An Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy for Japanese Language

Schools in Thailand

by

SOMWADI Yanisa

52118011

March 2020

Master’s Thesis

Presented to

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Business Administration

i
 Table of Contents

1.Introduction 1
2.Literature Review 4
1.1 The Theory of Consumer Decision – Making Process 4
1.2 The Decision – Making Process Students for a Traditional 7
Japanese Language School
1.3 The Use of Social Media as a New Pattern of Consumer Behavior 15
1.4 The Distinctive Characteristic of Social Media in Triggering 18
a Purchase decision.
1.5 The Key Success of Social Media Marketing in Triggering a 22
Purchase Decision: A comparison between Successful and Unsuccessful
Case Studies in Thailand
2. Methodology 31
3. Results 36
3.1 The Characteristic of Transparency – The Key Success of Page Feedback 36
3.2 The Characteristic of Availability – The Key Success of Page Connectivity 41
3.3 The Characteristic of Engagement – The Key Success of Content 47
4. Discussion 55
5. Conclusion 59
6. References 62
7. Appendices 72

ii
 Certification Page

I, SOMWADI Yanisa (Student ID 52118011) hereby declare that the contents of this
Master’s Thesis are original and true, and have not been submitted at any other
university or educational institution for the award of degree or diploma.
All the information derived from other published or unpublished sources has been cited
and acknowledged appropriately.

SOMWADI, Yanisa
2019/11/29

iii
 Acknowledgements

Foremost, I would like to acknowledge my warmest thanks to my thesis supervisor,

Professor Lee Geunhee, for continuous support. His guidance and expert advice have

been valuable throughout all stages of the work. My special and heartily thanks to Ms.

Kessirin Mangmee and Ms. Somjai Wattanabanjerd for taking valuable time to attend an

interview session. This thesis could not have been accomplished without your insightful

guidance and great contribution. Special thanks are due to all my friends who have

taken out precious time to share information during the data collecting process. Also, I

am deeply thankful to my parents, my sister, and Veeravitch, for encouraging me to

pursue my studies here in APU. I could not have come this far without your support.

iv
 Abstract

The primary purpose of this thesis is to investigate the potential of social media as an

alternative to the limitation of traditional marketing in Japanese language schools in

Thailand. Incredibility, invariability, and disengagement are identified as limitations to

traditional marketing methods that have prevented students from making a purchase . This

reluctance to purchase has shaped the study to examine the potential of an alternative

method “social media” in triggering a purchase decision.

The foundation of this study is based on the "Five-stage model of the consumer

decision-making process" (Cox et al., 1983). The literature review examined the criteria

of Japanese language students in their selection of a school following each stage of

decision-making. In particular, the limitations of traditional marketing in the stage of

purchase decisions were emphasized. Based on this challenge, the characteristics of social

media in past literature, transparency, availability, and engagement were used to construct

the research questions and to investigate the potential of these features in influencing the

purchase decision of a student. The last chapter refers to the key successes of social media

marketing strategies in Thailand, which have been used to test the proposed research

questions above.

The methodology was conducted in two ways. By an in-depth interview with

Japanese language schools and also with students in Bangkok. The data collected was

organized and rearranged in a qualitative coding process, in which the relevant data was

selected and explained following the conceptual framework in the results. In the finding,

the study discussed the potential of social media, which influences the purchase decision

of the student, and the limitations of social media, which cannot exceed the boundaries

of traditional marketing. The conclusion suggested the possibility of utilizing social

v
media in boosting the potential of the Japanese language educational business in Thailand

so that it may grow sustainably under intense competition.

vi
 INTRODUCTION

Technological development has driven a change in customer behavior faster than any

magic. People nowadays possess and embrace social media, and such an overwhelming

phenomenon has created a new paradigm which has expanded the horizon of activities

worldwide. As a massive influx of information has become accessible for everyone, it

appears challenging for marketers to predict a customer's mind. Staying competitive in

today's fast-moving educational business requires a playmaker like "social media" to

capture customer's attention even only for a very brief moment (Gros, 2012).

