Int. J. Management in Education, Vol. 11, No.

2, 2017 111

Higher education social media marketing: 12 content

types universities post on Facebook

Viriya Taecharungroj
Business Administration Division,
Mahidol University International College,
999 Phutthamonthon 4 Road, Salaya,
Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand
Email: viriya.tae@mahidol.ac.th
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore and categorise how
universities in the USA and Thailand use Facebook as a platform to engage
their audiences. Although many higher education institutions (HEIs) currently
use social media to communicate, research on how they use the platform is
lacking. In this paper, the author studied the Facebook posts of three
universities from the USA (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard,
and Stanford) and three universities from Thailand (Mahidol, Chulalongkorn,
and Thammasat). A total of 1394 Facebook posts by the six universities in
2014 were analysed using content analysis. This study established 12 post
types: research, faculty, curriculum, campus, students, alumni, industry, events,
products, image and reputation, announcements, and others. The most common
post type by USA universities is research, whereas the most common post
types by Thai universities are events and announcements. From the findings,
the author suggests that HEIs have to be both proactive and strategic on social
media. Furthermore, to publish great content on Facebook, universities have to
visualise and tell stories well.

Keywords: higher education marketing; university administration; social

media; content analysis; Facebook.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Taecharungroj, V. (2017)

‘Higher education social media marketing: 12 content types universities
post on Facebook’, Int. J. Management in Education, Vol. 11, No. 2,
pp.111–127.

Biographical notes: Viriya Taecharungroj is a marketing Lecturer and a Vice

Chair of Business Administration Division at Mahidol University International
College. He received a DPA from National Institute of Development
Administration, Thailand, MA, in Publishing from the University of the Arts,
London, MSc in Marketing Management from the University of Surrey, and
BA in Economics from Thammasat University. He teaches in the area of global
marketing. His research focuses on the areas of social media marketing, place
marketing, and higher education marketing.

Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

112 V. Taecharungroj

1 Introduction

Competition among Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is higher than ever.

Commercialisation, privatisation, and globalisation are major developments affecting
HEIs worldwide. Globally, there are massive movements of students from one region to
another (Marginson, 2006). Universities in Asia, in particular, are facing immense
challenges. Government cuts in developed nations forced HEIs to attract new foreign
students (Hemsley-Brown, 2011). Many western universities had to come up with a
number of internationalisation strategies that can attract international students, especially
Asians, to home campuses (Wilkins and Huisman, 2011). Although the quality of many
Asian universities is impressive, there is still an outflow of students to more advanced
regions such as North America and Europe (Marginson, 2006). Lack of higher education
capacity in Asian countries is another major driver of an outflow (Wilkins and Huisman,
2011). Therefore, it is imperative for most Asian universities to improve their
attractiveness to retain top talents. Challenges facing HEIs on the national level are also
staggering. Taecharungroj (2013) outlined the obstacles facing HEIs in Thailand, which
include competition from ASEAN HEIs, saturation of demand for higher education, the
emergence of online learning, tight restrictions and government control, financial
constraints of potential students, limited government budget and subsidy, and low supply
of qualified instructors. There is also fierce competition between public and private
universities and among public universities that try to attract potential students by offering
new and international programs. To survive and prosper, HEIs need to adopt novel and
effective approaches.
HEIs are adopting marketing practices to attract potential students (Ramachandran,
2010). Many HEIs use an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) strategy that
includes advertising, publicity, public relations, and sales promotion efforts to improve
enrolment figures (Ivy, 2008). However, in the 21st century, potential students and
adolescents, referred to as ‘digital natives’ (Prensky, 2001), are native speakers of the
digital language. Traditional promotional tools are less effective in informing and
convincing new generations of youths (Maringe, 2006). Thus, many HEIs are utilising
social media marketing, which is a new and compelling tool, to reach and engage with
current and potential students. Although many studies have investigated how social
media can improve academic learning in HEIs (Liu, 2010; Silius et al., 2011; Nguyen and
Trimarchi, 2010; Kurkela, 2011; Poellhuber et al., 2011; Munguatosha et al., 2011), there
is a lack of studies that explore how HEIs use social media for non-pedagogical purposes.
In general, social media marketing can help organisations strengthen customer
relationships, identify opportunities, build trust, and spread information via word-of-
mouth (Huang and Benyoucef, 2013; Whitla, 2009; Ho, 2014). Social media is a
pervasive, effective, and inexpensive tool that HEIs can utilise to improve bottom-line
performance. While numerous social media platforms exist, the focus of this research
is Facebook, the largest platform. By the end of 2015, there were 1.5 billion monthly
active Facebook users (Statista, 2016). To put this into perspective, the number
of Facebook users has already surpassed the population of the most populous country in
the world, China, which has a population of 1.36 billion (Worldometers, 2015). A deeper
understanding of how successful HEIs use Facebook to reach audiences would be
highly valuable to other HEIs that are still searching for ways to effectively utilise social
media.
 Higher education social media marketing 113

