Social Media Marketing in Practice of Polish Nationwide Catholic Opinion-Forming Weeklies: Case of Instagram and YouTube

Abstract

This article, as the fourth in the cycle, presents the conclusions of the research project analysing marketing activities of Polish Catholic opinion-forming weeklies on the chosen social media platforms. This paper aims at presenting the results of the study on the use of Instagram and YouTube as marketing tools by the aforementioned weeklies. The authors focus on such topics as: (1) social media as a way of creating and distributing media products; (2) social media as a way of commercialising the content; (3) social media as carriers of marketing communication (including self-promotion). The empirical research is based on case studies and the content analysis of the social media profiles of the five selected magazines (Gość Niedzielny (GN), Tygodnik Katolicki Niedziela (TKN), Przewodnik Katolicki (PK), Idziemy (I) and Tygodnik Rodzin Katolickich Źródło (TRKŹ)). It can be concluded that some Catholic weeklies manage their accounts in a moderately professional way, using their visual and distribution potential and some functions of the platforms quite efficiently. On the other hand, they do not apply a regular and purposeful self-promotion strategy, do not use important mechanisms of the platforms such as the Shop and IGTV (on Instagram), and do not consistently build a profile or create playlists on YouTube.