The growing popularity of social media has a tremendous impact on the

functional area of marketing. Social media, as a new marketing landscape, has wakened

many schools, universities, and researchers to explore and apply this new knowledge

into their business model. Nevertheless, only a few studies have focused on Japanese

language education, particular in Thailand. Regarding the lack of available resources

and funding support, the marketing and management of the Japanese language institute

in Thailand has become critical and needs a new awareness for a further solution

(Kaewkitsadang & Srisattarat, 2012; Mangmee, 2013).

Japanese language learning has been widespread in Thailand since the mid-

1990’s. After the collapse of the bubble economy in Japan, the allocation of economic

activities, including the import of Japanese TV programs and animation, increased the

popularity of Japanese culture among Thais. The exposure to Japanese culture led to the

prosperity of Japanese language education in Thailand, which initiated an explicit

knowledge in compulsory education and the economic sector (Toyoshima & Noboru,

2013). The Japanese language has become the most popular foreign language subjects

1
other than English, French, or Chinese. It is taught in upper secondary schools, and is

a significant subject in the curriculum of higher education in Thailand until today

(Ebihara, 2005; Japan foundation, 2015).

This recognition has taken the Japanese language education business in Thailand

to the next step, and a substantial number of Japanese language students have

contributed to the boom in Japanese language institutions. Currently, there are more

than 400 Japanese language schools, and more than 70,000 students, this conforms with

academic research in the education field. Nevertheless, the studies relevant to Japanese

language education are likely to be a drop in the ocean, especially from the perspective

of marketing.

Relevant literature so far has limited the scope of study in the area of traditional

marketing based on the 4p marketing mixes concept (Eiadkhao, 2011). Some

emphasized the brand image of the institute (Mangmee, 2013), and some investigated

the student perception in learning the Japanese language (Pollabut, 2008). To my

knowledge, none of them have investigated the area of social media marketing.

Furthermore, previous research implied the critical aspect, as a limitation of utilizing

marketing to influence the student purchase decision. The incredibility of information

obtained from commercial sources (Eiadkhao, 2011), invariability of marketing tools in

public relation (Mangmee, 2013), and the lower confidence of the student toward

domestic Japanese language institutes (Pollabut, 2008). All of these limitation are

highlighted, which leaves room for research in the modern age to explore a new

solution.

Therefore, the limitation of traditional marketing in previous research motivates

this study to examine "social media" as an alternative to enhance the capability of

2
marketing in Japanese language schools. In this day and age, this new media has been

investigated, examined, and introduced as a potential marketing tool in many studies.

As McKinsey (2011) stated, social media has performed as a connector by allowing the

exceptional contribution of an individual to the huge amount data available. In

consistence with Lee (2013), the technical revolution has drastically revolutionized the

traditional marketing approaches to become faster and broader. Khatib (2016), also

demonstrated that the power of accessibility and transparency in social media had

exceeded the limits of traditional marketing, as it effectively influenced the purchase

funnel of customers and prospects.

Based on this possibility, the overall goal of this thesis was to pursue social

media in triggering the purchase decision of Japanese language students in Thailand.

The first research question explored the limitation of traditional media, and how it

restricted the purchase decision of the student. The second research question approached

the new area of the online media landscape to identify the distinctive characteristics of

social media and the key successes of social media marketing to influence the purchase

decision of Thais. The third research question investigated how social media is capable

of performing as an alternative to fulfill the limitation of traditional marketing in

Japanese language schools. Based on this analysis, the contributions shown here aim to

extend the boundary of market research in Japanese language education. The study

intends to draw on the different aspects of the new media to enhance the

accomplishment of the Japanese language education business in the modern age.