The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to compare Facebook posts by top
universities from the USA and Thailand, and (2) to suggest practical Facebook strategies
for Thai universities and other HEIs. The author hopes that the findings from this study
will benefit university administrators and executives who aim to use social media
marketing to effectively reach their target audiences.

2 Literature review

2.1 Higher education marketing

In the past, the business world regarded marketing as jargon that could only be utilised to
generate profit. Marketing was not common among HEIs, whose traditional roles are to
serve the community, research, and teach students (Ramachandran, 2010). However, due
to immense pressure from competition both at home and abroad, HEIs are now beginning
to align themselves with the marketing concepts of the business world (Ramachandran,
2010). Branding is a marketing concept that is often used in higher education. Successful
branding efforts can lead to brand equity improvement (Watkins and Gonzenbach, 2013).
Universities require strong brand equity, or brand value, to increase awareness and attract
potential students, parents, and career advisors (Ali-Choudhury et al., 2009; Edmiston-
Strasser, 2009). A university’s brand, which is a manifestation of features that distinguish
it from others, can differentiate HEIs from competitors and lead to a gain in market share
(Ali-Choudhury et al., 2009). Although there are many uncontrollable external factors
affecting brand equity, institutions can control how they respond to the environment.
HEIs can also improve brand equity by effectively implementing IMC (Edmiston-
Strasser, 2009).
Marketing communications are an important part of the marketing mix. To create
unique brand associations and brand equity, HEIs have to expose the elements of a brand
image to audiences (Watkins and Gonzenbach, 2013). In turn, the continuous projection
of the brand identity and image leads not only to brand awareness but also to brand
loyalty (Gulla and Gulla, 2015). Traditionally, universities have employed a variety of
communication tools, such as prospectuses, advertising, publicity, public relations, sales
promotions, open days, international higher education exhibitions, conventions, and
direct mailings (Ivy, 2008). Official communication sources are important, and an
integrative approach greatly enhances recruitment effectiveness (Hesketh and Knight,
1999). Recently, traditional tools, especially print materials, have become less effective
in attracting students; previous research suggests gap between what students look for and
the information provided in HEIs’ print communications (Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka,
2006). Since the emergence and advancement in information technology, HEIs have
adopted new technologies to expand and improve their communications.
Higher education marketing has moved rapidly towards digital formats. Websites are
some of the most popular forms of marketing communications in higher education (Ivy,
2008). In the digital era, websites are necessary for HEIs because they provide students
with essential information as well as offer features such as online applications and virtual
tours (Klassen, 2002). However, even digital communications such as websites may not
be effective in persuading potential students (Maringe, 2006). Such traditional digital
promotional tools may not be trustworthy and adequate for students to make final
114 V. Taecharungroj

decisions; HEIs may need to consider other ways to promote themselves (Maringe,
2006). Social media marketing is the new, effective, and prominent promotional tool that
many HEIs are using. The next section reviews existing literature on social media
marketing.

