Utilising Social Media Technology to Raise Brand Awareness in Higher Education

Baomin Qi, Lindsey Mackie

2014

Abstract

Marketing and more specifically raising brand awareness is vital for any successful organisation and its importance is demonstrated across all industry sectors. The widely adopted social media (SM) technology is believed to bring opportunities for brand awareness; and many universities worldwide have already broached the concept of using SM to communicate with potential students. However, the social media arena is deemed by many HEIs as frivolous, and the significance of SM is yet widely realised. This research will look at the power behind social media technology; the main focus is to explore whether the utilisation of SM technology could increase the brand awareness. In order to achieve this research aim exhaustive literature search was conducted and the available literature is systematically reviewed. The research found that although SM platforms have been exploited by most of institutions, there is little evidence to suggest that higher education is currently using social media effectively to engage with students, increase brand awareness and enhance image.

References

  1. Aula, P. (2010). Social media, reputation risk and ambient publicity management. Strategy & Leadership [Online] 38 (6), pp.43-49. Available from: <http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10878571011088069> [Accessed 23 April 2013]
  2. Boon, S. and Sinclair, C. (2009) A world I don't inhabit: disquiet and identity in Second Life and Facebook. Educational Media International [Online]. 46(2), pp 99-110. Available from: <http://www.informaworld. com/smpp/contentdb=allcontent=a911901158> [Accessed 12 February 2013].
  3. Booth, N. and Matic, J.A. (2011). Mapping and leveraging influencers in social media to shape corporate brand perceptions. Corporate Communications [Online]16 (3) pp 184-191. Available from: <http://search.proquest.com/docview/888255196?acco untid=9653> (accessed 21 March 2013).
  4. Boyd, D.M. and Ellison, N.B. (2007) Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [Online]. 13(1) article 11. Available from: <http://jcmc.indiana.edu/ vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html> [Accessed 3 March 2013].
  5. Bruhn, M., Schoenmueller, V. and Schäfer, D.B. (2012) Are social media replacing traditional media in terms of brand equity creation?. Management Research Review 35(9) pp.770 - 790. [Online]. Available from: <http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01409171211255948> [Accessed 22 March 2013]
  6. Cheater, M. (2008) How Higher Ed is Using Facebook Pages [Online]. Available from: <http://www. academicagroup.com/node/4598> [Accessed 11 March 2013].
  7. Clapperton, G. (27 Oct 2009) This is Social Media: Tweet, Blog, Link and Post Your Way to Business Success. Chichester, West Sussex: Capstone Publishing (Wiley)
  8. Dury, G. (2008) Opinion piece: Social media: Should marketers engage and how can it be done effectively. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice [Online]. 9 (3) pp. 274-277. Available from: <http://www.palgrave-journals.com/dddmp/journal/ v9/n3/full/4350096a.html > [Accessed 12 March 2013].
  9. Evans, L. (2010) Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media: Promoting Your Company... USA: Que Publishing
  10. Facebook (2013) Facebook for Business. Build your Page. [online]. Available from: <https://www. facebook.com/business/build> [Accessed 28 April 2013]
  11. Frydenberg, M. (2013) Creating a collaborative learning community in the CIS Sandbox. Interactive Technology and Smart Education. [Online] 10(1) pp.49-62.
  12. Hemmi, A., Bayne, S. and Land, R. (2009) The appropriation and repurposing of social technologies in higher education. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning [Online]. 25(1) pp. 19-30. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365- 2729.2008.00306.x/full
  13. Isacsson, A. and Gretzel, U. (2011) Facebook as an edutainment medium to engage students in sustainability and tourism. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology. 2(1) pp. 81 - 90.
  14. Kalpana, C. and Anandan, P. (2013) Role of content strategy in social media brand communities: a case of higher education institutes in India. Journal of Product & Brand Management. [Online]. 22(1) pp.40 - 51.
  15. Lilley, S., Grodzinsky, F.S. and Gumbus, A. (2012) Revealing the commercialized and compliant Facebook user. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society. 10( 2) pp.82 - 92 [Online]. Available from: <http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/14779961211226994> [Accessed 30 April 2013]
  16. Logan, K., Bright, L.F. and Gangadharbatla, H. (2012) Facebook versus television: advertising value perceptions among females. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing [Online] 6(3) pp.164 - 179. Available from: <http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ 17505931211274651> [Accessed 20 April 2013]