3
 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 The theory of the consumer decision-making process

Figure1 The five-stages decision-making model (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011)

This study refers to the "Five-stage model of the consumer decision-making process" to

understand the decision-making pattern of Japanese language students. The theory has

been widely used by marketers to identify and track the decision-making process of

customers when buying a product or service (Ahmad & Khan, 2016). The first model of

the consumer decision-making process was introduced in the 1960’s (Engel, Kollat, &

Blackwell, 1986) and this was followed by different models later. However, the five-

stage model initially proposed by Cox et al. (1983) is considered to be one of the most

common models of consumer decision-making theory. It involves five stages from the

first stage of need recognition, then information search, followed by the evaluation of

alternatives, then the purchase decision, to the final stage of post-purchase behavior

(Figure 1) (Hussein & Hassan, 2017; Sean, 2005).

The first stage of need recognition arises in a situation when consumers realize

the need for something. A need can occur immediately and can be a fundamental

impulse such as age, gender, culture, or emotion (Bruner & Pomazal, 1993).

Alternatively, a need can also be affected by external stimuli which can be auditory

4
(hearing and sound), olfactory (smell), tactile (touch), visual (seeing), and gustatory

( taste) (Ling & Yazdanifard, 2015). The need to acquire products or services depends

on different situations and circumstances, resulting in the creation of a purchasing idea.

For example, a consumer may recognize the need to buy a laptop when there is a need

to carry it to different places, and it is more convenient when compared to a desktop

computer (Neal & Quester, 2006).

Once a consumer recognizes his or her need, this drives him or her to the second

stage of "information search." In this step, consumers will search for information about

the different alternatives that can be purchased to satisfy the need/want (Ling &

Yazdanifard, 2015). A consumer can obtain information from many available sources

before proceeding to the next stage (Table 1). However, it should be noted that in some

cases, a consumer may not be involved in this step at all and is likely to skip to the final

stage of purchasing when their desires are extremely strong (Kotler & Armstrong,

2011).

Table 1 Sources for information search (Hussein & Hassan, 2017)

Personal Source Family, Friends, Neighbors, Colleagues

Public Source Consumer Rating, Mass Media

Commercial Source Sales People, Packaging, Ads

Experiential Sources Examining, Handling, Using the product

The third stage of the consumer decision-making process is "alternative

evaluation." This is the process by which a product is evaluated and selected to meet the

customer's needs (Sean, 1995). After consumers have collected sufficient information in

5
the information search, they will identify the best or suitable solution depending on the

individual consumer and the buying situation. For example, sometimes they are

influenced by their surroundings such as friends, family or other customer reviews

(Kotler & Armstrong, 2011), or they possibly establish criteria such as timing and cost,

the existing amount of information, or the risk of involvement including consumer

disposition in favor of a particular product (Burnett, 2008).

After the assessment, comes the fourth stage of "purchase decision," which is

considered the most unpredictable part of the five stages (Ling & Yazdanifard, 2015). In

this step, two factors possibly interfere with the consumer, whether to move from the

purchase intention to the purchase decision or not. The first factor is another person's

negative attitude towards the preferred alternatives or reluctance to meet the terms of

supporting the purchase intention (Kotler & Keller, 2009), such as consumer's friends

and family who could influence consumers to buy or to refrain from buying the product

or service. The second factor is an unexpected situational factor which can swiftly

switch the consumer to a buying process or deflect the consumer from making a

purchasing decision. These variables include location, the bad-good weather, payment

method, or the discovery of a cheaper or better option (Hussein & Hassan, 2017).

The decision-making process keeps going after the purchase decision to the

stage of "post-purchase behavior." The marketer considers this final stage as the most

significant part of the business, as it will influence the possibility of the consumers'

future purchase patterns (Hoyer & Macinnis, 2010). After acquiring a service or

product, certain levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of customers lead to two

potential possible outcomes (Burnett, 2008). In case of dissatisfaction, the customer

begins the process of searching, obtaining information, and evaluating other options for

6
future buying decision, which triggers new behavior (Sternthal & Craig, 1982). In the

case of satisfaction, the consumer will decide whether to re-purchase or not. In the best-

case scenario, if customers' satisfaction reaches beyond an expectation level, they are

likely to recommend the product or service to others (Silverman, Bachann, & Akharas,

2001).

