Online Communication Strategy in Promoting Personal Development

Program of Non-governmental Organization through Website

Yofrina Octika Gultom

and Henni Gusfa

Universitas Mercu Buana Jakarta

Keywords: Website, Online Communication Strategy, Nongovernmental Organization

Abstract: This study focuses on the use of website of nongovernmental organization to promote personal development

program in Indonesia. It intends to examine the use of website by a nongovernmental organization named

Initiatives of Change (IofC) Indonesia, a world-wide movement of people of diverse cultures and

backgrounds, who are committed to the transformation of society through changes in human motives and

behaviour, starting with their own. This research is aimed to identify how website plays its role in promoting

personal development program and also to identify online communication strategy of IofC as a

nongovernmental organization in its program. This research applied SOSTAC (Situations, Objectives,

Strategies, Tactics, Actions, Control) model to assess its situations, objectives, strategies, tactics, actions, and

control of a nongovernmental organization in promoting its program through website. In conclusion, website

is a landing page that can be used to promote personal development program by providing clear information,

having good layout, and sharing its links to its social medias.

INTRODUCTION

The use of internet has become a significant force in

social interaction. Throughout history, the

technological developments of internet have resulted

in the advancement of communication. Internet is

developing fast and used by many people at this time.

The internet is revolutionizing society and

technological systems. It can connect millions of

computers together globally and form a network in

which any computer can communicate with any other

computer as long as they are both connected to the

internet.

People these days get easily send and deliver

information with internet. Internet can be used daily

by all sectors of society, including individuals,

corporations and research institutions. It has various

networks and websites, which together carry many

different kinds of information and services. The

internet is becoming a mainstream tool for scholarly

research, chiefly because of its ability to access data

quickly and conveniently (Dimitrova and Bugeja,

2007). The internet makes it possible to quickly find

information and communicate with people around the

world. It continues to grow, driven by great amounts

of online information and knowledge, commerce,

entertainment and social networking.

Based on The Association of Internet Services

Providers in Indonesia (Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa

Internet Indonesia, abbreviated APJII), the number of

internet users is increasing in Indonesia, in which the

users are included teenagers and adults. There were

71.19 million internet users in Indonesia or about 28

percent of Indonesia's population in 2013, up by

about 13 percent from 63 million users in the previous

year.

People may use internet by exploring websites to

browse information. The information which is found

out can be varied as one of the examples is personal

development program. Websites can be the work of

an individual, a business or other organization, and

are typically dedicated to a particular topic or

purpose.

An organization can also use website to share

information and discuss various issues. Srinivas

(2015) said that the dynamic nature of the use of the

internet by non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

clearly illustrates the flexibility and adaptability of

both NGOs and the internet itself. They have

networked online for a variety of reasons such as: to

build awareness, to facilitate training programs, to

reduce costs, to raise funds, to manage information,

Gultom, Y. and Gusfa, H.

Online Communication Strategy in Promoting Personal Development Program of Non-governmental Organization through Website.

DOI: 10.5220/0010045505010507

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference of Computer, Environment, Agr iculture, Social Science, Health Science, Engineering and Technology (ICEST 2018), pages 501-507

ISBN: 978-989-758-496-1

501

to disseminate information, to communicate with

personnel, and to avoid travel costs.

As a non-governmental organization which

focuses on global change through personal change,

Initiatives of Change (IofC) Indonesia promotes

personal development program to the society as one

of its main programs. Personal development is one of

essential parts in a person’s growth, maturity, success

and fulfillment. Aubrey (2010) stated that when

personal development takes place in the context

of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs,

tools, techniques, and assessment systems that

support human development at the individual level

in organizations. The programs of IofC Indonesia are

related to personal development program such as:

Annual Youth Leadership Camp, School Visit

Program (SVP), Talk About Life (TAL), Inner

Growth Companionship Program (IGCP), Trust

Building, and many more programs.

Initiatives of Change (IofC) is a world-wide

movement of people from diverse cultures and

backgrounds, who are committed to the

transformation of society through changes in human

motives and behaviors, starting with their own. IofC

is aimed to inspire, equip and connect people in order

to address world needs, starting within personal

changes. This non-governmental organization is

dedicated to building trust across the world's divides

of culture, nationality, belief, and background.

On March 25, 2016, on National Consultation of

Initiatives of Change (IofC) Indonesia, Miftahul

Huda, a member of Asia Pacific Coordination Group

(APCG) of IofC, stated that being compared to

programs of IofC in other countries, the programs of

IofC Indonesia have not been well promoted and

informed to people. Thus, IofC Indonesia should

design communication strategy in order to promote its

programs.