2.2 Social media marketing

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) conceptualised the term ‘social media’ as the combination
of Web 2.0 technology and user-generated content. It is a platform that allows users to
create identities and relationships, engage in conversations and in groups, share content,
and find people (Kietzmann et al., 2011). A number of platforms can be classified as
social media, including social networking websites, blogs, microblogging websites,
video-sharing websites, photo-sharing websites, etc. (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). The
key characteristic of social media platforms is that they allow brands to communicate
freely with worldwide audiences, and audiences can also communicate and interact
among themselves (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). This allows companies to create new
relationships with target markets and to foster brand communities where customers
interact with each other.
The benefits of social media marketing are wide-ranging. According to many
scholars, social media marketing can help organisations strengthen relationships with key
stakeholders, build trust, and foster word-of-mouth communications (Huang and
Benyoucef, 2013; Whitla, 2009; Ho, 2014; Kang et al., 2014). Healthy and engaging
dialogues with audiences on social media platforms can strengthen brand identity and
community (Segrave et al., 2011). Customer involvement on social media can also lead
to new product development (Cvijikj et al., 2013). Although those benefits are mainly
applicable to businesses, they are also applicable to the higher education sector.
Therefore, it is essential for HEIs to incorporate social media marketing into their
communication strategy. Furthermore, social media marketing is not only effective on its
own; it can also complement other promotional activities (Castronovo and Huang, 2012).
Most leading HEIs are using social media platforms to their advantage for good
reasons. The main users of social media platforms are young people, i.e. the digital
natives (Leece and Campbell, 2011), who are also the primary target market of HEIs.
Previous research found that almost half of high school students logged onto Facebook at
least once during class time (Fewkes and McCabe, 2012). On the contrary, the study in
the Netherlands found that students ranked social media at the bottom of the list of
influential channels (Constantinides and Zinck Stagno, 2011). It is possible that social
media channels in the study lacked relevant content. Constantinides and Zinck Stagno
(2011) suggested that the simple presence on social media by HEIs is not enough. Higher
education marketers should actively engage with social media in their promotional mix.
Nevertheless, research on social media marketing among HEIs is still limited. There is no
empirical research on how HEIs implement their marketing activities on social media
platforms. Therefore, the research questions of this paper are as follows:
RQ1: What are the types and characteristics of content HEIs post on Facebook?
RQ2: What are the differences between posts by HEIs from the USA and Thailand?
 Higher education social media marketing 115

3 Methodology

3.1 Content analysis

This study employs content analysis (Elo and Kyngäs, 2008) to study and categorise
Facebook posts from three US universities and three Thai universities. Selecting
universities from two countries illustrates the gap for improvement. The author selected
the top three universities from each country according to the QS ranking. As of 2015,
according to the QS World University Rankings, the top three US universities are
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (ranked first in the world), Harvard
University (second), and Stanford University (third). The top universities in Thailand are
Chulalongkorn University (253rd), Mahidol University (295th), and Chiang Mai
University (551–600th). However, Chiang Mai University does not have an official
public Facebook page; therefore, this analysis included the Facebook page for
Thammasat University (601–650th) instead. In 2014, there were 2709 Facebook posts
from the official pages of the six universities included in this study. The author aimed to
analyse more than 1000 posts throughout the year to detect valid patterns. The samples
for this study are all Facebook posts in every odd month of the year (January, March,
May, and so forth). Figure 1 shows that although there were some changes in the number
of posts from month to month throughout the year, the changes were not drastic. Further
analysis found that the average number of posts in the odd month is 233, while the
average number of posts in the even month is 219. Therefore, the author selected the odd
months to analyse the content throughout the year because the average number is higher.
Overall, the content of 1394 Facebook posts was analysed in this study (Table 1).
The goal of content analysis is to describe a phenomenon (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005).
The author aims to create categories that capture the marketing communication activities
of the selected six universities. Furthermore, this current research also examines the
number of likes each post type procured to evaluate the effectiveness of post types.
Although the number of likes does not exhaustively explain the effectiveness of the post,
it can imply its popularity.

