi objavami, a so učinki na naklonjenost, pozornost in uspešnost prepoznave blagi. Nadalje v drugi študiji (spletni eksperiment) preverjamo bolj oprijemljive, socialnopsihološke izide, in sicer spremembo stališč ter spremembo vedenjskih namer. Na vzorcu 312 udeležencev ugotavljamo, da se v smeri izrazitejšega poviševanja stališč in vedenjskih namer v primerjavi z inkongruentnimi oglasi nagibajo predvsem učinki objav s kongruentnim profilom osebnosti, a so le-ti blagi in ne popolnoma uniformni. Ob tem smo v obeh študijah preverjali še odobravanje psihološkega ciljanja. Rezultati kažejo, da večina udeležencev ne odobrava psihološkega ciljanja ali pa bi psihološko ciljanje odobravali le pod določenimi pogoji, npr. kadar se uporablja v dobro uporabnikov. Pri tem se kažejo tudi pomembni napovedniki odobravanja, npr. starost.
Skupno ti rezultati implicirajo, da psihološko ciljanje lahko prinaša koristi v smislu kognitivnih in socialnopsiholoških izidov, a so te šibke. Nadalje študija razkriva, da ima večina ljudi zadržke do uporabe psihološkega ciljanja. V diskusiji te rezultate povežemo s preteklo literaturo, izpostavimo njihovo uporabno vrednost ter se dotaknemo pomanjkljivosti pričujočih študij.Social media, such as Facebook, offer a myriad of opportunities for effective mass communication. Many such opportunities are successfully used by marketing companies as a means to increase profits, while institutions – which could use these same principles to educate the public and encourage them to act in their best interest – traditionally lag behind.
In the present study, we focus on one such principle, psychological targeting, whereby a communicator matches the content of Facebook ads to the psychological characteristics of people who will be exposed to them. While past literature reveals some of the benefits of psychologically targeted strategies in the context of commercial marketing, we extend the literature by exploring psychological targeting in the context of social marketing and by testing several novel aspects. In doing so, we focus on three diverse topics that have substantial scientific support and could benefit individuals and society as a whole (influenza vaccination, dementia prevention, and carbon footprint reduction), and match the content of Facebook posts to fit individuals’ extraversion, openness to experience, or both of these personality traits at the same time (personality profile).
We test the effectiveness of psychologically targeted strategies in the context of social marketing via two experiments. In the study 1 (a laboratory experiment), we test the (mainly) cognitive mechanisms by which psychological targeting could lead to positive outcomes, such as behavioral change, namely self-reported liking of presented materials, attention captured by the eye-tracker, and the memory, measured with a computerized task. On the sample of 98 participants, we find that ads with congruent extraversion and congruent personality profiles consistently show benefits over incongruent materials. However, the effects on ad liking, attention, and recognition are predominantly small. Furthermore, in the second study (an online experiment), we focus on more tangible, social-psychological outcomes, namely attitude change and changes in behavioral intention. On the sample of 312 participants, we find that only ads with congruent personality profiles tend to lead to more pronounced increases in both outcomes (compared to incongruent ads). However, the effects were less consistent and mild. Additionally, we also studied people\u27s approval of psychological targeting in both studies. The results show that the majority does not approve of psychological targeting, or that they would only approve of it under certain conditions, e.g. when it is used for the sole benefit of the users. The results also illuminate several important predictors of public attitudes towards psychological targeting, such as age.
Taken together, these results indicate that psychological targeting can be beneficial in terms of cognitive and socio-psychological outcomes but these benefits are generally weak. Furthermore, the study reveals that most people have concerns regarding the use of psychological targeting. In the discussion, we compare these results with the past literature, highlight their practical value, and outline the limitations of the present studies