This study examined the online communication

strategy of non-governmental organization in

promoting its program in Indonesia. Focusing on

communication strategy, Brennan (1960) stated that

the communication with a purpose and an occasion

gives expression to an idea which he or she channels

to some receiver from whom he or she gains a

response. It is important to understand the concept of

communication strategy which should be seen from

the organization’s perspective. A communications

strategy is designed to help an organization

communicate effectively and meet core

organizational objective.

James Howe, a nonprofit communications

professional said that a website is the centre of online

or digital strategy. A nonprofit organization may use

website as a media to publish any programs, provide

information, and promote the main programs of its

organization. Related with this study, Initiatives of

Change (IofC) Indonesia, as a non-governmental

organization, requires a communication strategy to

promote its core goal namely personal development

program through website.

IofC focuses on personal encounters in homes and

small groups, training courses and conferences. It

draws together people who may not usually work

together. They become agents of change, seeking to

respond to the leading of conscience or God’s spirit

and supporting each other in building community

side.

To address the issue of promoting personal

development program through website in Indonesia,

the researcher raised some questions in this study.

The research questions of this study are:

1. How does website play its role in promoting

personal development program?

2. How is the online communication strategy of a

non-governmental organization in promoting

personal development program?

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

A previous research which is entitled “Comparing

How Organizations Use Websites and Social Media

to Maintain Organization-Public Relationships”

examines the dominant corporate communication

strategy on Facebook pages and websites. Haigh

(2014) stated that a content analysis was conducted to

determine if there were differences in the type of

communication strategy organizations were

employing on their Facebook page or website. A

Webtrends study (2011) found that 68% of the top

fortune 100 companies have seen a decline in unique

(first time visitors) to their websites while 40% of

these companies have seen unique visits to their

Facebook sites increase.

This study explained the differences in the

information available on an organization’s website

versus its Facebook page. It extends the literature by

comparing the types of information available in order

to gain an understanding of how these forms of online

communication may impact on organization public

relationship. Online relationships can be built through

disclosure/openness, information dissemination, and

interactivity/involvement (Men and Tsai, 2012).

Communication between the organizations and

stakeholders is still not fully realized on social

networking services. Practitioners can develop social

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502

media plans to bolster interactivity to fully utilize

social media services and produce effective messages

to strengthen organization-public relationship.

Organizations’ websites bolster organization – public

relationships through interactivity because

stakeholders can provide feedback, email, and

connect with content (Jo and Kim, 2003).

In the end, it is important to understand how

organizations are framing information on websites

and Facebook pages because it impacts how

stakeholders respond to the organization.

Organizations have moved to a corporate social

responsibility frame on their websites, but they need

to employ that type of frame on Facebook in order for

social media to have a positive impact (Haigh et al.,

2013).

This study applied the theories of organization-

public relationships, interactivity, and corporate

social responsibility. On the other hand, new media

theory can be applied in the study since websites and

Facebook as community portal are parts of new

media. Related to new media theory, Marshall (2004)

stated that the internet has simultaneously heralded a

new age of voyeurism, narcissism and exhibitionism,

all within its various forms. Surveillance has also

exited the world of internet webcams to become the

organizing narrative of reality television around the

world. Via the internet, the everydayness of personal

and intimate images that are perpetually accessible

has transformed the cultural discourse of what is

public and what is private, who is the performer and

who is the audience.

In addition, Loran (2005) conducted a research

about the use of websites to increase access and

develop audiences in museums: experiences in

British national museums. Many authors argue that

digital technologies, and particularly the World Wide

Web, have great potential to serve the challenges

faced by museums in relation to access and audience

development, which involves reaching and nurturing

both existing and new audiences. MacDonald and

Alsford (1997) discuss the opportunities that digital

technologies present for the dissemination of

knowledge on a scale never before possible, and see

this capacity as a key factor in transforming

museums.

A non-governmental organization can use website

to maintain organization, to promote programs, and to

build interactivity with users. Johnson et al. (2006)

stated that interactivity adds value to the

communication process. There are four parts of

interactivity including: reciprocity, reciprocal

communication; responsiveness, response in the

communication interaction in which solve the need

for information; the speed of response; nonverbal

communication, and the use of communication via

multiple channels (Johnson et al., 2006). Park and

Reber (2008) stated that organizations can use

corporate website to build organization. If a website

is interactive, it provides users the opportunity to

click on the links and buttons, and responds to the

user’s need for information (Johnson et al., 2006).

Basing on existing theory, related to the use of

website of a non-governmental organization in

promoting personal development program, SOSTAC

(Situations, Objectives, Strategies, Tactics, Actions,

Control) model by Smith is applied in this research.