The theory of the consumer decision-making process (Kotler & Keller, 2009) is

used as a foundation of the study to examine the criteria of Japanese language students in

selecting a language school. In the next chapter, the study collected data from relevant

literature to construct the decision-making pattern of Japanese language students in

Thailand. The collected data was also used to identify factors that affect the student's

selection at each stage of the consumer decision-making process.

2.2 The decision-making process of students for a traditional Japanese language

school

The majority of prior research examined the perception, behavior, and factors that

influenced the school selection of Japanese language students in Thailand, which made

proposals based on 4P traditional marketing. In this study, traditional marketing refers

to the collective process of performing market research, promotion, and selling products

through offline media (Thurman, 2013). By collecting data from the relevant literature,

different factors that affected the decision of students were identified and rearranged in

five stages following the decision-making model proposed by Cox et al. (1983). By

focusing on the stage of the purchase decision, a shortcoming of traditional marketing in

preventing the student from making a purchase decision was emphasized.

7
Future employment and university examination; the primary motivation of Japanese

language students — In the first stage of need recognition, the survey of "Purpose for

studying Japanese" (Japan Foundation, 2017), future employment was the primary

motivation of students in higher education to study the Japanese language. Meanwhile,

in a survey of "Students' belief in learning Japanese", university examination was the

primary purpose for students in secondary education. Furthermore, learning about

Japanese culture, better communication in Japanese, interest in the Japanese language,

and further study in Japan, were the minority factors that motivated students at this

stage (Pollabut, 2008).

Private sources considered essential information — In the second stage of a search for

information, previous research shows that students regularly obtain the data from three

sources. Private sources such as friends, colleagues, and parents are considered a vital

source for the student to collect data before starting the evaluation process (Eiadkhao,

2011). Whereas, public and commercial sources such as information directly given on

the school website, advertising materials (brochures, billboards, street banners), and

outdoor events (educational fairs and open houses) took second place.

The structural framework of the Japanese language school evaluation — After

acquiring information, the focus of decision-making shifts to the alternatives. At this

stage, the criteria for evaluation in relevant literature were very comprehensive. The

first criterion was the 7PS marketing mix concept (Table 2) (Eiadkhao, 2011). The

survey discovered that educational personnel ranked in first place as the most

influential factor affecting the evaluation process. Factors relating to product (course

and curriculum) appeared in second place, followed by packaging (service) and physical

condition listed in third place. Finally, factors related to marketing and price were

8
discovered to be less influential factors in the assessment. The second criteria proposed

by Cristobal and Llurda (2006), that accessibility, teaching quality, and pragmatism are

significant factors affecting the character of an ideal language school from the

perspective of the language student (Table 3).

Table 2 Evaluation of alternatives based on 7PS marketing model (Eiadkhao, 2011)

7PS
Marketing Description
Model

Professional and native Japanese teacher — providing effective

teaching methods and a tactical approach, creating a friendly learning
Personal environment, taking care and consideration of students.
Service Mind —good manners and personal appearance, enthusiasm
and energy of the school's officers

Course — flexible and a variety of courses, course schedule and

Product duration,
School’s credibility and reputation
Equipment — advance instructional media and equipment

Convenience —located near a downtown business district or

shopping center.
Place Accessibility —access to public transportation,
Atmosphere —welcoming atmosphere, encouraging a learning
environment and an emphasis on hygiene

Density —the number of students in the class

Instruction —providing details of course registration, and course
Packaging preparation
Payment —offering online payment, installments
Evaluation criteria —providing students evaluation and examination
(weekly test, homework and assignments, attendance record)

Facilities —providing facilities such as Internet, wi-fi, library,

Physical drinking water and a waiting area
Classroom — large, clean and airy place

9
 Communication channel —providing complete and useful
information through the school website
Promotion
Discount — having discounts and promotions
Counseling Service —providing student counseling service, study
abroad fair, workshop and activities

Prices Affordable price — Reasonable price consistency with quality and

class duration

Table 3 Evaluation of alternatives based on learners’ preferences model

(Cristobal & Llurda, 2006)

Learners’
Preferences Description
Model

The preparation for an officially recognized certification, the

Pragmatism
prestige enjoyed by the school, the school fees

The quality of teaching, the flexibility of schedules, intrinsic

Teaching quality
motivation

Geographical location, look, and conditions of the premises,

Accessibility
friendly and individualized attention by staff, the possibility to
make up for unattended sessions.