Figure 1 Total number of six universities’ Facebook posts by month in 2014

116 V. Taecharungroj

Table 1 List of universities in the study and the number of samples

Number of total Number of

University Link
posts in 2014 selected posts
MIT facebook.com/MIT news 589 289
Harvard University facebook.com/Harvard 490 259
Stanford University facebook.com/Stanford 358 179
Mahidol University facebook.com/Mahidol 86 48
Chulalongkorn facebook.com/Chulalongkorn
592 321
University University
Thammasat University facebook.com/Thammasat.uni 593 298
Total 2708 1394

3.2 Devising categories

The study of social media activities among universities is a new research topic; therefore,
there are no established categories that can be directly applied. As such, the author
compares and contrasts categories from Chapleo et al. (2011) who used content analysis
to study UK university websites. The authors summarised that there are six categories:
teaching, research, management international projection, social responsibility, university
environment, and innovation. Another approach to formulating categories focuses on
studying the factors that universities would want to present to external audiences. To
convince the target audiences to apply for a program, HEIs have to satisfy the needs of
potential students (Ivy, 2008). Much research exists on the factors that universities can
provide to satisfy current students (Helgesen and Nesset, 2007; Hennig-Thurau et al.,
2001; Rojas-Méndez et al., 2009; Brown and Mazzarol, 2009; Clemes et al., 2008). The
five major service quality constructs that lead to student satisfaction and loyalty are
instructor quality, administration quality, social environment quality, physical environment
quality, and curriculum quality (Taecharungroj, 2014). It is likely that universities want
to communicate and promote these quality factors to the public. In 2004, Çetin studied
how academic programs can enhance the institutional image. The results of the study
suggest that there are many ‘positive image builders’, such as students, faculty,
administration, graduates, university and industry relations, research and publications,
buildings, physical and social facilities, and history (Çetin, 2004).
In the present study, the aforementioned categories were compared with the samples.
Some categories are retained or adapted from previous literature, such as research,
faculty, campus, curriculum, students, alumni, industry, and image and reputation (Çetin,
2004; Chapleo et al., 2011; Taecharungroj, 2014). Additionally, new categories were
created, which included events, products, announcements, and others. In total, 12 content
types that universities post on their Facebook pages were identified.
Three coders were trained to code university Facebook posts using the content type
criteria. Inter-coder reliability was tested on 10% of the samples (130 Facebook posts).
Inter-coder reliability had an average pairwise percent agreement of 75.9%, an average
pairwise Cohen’s kappa of 0.72, and a Krippendorff’s alpha of 0.72. The inter-coder
reliability results reveal an acceptable level of agreement (Lombard et al., 2002).
 Higher education social media marketing 117

4 Findings

From content analysis, the author established 12 post types among the six universities.
This section illustrates examples of each type and provides descriptive statistics for each
post type. Finally, the author compares the effectiveness of each post type using a ‘like
index’.