SOSTAC is a marketing model invented in the 1990s

by Paul Smith, a bestselling marketing author,

international speaker and consultant. Each element

relates to a key step in the process:

1. Situation analysis

Situation analysis assesses what the current state

of an organization is. The situation should provide

an overview of an organization – what

organization is, what it does and how its member

interact and trade online by addressing internal

and external factors impacting the business. This

section should be painting a picture of an

organization by using some of the following

methods to bring this section to life:

1. Who its digital customers currently are (how

do they interact with the brand, the platform/s

used, demographic breakdown.

2. SWOT analysis - what are the strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the

whole organization.

3. Competitor analysis - who are the

competitors? How do they compete? e.g.

price, product, customer service, reputation,

what are their key differentiators?

4. Digital channels landscape - list out all the

various digital channels used and success of

each for your organization – what’s

performing well or not?

2. Objectives

Objectives set the missions or goals of an

organization. This element describes about where

an organization wants to go. It is important to turn

each objective into SMART objectives which

stands for:

1. Specific, which means to focus on a specific

issue or challenge within the organization.

Online Communication Strategy in Promoting Personal Development Program of Non-governmental Organization through Website

503

2. Measurable, which means to plan to assess

the performance.

3. Actionable, which means to assist in

improving performance if achieved.

4. Relevant, which means whether the issue to

be addressed within the domain of the digital

marketing team or not.

5. Time-related, which means to set a specific

time period.

3. Strategy

Strategy is an overview of how to achieve the

goals. The strategy section should also identify

which segments of the market an organization

aims to target with its plan.

4. Tactics

Tactics are the detailed approach of how to

achieve the goals.

It breaks down the “big

picture” strategy into smaller details.

5. Action

Action helps assign responsibility and deadlines

for certain tasks. This element shows

responsibility and deadlines

for certain tasks.

6. Control

Control establishes how the process is monitored.

It offers an easy way to track the progress of the

plan.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This is a qualitative study. In terms of objectives, this

is a case study. According to Yin (2009), a case study

is preferred in the following situations: when, how or

why questions are being asked, when the researcher

has little control over events, and when the focus is

on a contemporary phenomenon. A case study design

should be considered when: (a) the focus of the study

is to answer “how” and “why” questions; (b) a

researcher cannot manipulate the behaviour of those

involved in the study; (c) a researcher want to cover

contextual conditions because he or she believes they

are relevant to the phenomenon under study; or (d)

the boundaries are not clear between the phenomenon

and context. Qualitative case study methodology

provides tools for researchers to study complex

phenomena within their contexts. Miles and

Huberman (1994) suggest that qualitative data

analysis consists of three procedures: data reduction,

data display, and conclusion drawing/ verification.

The term key informant is generally associated

with qualitative research in which a researcher

employs interviewing of knowledgeable participants

as an important part of the method. Key informant

interview is conducted to get information about a

pressing issue or problem in the community from a

limited number of well-connected and informed

community experts, to understand the motivation and

beliefs of community residents on a particular issue,

to get information from people with diverse

backgrounds and opinions and be able to ask in-depth

and probing questions, to discuss sensitive topics, get

respondents’ candid discussion of the topic, or to get

the depth of information which is needed.

4 RESEARCH FINDINGS AND

DISCUSSION

4.1 Role of Website in Promoting

Personal Development Program

Initiatives of Change (IofC) is a world-wide

movement of people of diverse cultures and

backgrounds, who are committed to the

transformation of society through changes in human

motives and behaviour, starting with their own. It

focuses on the vital link between personal change and

global change, and aims to inspire, support, and equip

people to play their part in building a better society.

IofC is known as a non-profit association,

independent of any and all political, religious or

economic entities or organizations. Where

appropriate, it partners with others working for

change.

IofC is also called as an international network of

people from all races and faiths who share the aim of

engaging every person in the processes of building a

new world, starting with transformation in their own

lives. IofC members inspire, equip, and connect

people to address world needs, starting with

themselves. IofC has spiritual roots, but no religious

affiliation. People who work with IofC come from a

multiplicity of backgrounds and beliefs. Those with a

faith are encouraged both to deepen their roots in that

tradition, and to discover and respect the beliefs of

others. All are enabled to work together for a lasting

change in society.

The main focus of the analysis in this study is

largely concerned with the online communication

strategy in promoting personal development program

of IofC Indonesia. Based on SOSTAC model, the

following steps of this research are describing the

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current situation of IofC Indonesia, determining the

strategic objectives, analyzing the development of

IofC website, determining strategic roles, and

analyzing the technological issues of the website such

as the site construction and its content.