  17. Madge, C., Meek, J., Wellens, J. and Hooley, T. (2009) Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: 'It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work'. Learning, Media and Technology [Online]. 34(2) pp.141-155.
  18. Mangold, W.G. and Faulds, D.J. (2009). Social Media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons [Online]. 52 pp. 357-365. Available from: <http://japanfashionshanghai.up.seesaa.net/ image/japanfashionshanghai-2010-07-06T12:32:54- 2.pdf> [Accessed 11 February 2013]
  19. Mattson, E., and Barnes, N. G. (2009) Social Media and College Admissions: The First Longitudinal Study [Online]. Available from: <http://www.neacac.org/ docs/uploads/files/amc2010/2010%20AMC%20Web %20Social%20Media%20and%20College%20Admiss ions%20The%20First%20Longitudinal%20Study.pdf > [Accessed 12 March 2013].
  20. Mazzarol, T. and Soutar, G.N. (2012) Revisiting the global market for higher education. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics [Online] 24(5) pp.717 - 737. Available from: <http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13555851211278079> [Accessed 18 March 2013]
  21. Minocha, S. (2009) A Study of the Effective Use of Social Software by Further and Higher Education in the UK to Support Student Learning and teaching [Online] Available from: <http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/ document.cfm?docid=12120> [Accessed 24 January 2011].
  22. Mitic, M. & Kapoulas, A. (2012) "Understanding the role of social media in bank marketing", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(7) pp.668 - 686. . [Online]. Available from: <http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ 02634501211273797> [Accessed 22 March 2013]
  23. Odden, L. (2009) How Direct is Social Media Marketing, Online Marketing Blog, 23 June [Online]. Available from: <http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/06/ howdirect-is-social-media-marketing/> [Accessed 12 January 2011].
  24. Oriadini, F. and Saunders, G. (2008) Social networking: Connect-ing students and staff. Association for Learning Technology News [Online]. (62) p.3. Available from: <http://www.alt.ac.uk/docs/altn_62_final.pdf> [Accessed 18 February 2013].
  25. Redecker, C. (2009) Review of Learning 2.0 Practices: Study on the Impact of Web 2.0 Innovations on Education and Training in Europe [Online]. Available from: <http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC49108.pdf> [Accessed 17 March 2013].
  26. Reuben, R. (2008) Survey about the use of social media in higher education [Online]. Available from: <http://www.docstoc.com/docs/20087333/The-Use-ofSocial-Media-in-Higher-Education---A-Guide> [Accessed 28 March 2013].
  27. Saravanakumar, M. and SuganthaLakshmi, T. (2012) Social Media Marketing. Life Science Journal [Online] 9(4) pp 4444-4451. Available from: <http://www.lifesciencesite.com/lsj/life0904/670_130 61life0904_4444_4451.pdf> [Accessed 22 March 2013]
  28. Shaw, J. (2013) University recruitment: one fifth of students say social media doesn't work. The Guardian. 17 April 2013. [Online]. Available from: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-educationnetwork/blog/2013/apr/17/university-studentrecruitment-social-media> [Accessed 30 April 2013]
  29. Smith, T., Coyle, J. Lightfoot, E. and Scott, A. (2007) Reconsidering Models of Influence: The Relationship between Consumer Social Networks and Word-ofMouth Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising Research [Online]. 47(4), pp. 387. Available from: <http://www.communityanalytics.com/Portals/0/Reso urce_Library/WOM%20in%20Journal%20of%20Adv ertising.pdf> [Accessed 4 April 2013].
  30. Wandel, T. (2008) Colleges and Universities Want to be Your Friend: Communicating via Online Social Networking. Planning for Higher Education [Online]. 37 (1) pp.35-48.
  31. Wang, H. (2012) Six P's of youth social media from a young consumer's perspective. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers [Online] 13(3) pp.303 - 317. Available from: <http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17473611211261674> [Acessed 12 March 2013]
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Qi B. and Mackie L. (2014). Utilising Social Media Technology to Raise Brand Awareness in Higher Education . In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: WEBIST, ISBN 978-989-758-023-9, pages 400-405. DOI: 10.5220/0004965804000405


in Bibtex Style

@conference{webist14,
author={Baomin Qi and Lindsey Mackie},
title={Utilising Social Media Technology to Raise Brand Awareness in Higher Education},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: WEBIST,},
year={2014},
pages={400-405},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0004965804000405},
isbn={978-989-758-023-9},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: WEBIST,
TI - Utilising Social Media Technology to Raise Brand Awareness in Higher Education
SN - 978-989-758-023-9
AU - Qi B.
AU - Mackie L.
PY - 2014
SP - 400
EP - 405
DO - 10.5220/0004965804000405