Engagement Declining on Indonesian Customs Instagram: A Content Analysis of Visual Factor

Abstract

Government social media offers potential as a means of communicating with the public in new, responsive, and exciting ways. Social media, especially Instagram, is starting to be used widely by the government to communicate with citizens. Unfortunately, the majority of government social media get low user engagement. Indonesian customs as a government agency sustained a significant shift in communicating through Instagram social media. This study aims to find the factors that make the difference in this phenomenon and the combination of visual codes that provide the highest engagement. A quantitative content analysis framework is used to analyze posts shared on social media. Posts converted into data form are then analyzed using statistical analysis. This study found that an engagement trend and visual factor strategy shifted on Indonesia Customs Instagram during the observation period. The results of this study are that content type, visual aesthetics, and presentation modality significantly differ from the average engagement of Indonesian Customs on Instagram. Changes in engagement occur due to changes in the combination of visual factors. Informational content type, expressive aesthetics, and lean modality in government social media posts provide the highest engagement than the combination of other variable codes. Public needs and interest in government social media are necessary to be considered for future development and management. Government social media can be an effective means of communication if it is used with a two-way communication approach between the government and the public.