Social Media Marketing Strategy in Increasing Student Enrollment and Retention
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31958/jaf.v12i1.13057Keywords:
Marketing Strategy, Social Media, Student RetentionAbstract
Social media has become an important marketing tool for various sectors, including educational institutions. The use of social media not only focuses on promotion but also on increasing interaction with prospective students and their parents, which can significantly influence their decision in choosing an educational institution. In this context, effective social media marketing strategies are critical in increasing student enrollment and retention. This research aims to analyze the influence of social media marketing strategies on increasing student enrollment and retention at a private university in Indonesia. This research also seeks to identify the strategic elements that are most effective in achieving the desired results. The method used in this research is quantitative, collecting data through online surveys distributed to respondents. The research results show a significant positive relationship between implementing social media marketing strategies and increasing student enrollment. The most influential elements are relevant educational content, consistent engagement, and engaging digital campaigns. When it comes to retention, effective communication, and content personalization positively impact retaining students. This research concludes that effective social media marketing strategies are proven to increase student enrollment and retention. Educational institutions must invest more resources in designing and implementing strategies that attract prospective students and maintain long-term relationships with enrolled students. The recommendation for practitioners is to adopt a more segmented and personalized approach to marketing strategy to get maximum results.
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Scott, N., & Goode, D. (2020). The use of social media (some) as a learning tool in healthcare education: An integrative review of the literature. Nurse Education Today, 87, 104357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104357
Shea Johnstone, L. A. G., & Towbin, A. J. (2022). The Use of Social Media in Radiology Education. Academic Radiology, 29(1), 84–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2021.05.010
Vilceanu, M. O., FitzGerald, S., & Sadovskaya, J. Y. (2019). Using Social Media in Education and Using Social Media Strategies in Education and Corporate Organizations in the U.S. and Belarus: A Practitioner Study. International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development, 11(4), 20–33. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSKD.2019100102
Wu, C., Guaita Martínez, J. M., & Martín Martín, J. M. (2020). An analysis of social media marketing strategy and performance in the context of fashion brands: The case of Taiwan. Psychology & Marketing, 37(9), 1185–1193. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21350
Zhu, S., Hao Yang, H., Xu, S., & MacLeod, J. (2020). Understanding Social Media Competence in Higher Education: Development and Validation of an Instrument. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 57(8), 1935–1955. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633118820631
Adnan, M., & Giridharan, B. (2019). Use of social media applications in classroom: Analysis from education perspective. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 495, 012108. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/495/1/012108
Agustini, N. L. P. R. E. (2021). Character Education for Children in Indonesia. Journal of Educational Study, 1(1), 97–102. https://doi.org/10.36663/joes.v1i1.158
Al-Azawei, A. (2019). What Drives Successful Social Media in Education and E-learning? A Comparative Study on Facebook and Moodle. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 18, 253–274. https://doi.org/10.28945/4360
Albin-Clark, J. (2023). What is mobile documentation doing through social media in early childhood education in-between the boundaries of a teacher’s personal and professional subjectivities? Learning, Media and Technology, 48(3), 444–459. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2022.2074450
Alenezi, W., & Brinthaupt, T. M. (2022). The Use of Social Media as a Tool for Learning: Perspectives of Students in the Faculty of Education at Kuwait University. Contemporary Educational Technology, 14(1), ep340. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/11476