4.1 12 types of content

The universities in this study used different post types to promote different positive
aspects of their institution. This study identified 12 post types. Table 2 provides
descriptions for the post types. The first type is ‘research’; a research post normally
contains novel research findings or innovations by the university and usually illustrates
the achievement with a relevant image. For example, in November 2014, Stanford posted
a relevant video with the caption ‘Researchers are looking for ways to identify – and then
remotely stimulate – brain circuits responsible for mental illness: http://stanford.io/
1C7vSIH’. The video attached to that post described the procedure of the new research
and included interviews. The research post type is a great way for universities to
showcase their latest intellectual achievements and advancements.
The second post type is ‘faculty’. Faculty posts contain information promoting
university faculty members and their activities or a quotation along with the faculty’s
picture, name, and relation to the university. These posts typically include the field in
which the faculty member works and a link to additional information. For example, in
March 2014, MIT posted a photo of Professor Alan Guth and summarised his
achievements. The post reads, ‘On Monday, Dr. Guth’s starship came in. Radio
astronomers reported that they had seen the beginning of the Big Bang and that his
hypothesis, known undramatically as inflation, looked right …’. This type of post helps
promote university faculty; in turn, these posts can strengthen the academic status of the
university.
The third post type is ‘curriculum’. Curriculum refers to lessons and academic
content taught in a specific course or program. Posts under this category contain details
of a course or program offered by the university, show an in-class activity, promote
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), or promote the university’s standardised testing,
for example a post by MIT in July 2014 shows a picture of an in-class activity where
students are given a chance to become an inventor. The high-quality image shows a
bright and colourful artefact in a student’s hand. The post reads, ‘“Maker” education:
MIT spinoff NuVu Studio takes kids out of the classroom and lets them invent. Full
story: http://mitne.ws/1naVT0y’. This post type typically presents the innovation,
creativity, and social consciousness of their classes to the public.
Universities promoted their campus, physical environment, and artefacts via the
‘campus’ post type. Campus posts provide a window into life at the university. Pictures
of the physical environment surrounding the university also fall into this category.
Harvard University often posts high-quality photos to show its beautiful surroundings.
For example, the post captioned ‘As Seen at Harvard – April 2014’ is a collection of
high-quality photos of Harvard in Spring; the pictures give Facebook users a glance of
what it is like on campus. This post type often draws a high number of likes due to their
visual appeal.
118 V. Taecharungroj

Table 2 Post types and description

Post types Description

- contains novel research and/or innovations of the university
Research
- promotes studies conducted by the university
- promotes university faculty members
- contains the picture and name of the faculty member
Faculty
- promotes faculty activities
- contains faculty quote
- promotes a curriculum, course, or program offered by the university
- shows an in-class activity
Curriculum
- promotes MOOCs
- promotes university’s standardised testing
- shows picture(s) of the campus, the facility, or the physical environment
of the university
Campus
- shows picture(s) of the physical environment around or near the
university
- promotes students or their activities
- promotes student achievements
- displays student pictures
- promotes student life
Students - promotes student affairs activities
- contains students’ quotes
- promotes students’ charity or philanthropy
- promotes students’ financial aid
- promotes activities that enhance students’ lives
- promotes university alumni
Alumni - promotes alumni achievements
- promotes the alumni activities
- promotes employers or companies related to the university
Industry - promotes the relationships between famous/influential people and the
university
- promotes events held by or at the university
- promotes sporting events
- promotes art events
Events
- promotes commencement events
- promotes academic events or conferences
- promotes seminars
- promotes products made by the university
Products
- promotes university’s digital downloadable content
 Higher education social media marketing 119

Table 2 Post types and description (continued)

Post types Description

- promotes the history or reputation of the university
Image & - promotes the university’s mascot
Reputation - promotes the university’s role in the society
- promotes the university’s identity, such as a theme song
- announces official university statements
- promotes university surveys
- announces a message from the page admin team
Announcements
- announces the university’s official program
- advertises student recruitment
- promotes external scholarship opportunities
- promotes other matters not related to the university
Others
- contains knowledge from external sources