By the research, it was found that IofC Indonesia

is in progress after having new structure in which

more people work voluntarily as core team of this

non-governmental organization. As its spirit “change

starts with me”, IofC wants to bring every individual

to live the life as an agent of change in the society,

community who give an answer for humanity. To get

to its vision, IofC team campaign lofC’s message

through programs. There are numerous programs of

IofC Indonesia doing to try to touch range of ages. In

the organization structure, IofC Indonesia is

broadening the structure namely board member and

executive member. Board member is a council

working with strategical plan, while executive

members are a member who works in daily basis.

Formerly, IofC Indonesia had 5 core team who are to

the two responsibilities mentioned.

4.2 Online Communication Strategy of

IofC Indonesia in Promoting

Program

In media and communication division, IofC team

currently update more through website and social

medias such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

IofC’s activities are based on weekly and occasional

basis. In weekly, IofC invites all people to have quiet

time and sharing session. IofC team sometimes invite

speaker to talk on Saturday Gathering, one of its

program. Occasionally, it depends on the time set up

by the team. IofC team also concern that its website

should have friendly view to the visitor especially

nowadays is mobile friendly.

Website of IofC Indonesia is integrated with

website of IofC international. Hence, the website

template is quite similar with the IofC international

website template. Recently, IofC Indonesia website

team requested on setting more colourful template to

IofC international website team in order to attract

people to use its website.

The website team decided to consult the

international team to follow template of IofC UK

website because it looks more colourful and the team

will add more informations about personal

development programs in its website. On the other

hand, IofC Indonesia gets benefit in being integrated

with IofC international website. Nur Hayatii, the

former of media and communication division said

that IofC Indonesia team will continue being

integrated with IofC international website because

IofC international team do not charge expensively

and IofC Indonesia website is published through IofC

international website so that people around the world

can easily access its website.

A non-governmental organization can be

structured in many different ways, depending on its

goals. An organizational structure indicates how

activities of an organization such as job desk,

coordination and supervision are directed toward the

achievement of organizational objectives. Formerly,

IofC Indonesia had only 5 core team consisted of

president, finance coordinator, administration

coordinator, program coordinator, and media and

communication coordinator. The core team were

responsible many task allocations such as working in

its division, organizing strategical plans, and running

programs.

IofC Indonesia team had new formation of

organizational structure in 2016 in which the structure

is divided into board members and executive

members. In media and communication division, the

priority plans are:

1. Build brand awareness about IofC Indonesia.

2. Enggage and build good relationship with

anyone who hasbeen involved with IofC

Indonesia.

3. Share IofC values through social media platform.

4. Renew image of IofC Indonesia through IofC

Indonesia website: Fresher, Inspire, Positivity

and Profesional Vibes.

Each division is handled by a coordinator and a

member. Thus, each division coordinator can work in

team and focus on each task allocation. The

objectives of each division will be easily reached by

this non-governmental organization.

Online Communication Strategy in Promoting Personal Development Program of Non-governmental Organization through Website

505

Picture 1. Research Process Overview (Researcher’s

Design, 2017) IofC Indonesia website has not been

maximized.

It is shown that the information of personal

development program and its pictures have not been

regularly updated. Therefore, IofC Indonesia website

team decided to consult IofC international website

team to change its template and to work together with

administration division in publishing more writings

through website.

The following recommendation is related with the

online communication strategy in promoting personal

development program in Indonesia through the

website of Initiatives of Change (IofC) Indonesia:

1. The use of IofC Indonesia should be maximized

in order to promote its main program, personal

development program such as: Trust Building,

Youth Leadership Camp, Creators of Peace

(CoP), and Inner Growth Companionship

Program (IGCP).

2. IofC Indonesia website should continue being

integrated with IofC international website

because it gives benefits for both sides that the

programs IofC Indonesia will be known not only

in Indonesia but also around the world. Hence,

IofC Indonesia can get opportunities to expand

its partnership with other associations.

3. IofC Indonesia team should publish more

information through its website such as stories of

change, pictures, and videos in order to attract its

users.

4. IofC Indonesia team is recommended to

regularly link the website with social medias

such as: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to

promote personal development program.

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Situations: IofC Indonesia has new

structure in which more skillful people

get involved, including in media and

communication division.

Objectives: IofC Indonesia wants to

ring every individual to live the life as

an agent of change in the society,

community who give an answer for

humanity.

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A planning model,

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network of

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lan and

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The

technol

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develop

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internet

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A collection

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Development

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