Factors Influencing HEIs to Adopt Social Media as a Marketing Communication Tool

Abstract

This research aims to identify the factors influencing Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to adopt Social Media (SM) for marketing communication. The research was conducted through a qualitative study by interviewing SM managers of selected Pakistani HEIs. Data was analyzed using NVivo 11 to identify emerging themes. The findings revealed several internal and external factors encouraging HEIs to adopt SM marketing. Internal factors reflected the internal dynamics or beliefs within the HEIs that encouraged them to use SM for their marketing communication, whereas external factors were environmental changes, not in direct control of HEIs, but believed to contribute towards their decision to use SM. The internal factors included the belief of applicants, increased interest of senior management towards SM, perception of cost-effective promotional tool, induction of young staff, perception of SM as a modern communication tool and move towards paperless communication. The external factors included SM preference as a mode of communication, declining value of traditional marketing communication tools, E-Life inclination, presence of competitors & unofficial SM accounts of HEIs and their self-driven nature. This study draws focus towards the underlying intentions of HEIs for their SM presence and compares these motivations with other organizations. This has enabled filling in the gaps in the literature regarding the roots of SM marketing in the context of HEIs. From a practical perspective, the findings of this study will enable HEIs to compare their SM motives with other industries. A major difference found was the absence of motivation on the part of HEIs to use SM. This is in contradiction to other industries that put relationship building with customers as one of the primary motives to use SM.

Factors limiting optimal students’ engagement on Social Media: A study of Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan

“…(Lagrosen & Josefsson, 2011;Lagrosen & Grunden, 2014;McCarthy, Rowley, Ashworth, & Pioch, 2014;Eagleman, 2013;Tsimonis & Dimitriadis, 2014). The adoption of SM for communication purpose is also not a new phenomenon for Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) (Dabner, 2012;Mehmood, Janjua, Akram, Laeeque, & Aftab, 2021). Almost every University seems to have some form of SM presence to communicate with their target audience.…”

Perception of women entrepreneurs on social media use for marketing communication in Qatar

“…In contrast, the customer aims at the direction of the organization that satisfies his needs and desires, meaning that the success of marketing communication in any organization depends on the extent of good planning for it, meaning that it is from In order to increase the effectiveness of marketing communication in achieving the goals of the organization, the organization must prepare its strategy that can be relied upon. Mehmood et al (2021) There are influential factors in adopting social media as a marketing tool, given that adopting any new technology is a crucial decision for organizations. These factors mainly revolve around the internal and external dimensions that have a particular level in the decision to adopt social media as a tool for marketing communication.…”

“…As mentioned in their study by Mehmood et al (2021), By helping brands do this process that was not possible using traditional marketing communication tools, social media is one of the platforms that greatly helps organizations to grow and profit through marketing communication. Customers can be easily reached on social media platforms, especially the new generation, as the technology generation represented by Generation Z and Y.…”

“…Social media platforms are a central point of contact between organizations and their customers. Marketing communication affects the behavioral expectations of consumers and knowledge of their behavioral patterns in digital marketing; modern marketing has undergone a radical change that has led to fast-moving marketing trends that depend on the growth and innovation of new technologies, in addition to mobile communication devices that affect the behavior of customers significantly, bringing Internet connection a vast number of young people in social media, which indicates that the marketer must have a high concentration in digital marketing tools in order to target the market effectively and efficiently Mehmood et al (2021).…”