Students may be a university’s most important stakeholders; therefore, the next post type
is ‘students’. This type of post focuses on current students, their activities, achievements,
and their life, or provides other student-related information such as a picture or a quote.
These posts can also promote students’ charity or philanthropy work or opportunities for
financial aid. A good example of the student post type is by MIT in July 2014. The
university shared a post by a community group called ‘Humans of MIT’ showing a senior
named Ryan King-Shepard with a dog silhouette prop. The post described King-
Shepard’s experience doing improvised comedy in Boston.
Universities also post alumni stories and information. A post under the ‘alumni’
category promotes university alumni, alumni achievements, alumni activities, or all of
these factors. An alumni post typically contains the name of the alumni, along with their
year of graduation, activities or achievements, a relevant picture, and a link for further
information. For example, Harvard posted the story of an alumna, Liz Powers, who
graduated in 2010. The post describes Powers’ work helping homeless and disabled
artists sell their work. The post, just one sentence, is written concisely and includes a
professionally taken picture. Clicking on the post takes readers to Harvard’s news page.
‘Industry’ posts promote the relationship between the university and a famous and
reputable person or organisation. For example, in November 2014, Harvard posted an
event at Harvard Law School at which Dikembe Mutombo, a humanitarian and NBA All
Star, was featured as a guest speaker.
The eighth type of post is ‘events’. An events post promotes events held by or at the
university such as a sporting event, art event, commencement ceremony, or an academic
event such as a conference or seminar. Normally, these posts include the name of the
event; details such as date, time, and venue; a relevant image; and a link for additional
information. Stanford occasionally posted sporting events, especially Stanford football.
In September 2014, a university post read, ‘Stanford Football opens Pac-12 conference
play against USC Trojans on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Stanford Stadium. Watch the
game on ABC or listen live on KZSU Stanford: http://stanford.io/1w77D6u’. The post
also contains a high-quality photo of the football players on the field.
120 V. Taecharungroj

Occasionally, universities promote their commercial or non-commercial products.

‘Products’ posts advertise physical or digital products made by the university. For
example, Thammasat University often posted pictures of their products, such as grocery
bags and music discs.
‘Image and Reputation’ posts promote the reputation or history of the university, the
university’s mascot or identity (e.g. a theme song), or the university’s role in the society.
A clear image and reputation post includes the name of the university along with the
reputation it aims to present. For historical relations, a year or age is provided. For
example, in January 2014, an MIT post celebrated their mascot ‘Tim the Beaver’. The
post reads, ‘Today we celebrate Tim the Beaver’s 100th birthday! Happy birthday, Tim.
Learn about the history of MIT’s mascot: http://mitsha.re/TimBeaver100’.
The last two types of posts are ‘announcements’ and ‘others’. Universities also use
Facebook as a channel to broadcast announcements. Announcements posts publish
official statements related to the university. This type of post contains information such
as messages from the page administration, official programs offered by the university,
student recruitment advertisement, external scholarship opportunities, and university
surveys. The last post type, others, normally contains general knowledge from external
sources such as a quotation or celebration of famous people not related to the university.

4.2 Descriptive statistics of Facebook posts

A total of 1394 posts were analysed in this study (Table 3); this sample included 289
posts by MIT, 259 posts by Harvard, 179 posts by Stanford, 48 posts by Mahidol, 321
posts by Chulalongkorn, and 298 posts by Thammasat. The sample is large enough to
observe the prominent pattern. Overall, the event post type was the most common,
accounting for 18% of all posts. The second most common type was research (14%),
followed by students (13%), announcements (12%), and campus (10%). The least
common post types were industry (2%), products (2%), and alumni (4%).
Table 3 Descriptive statistics of post types by university
Image & Reputation

Announcements
Curriculum
Research

Products
Students

Industry
Campus
Faculty

Alumni

Others
Events
Sum

85 39 17 23 38 21 4 18 4 25 6 9
MIT 289
29% 13% 6% 8% 13% 7% 1% 6% 1% 9% 2% 3%
73 34 7 46 31 12 3 19 1 20 4 9
Harvard 259
28% 13% 3% 18% 12% 5% 1% 7% 0% 8% 2% 3%
33 18 14 24 33 6 2 27 0 12 8 2
Stanford 179
18% 10% 8% 13% 18% 3% 1% 15% 0% 7% 4% 1%
1 2 0 2 6 0 1 9 0 10 17 0
Mahidol 48
2% 4% 0% 4% 13% 0% 2% 19% 0% 21% 35% 0%
 Higher education social media marketing 121

Table 3 Descriptive statistics of post types by university (continued)