Ali, S. H., Foreman, J., Capasso, A., Jones, A. M., Tozan, Y., & DiClemente, R. J. (2020). Social media as a recruitment platform for a nationwide online survey of COVID-19 knowledge, beliefs, and practices in the United States: Methodology and feasibility analysis. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 20(1), 116. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-020-01011-0
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Al-Said, K., Berestova, A., & Shterts, O. (2023). Learning processes, memory development, and knowledge sharing via mobile applications using MOOCs. Frontiers in Education, 8, 1113584. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1113584
Amitkumar, Sanni, M. I., & Apriliasari, D. (2021). Blockchain Technology Application: Authentication System in Digital Education. Aptisi Transactions On Technopreneurship (ATT), 3(2), 37–48. https://doi.org/10.34306/att.v3i2.209
Bezzubtseva, M. V., Demkina, A. E., Lipilina, M. N., Benimetskaya, K. S., Pivenstein, A. L., Gavrilyuk, N. D., Isaeva, A. V., Lobzhanidze, F. A., Podgorodetskaya, N. V., Klyashtornyj, V. G., Taskina, V. Y., & Pogosova, N. V. (2022). Video or text? Education through a social media website in hypertension. International Journal of Cardiology Cardiovascular Risk and Prevention, 14, 200139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcrp.2022.200139
Brand social media marketing strategies for foods consumed by children and adolescents in Argentina. (2022). Archivos Argentinos de Pediatria. https://doi.org/10.5546/aap.2021-02528.eng
Bulovsky, A. (2019). Authoritarian communication on social media: The relationship between democracy and leaders’ digital communicative practices. International Communication Gazette, 81(1), 20–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048518767798
Carpenter, J. P., Morrison, S. A., Rosenberg, J. M., & Hawthorne, K. A. (2023). Using social media in pre-service teacher education: The case of a program-wide Twitter hashtag. Teaching and Teacher Education, 124, 104036. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104036
Chen, H., Ma, D., & Wang, R. (2021). Chinese entrepreneurs’ experience of social media marketing: Perception, strategy and challenge. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 23(2), 365–386. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRME-06-2019-0055
D’Amico, R. S., Immidisetti, A. V., Katz, J., White, T., Bedi, A., Baum, G., Ellis, J., Levine, M., Ortiz, R., Boockvar, J. A., & Langer, D. J. (2021). Web-Based Education and Social Media Increase Access to Careers in Neurosurgery: The Lenox Hill Hospital BRAINterns Experience. World Neurosurgery, 150, e445–e465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2021.03.034
Fitri Ayuni, R. (2020). Bringing Virtual Communities into a Marketing Strategy to Create Purchase Intentions in the Social Media Era. Journal of Indonesian Economy and Business, 35(2), 112. https://doi.org/10.22146/jieb.53261
Garcia, J. E., Pereira, J. S., & Cairrão, Á. (2021). Social Media Content Marketing Strategy for Higher Education: A Case Study Approach. In Á. Rocha, J. L. Reis, M. K. Peter, R. Cayolla, S. Loureiro, & Z. Bogdanović (Eds.), Marketing and Smart Technologies (Vol. 205, pp. 493–505). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4183-8_39
Gorfinkel, L., Muscat, T., Ollerhead, S., & Chik, A. (2021). The role of government’s ‘Owned Media’ in fostering cultural inclusion: A case study of the NSW Department of Education’s online and social media during COVID-19. Media International Australia, 178(1), 87–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20968291
Greenhow, C., Galvin, S. M., & Staudt Willet, K. B. (2019). What Should Be the Role of Social Media in Education? Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 6(2), 178–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732219865290
Han, J. K., Baykaner, T., DeSimone, C. V., Etheridge, S. P., Futyma, P., Saha, S. A., Stiles, M. K., Gopinathannair, R., Kabra, R., & Merchant, F. M. (2021). Virtual Transformation and the Use of Social Media: Cardiac Electrophysiology Education in the Post-COVID-19 Era. Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine, 23(11), 70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11936-021-00948-9
Ibrahim, B. (2022). Social Media Marketing Activities and Brand Loyalty: A Meta-Analysis Examination. Journal of Promotion Management, 28(1), 60–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2021.1955080
Iqani, M. (2021). Brand and influencer strategies in social media marketing of luxury brands in African cities. Journal of Design, Business & Society, 7(1), 105–121. https://doi.org/10.1386/dbs_00022_1
