Wonder

Log in

Research Outline

Prepared for Ron G. | Delivered September 18, 2019

Freelancers/Companies for Facebook Groups

Goals

To obtain information on potential customers for a product in development. The ideal customers would be English speakers in a romantic relationship, who use Facebook messenger as a primary communication tool with romantic partners, want to go to therapy but can't afford it, and are familiar with nonviolent communication.

Early Findings

  • Facebook can be used as a recruitment tool for clients, studies and research. However, the official avenue for doing so is through promoted posts and ads.
  • Incorrectly representing oneself through a private Facebook profile and then using that for commercial purposes contravenes Facebook's policy: "We don't allow people to send messages promoting or advertising a product, service or opportunity."
  • Companies or entities seen as spamming on Facebook can then suffer negative backlash among prospective customers.
  • However, one way around this would be to create a Facebook Group with the company/business as the host. The goal of the group could be generic support, but then there would not be unethical implications of recruiting members directly through this sponsored group.
  • This research study looked at different ethical considerations when recruiting on Facebook. Joining an open, public group is less problematic that joining (and contacting members via) a private group.
  • There are several articles on best practices for recruiting persons for research through Facebook. Alternatively, any digital agency or social media marketer will help create an appropriate Facebook ad campaign.
  • A lot of companies hire freelancers to conduct Facebook marketing on the ground level. Popular websites for finding freelancers are PeoplePerHour, Upwork or Freelancer.com
  • Some top profiles for this sort of activity are Social Buzzing (price vary from $30-100), Louise Buckingam or Neumal F. Freelancers on Upwork or Freelancer.com are only available to view after creating a job.
  • One study, here, found that social media recruitment was actually less effective than traditional methods.