Image & Reputation

Announcements
Curriculum
Research

Products
Students

Industry
Campus
Faculty

Alumni

Others
Events
Sum

2 5 7 5 47 4 11 111 3 23 95 8
Chulalongkorn 321
1% 2% 2% 2% 15% 1% 3% 35% 1% 7% 30% 2%
2 10 19 39 29 7 7 61 23 26 33 42
Thammasat 298
1% 3% 6% 13% 10% 2% 2% 20% 8% 9% 11% 14%
196 108 64 139 184 50 28 245 31 116 163 70
Total 1394
14% 8% 5% 10% 13% 4% 2% 18% 2% 8% 12% 5%

Further analysis revealed that post from US universities and Thai universities has starkly
different compositions. The most common post type of all three universities from the
USA is research. The top three most common post types of MIT are research, faculty,
and students, in this order. The top three most common post types of Harvard are
research, campus, and faculty; the top three most common post types of Stanford are
research and students, which are tied for first, and events (Table 4). On the other hand,
events and announcements are the most common post types by Thai universities.
Table 4 Top three most common post types by universities

University 1st 2nd 3rd

MIT Research Faculty Students
Harvard Research Campus Faculty
Stanford Research/students Events
Mahidol Announcements Image & Reputation Events
Chulalongkorn Events Announcements Students
Thammasat Events Others Campus

4.3 Types and likes

The number of likes on each post was also collected in this study. To make data from the
six universities comparable, the author developed a ‘like index’. The like index is
calculated by dividing the number of likes on the post by the median number of likes of
the university. Actual numbers of likes alone cannot be compared meaningfully because
the six university pages have widely varying numbers of fans. As a result, median
numbers of likes of the six universities are different; Harvard University has the highest
median number of likes (892), followed by Stanford (374), MIT (287), Mahidol (245),
Chulalongkorn (153), and Thammasat (129.5). Next, the like index of each post is
calculated and categorised by post type (Figure 2). For example, the like index of the
campus post type is 3.35. It means that on average, campus posts have 3.35 times the
median number of likes. As shown in Figure 2, campus and image & reputation posts
have the highest like index values, 3.35 and 2.78, respectively. On the other end, industry
and events post types have the lowest like index values, 1.10 and 1.15, respectively.
122 V. Taecharungroj

Figure 2 Like index by post type

4.00
3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00

5 Discussion

The present study on higher education social media marketing confirms and expands
upon the understanding of marketing communications in higher education. Chapleo et al.
(2011) found that universities used websites to communicate the following seven
values of the university to audiences: teaching, researching, management, international
projection, university environment, innovation, and social responsibility. In the current
study, the author found that universities posted a wide range of content. While some
content is similar to the values found on universities’ websites according to Chapleo et al.
(2011), some are new. This study uses content analysis to analyse Facebook posts of six
universities in 2014, and it established 12 post types used by universities to communicate
to their audiences on Facebook: research, faculty, curriculum, campus, students, alumni,
industry, events, products, image and reputation, announcements, and others. Each type
of post has unique characteristics and purposes as described in Table 2.
This study also found that universities use these 12 post types differently.
Universities from the USA (MIT, Harvard, and Stanford) most frequently posted research
posts (18–29%), whereas Thai universities posted their research achievements very
sparingly (1–2%). On the other hand, universities from Thailand frequently posted
announcements (11–35%), whereas only 2–4% of posts by US universities were official
announcements.

5.1 Practical implications

5.1.1 HEIs have to be both proactive and strategic in
social media marketing
The results show stark differences in the frequency of post types between top universities
in the USA and Thailand. While US universities focused heavily on strategic issues such
as research and faculty, Thai universities centred their efforts on non-strategic content
such as announcements and event promotions. The results do not imply that
announcements and event promotions are not important; rather, the results show that the
 Higher education social media marketing 123