Kara, N., Çubukçuoğlu, B., & Elçi, A. (2020). Using social media to support teaching and learning in higher education: An analysis of personal narratives. Research in Learning Technology, 28(0). https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v28.2410
Kew, K. L., Huam, H. T., Beh, K. H., & Thoo, A. C. (2023). Building customer loyalty through social media marketing strategy for internet service providers in Malaysia. 040007. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0164739
Lahuerta-Otero, E., Cordero-Gutiérrez, R., & Izquierdo-Álvarez, V. (2019). Using Social Media to Enhance Learning and Motivate Students in the Higher Education Classroom. In L. Uden, D. Liberona, G. Sanchez, & S. Rodríguez-González (Eds.), Learning Technology for Education Challenges (Vol. 1011, pp. 351–361). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20798-4_30
Latif, M., Hussain, I., Saeed, R., Qureshi, M., & Maqsood, U. (2019). Use of Smart Phones and Social Media in Medical Education: Trends, Advantages, Challenges and Barriers. Acta Informatica Medica, 27(2), 133. https://doi.org/10.5455/aim.2019.27.133-138
Makki, A., & Bali, A. O. (2021). The Use of Social Media as a Platform in Education: Ramifications of COVID-19 in Iraq. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 10(3), 394. https://doi.org/10.36941/ajis-2021-0093
Makoe, M., & Shandu, T. P. (2019). Using Mobile-based Social Media to Facilitate Interaction and Build Communities through the lens of Ubuntu in Distance Education. Journal of Learning for Development, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v6i2.357
Maresova, P., Hruska, J., & Kuca, K. (2020). Social Media University Branding. Education Sciences, 10(3), 74. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10030074
Noori, A. Q., Orfan, S. N., Akramy, S. A., & Hashemi, A. (2022). The use of social media in EFL learning and teaching in higher education of Afghanistan. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1), 2027613. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2022.2027613
Rankin, A., Truskey, M., & Chisolm, M. S. (2019). The Use of Social Media in Interprofessional Education: Systematic Review. JMIR Medical Education, 5(1), e11328. https://doi.org/10.2196/11328
Redstone, I., & Villasenor, J. (2020). Unassailable Ideas: How Unwritten Rules and Social Media Shape Discourse in American Higher Education (1st ed.). Oxford University PressNew York. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190078065.001.0001
Sanchez, C., Grzenda, A., Varias, A., Widge, A. S., Carpenter, L. L., McDonald, W. M., Nemeroff, C. B., Kalin, N. H., Martin, G., Tohen, M., Filippou-Frye, M., Ramsey, D., Linos, E., Mangurian, C., & Rodriguez, C. I. (2020). Social media recruitment for mental health research: A systematic review. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 103, 152197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152197
Scott, N., & Goode, D. (2020). The use of social media (some) as a learning tool in healthcare education: An integrative review of the literature. Nurse Education Today, 87, 104357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104357
Shea Johnstone, L. A. G., & Towbin, A. J. (2022). The Use of Social Media in Radiology Education. Academic Radiology, 29(1), 84–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2021.05.010
Vilceanu, M. O., FitzGerald, S., & Sadovskaya, J. Y. (2019). Using Social Media in Education and Using Social Media Strategies in Education and Corporate Organizations in the U.S. and Belarus: A Practitioner Study. International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development, 11(4), 20–33. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSKD.2019100102
Wu, C., Guaita Martínez, J. M., & Martín Martín, J. M. (2020). An analysis of social media marketing strategy and performance in the context of fashion brands: The case of Taiwan. Psychology & Marketing, 37(9), 1185–1193. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21350
Zhu, S., Hao Yang, H., Xu, S., & MacLeod, J. (2020). Understanding Social Media Competence in Higher Education: Development and Validation of an Instrument. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 57(8), 1935–1955. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633118820631
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2024-06-26
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Siminto, S., Perdana, I., Kamaruddin, M. J., Rijal, S., & Putra, F. A. (2024). Social Media Marketing Strategy in Increasing Student Enrollment and Retention. Al-Fikrah: Jurnal Manajemen Pendidikan, 12(1), 202–213. https://doi.org/10.31958/jaf.v12i1.13057
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