emphasis of marketing communications on social media should be more on strategic

issues. Almost 30% of posts by Harvard and MIT, the two cases in point, are research
posts. These posts do not only present the research findings of the universities, they also
help improve the university brand. Strong brand image or brand equity is tremendously
important for HEIs to distinguish themselves from the competition and attract new
students (Ali-Choudhury et al., 2009; Edmiston-Strasser, 2009). Conversely, less than
2% of posts by Thai universities present their research achievements.
The major problem with the posts of Thai universities is that the posts are mostly
non-strategic and reactive. Many are official university announcements. Likewise, event
promotion posts are more common on Thai university pages; they made up 19%, 35%,
and 20% of posts by Mahidol, Chulalongkorn, and Thammasat universities, respectively.
Although there are some proactive and strategic posts by Thai universities, they require a
better plan to publish strategic posts that present their research success, faculty
competence, and student achievements.

5.1.2 HEIs have to be both a visualiser and a storyteller

University administrators should also focus on post quality regardless of type. Posts by
US universities often include high-quality and relevant image(s) to help visualise the
content. Research-related posts are usually accompanied by an image of the scholar who
worked on the project or an image relevant to the research. Image quality is especially
high in campus post types where US universities presented their environments
beautifully. It is highly probable that campus posts have the highest like index value
because they often use high-quality photos. Previous research found that picture format is
the most effective modality in social media communications (Hansson et al., 2013; Kwok
and Yu, 2013; Sabate et al., 2014; Taecharungroj, 2016). Conversely, the quality of
images by Thai universities was below the standard set by US universities. Thai
universities occasionally used the digital file of a physical poster such as one for a
conference or seminar as an image in the post. This type of post with a poster image is
common in events posts by Thai universities. The drawback is that the dimension and
layout of the physical poster is not optimal for social media use. Therefore, details on the
poster were unnecessary and barely visible on the Facebook page, and such posts lack the
strong appeal of a high-quality image. US universities often include all the details on the
webpage of the link provided in the post rather than on an image.
Another apparent difference is the journalistic quality of posts. MIT, Harvard, and
Stanford approached posts similarly, featuring concise and meaningful statements. Posts
were written briefly and interestingly; for example, a research post by Harvard in
November 2014 reads, ‘New findings suggest there could be ways to target and kill
cancer cells without affecting healthy cells’. Another example is a Stanford student post
that reads, ‘During New Student Orientation, members of the class of 2018 dove into the
residential, academic and extracurricular life of campus. For more on what the
#WelcomeToStanford experience looked like, visit: http://stanford.io/1ueM16E’. US
universities have summarised content well in a few lines while allowing audiences who
would like to explore more to click on the link for details on the university’s website.
Although many Thai university posts told stories concisely, a number of them failed to
convey a message engagingly and interestingly.
124 V. Taecharungroj

6 Conclusion

This study used content analysis to explore universities’ posts on the largest social media
platform, Facebook. HEIs have increasingly used social media to enhance brand image,
attract students, and so forth. However, studies on how HEIs use social media are very
limited. The author analysed 1394 posts made by MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Mahidol,
Chulalongkorn, and Thammasat universities in 2014 by establishing 12 types of posts.
This research categorised all posts and described the characteristics of each type. Each
post type has its own purpose and benefit. The findings of this study are valuable for
university administrators. University administrators can analyse their own portfolio of
posts on social media using these 12 post types and formulate a plan to utilise a wide-
range of post types. The author also compared posts between the USA and Thai
universities and suggested relevant practical guidelines.
Although this research provides some insights and practical guidelines, it is not
without limitations. First, the samples of six universities from two countries are not
sufficient to represent of all types of HEIs. Other types of HEIs or HEIs in other
geographic locations may have different social media marketing approaches. Second,
social media is an emerging and evolving phenomenon. The characteristics of posts will
continue to evolve in the future. Therefore, it is imperative to follow the changes of both
the platform and behaviours to understand the latest trends and social media usage by
HEIs.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Dušan Lesjak, Vesna Skrbinjek, and two anonymous reviewers who
gave valuable comments on the original manuscript. The author also thanks three brilliant
research assistants: Jennifer Sims, Martin Jacobsen, and Nutchaya Jirakosol.

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