The attitude of others is the verdict— After the criteria of the evaluation was

completed, the perspective of others appeared to be the most crucial factor influencing

the purchase decision of the student. The study highlighted that the attitude of friends

and colleagues dramatically motivates students from the purchase intention to the

purchase decision. Following this the attitude of family, moderately affects the student

10
to take purchase action. However, the previous study pointed out the information

obtained from the school, especially the school's advertising (brochure and website),

including the opinion of students themselves, were discovered as two less effective

factors influencing students to reach a purchase decision.

Impact of institution image at the final stage of post-purchase behavior —The study

by Bernays (1961) and Tepsaeng, Burasirilak, and Suphalert (2016), had focused on the

language student's behavior after the process of the school's selection. The literature

clarified the impact of the institution image which is likely to lead to positive outcomes

in the stage of post-purchase behavior. A positive school image could emanate trust and

collaboration between the school, parents, and the student, establishing a sustainable

relationship which extended to create "student loyalty" towards the school.

"If comparing schools as an industrial factory, students are like products

available in the market. A product displayed in the luxury store, or placed at the corner

store is dependent on the quality control of the school." (Tepsaeng et al., 2016)

The case study, "The school image of Waseda Japanese language and culture

school" (Mangmee, 2013), demonstrated the remarkable impact of the institution image

in the public eye. The author emphasized the significance of school image and brand

identity, as a key success, that has placed Waseda on the crest of a wave for a decade.

The author considers that credibility, adoption, and trust were three essential factors

creating the school image and identity.

11
 Figure 2 Decision-making process of the student in a traditional Japanese language

school (Eiadkhao, 2011; Mangmee, 2013)

In previous studies, the most significant factor that affected the student purchase

decision was discovered as a personal source (attitude from friends and colleagues). In

contrast, information obtained from commercial sources (school advertising) were

considered an inconsequential factor in driving the student to the stage of a purchase

decision (Figure 2). The main reason relevant to the attitude of a student towards

difference sources of information is that since students considered the personal source

as "a direct-user" who had real experience of using a service, their attitude was

perceived as more credible and reliable in comparison with other sources. Therefore, the

satisfaction of service, the progress in language skills, a favorable attitude toward

12
teachers, the price, and the quality of the curriculum, these are positive feedbacks

obtained from a personal source, which play an important role in driving the student to

reach a final decision (Eiadkhao, 2011)

As the authors ascribed, traditional marketing has been the primary method of

Japanese language schools in Thailand in targeting customers (Eiadkhao, 2011;

Mangmee, 2013). Nonetheless, traditional marketing appeared to be an inconsequential

factor in the process of students' purchase decisions. Available information delivered by

the school, such as advertising brochures, the school website, or even information

directly obtained by the students themselves was a less influential factor in triggering a

purchase decision. The reason given was related to the attitude of bias and being less

trustworthy, which customers perceived from the information provided by the language

schools (Eiadkhao, 2011).

Marketing research further explained the critical aspect of traditional

marketing, which contributes to the negative attitude of students as credibility,

invariability, and disengagement (Billmanoch, 2007; Bunnag, 1996; Eiadkhao, 2011;

Mangmee, 2013; Srikown, 1993). Bunnag (1996) stated that students remain hesitant to

trust information obtained from the school since it is perceived as an "incredible" source

with an overwhelming message. Parker (2011) further explained that consumers

believed the messages introduced by the company and service were "biased advice."

When Hoyer and Macinnis (2010) addressed the consumers’ belief, commercial sources

have a "personal stake" when compared to social media, which is considered to more

effectively pursue customers in the purchase consumption. Putter (2017) described the

hard sell tactics of the traditional marketing approach, as creating an "intrusive" in

customer perception.

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 Another attribute that restricted the potential of traditional marketing in

influencing the purchase decision is revealed as the "invariability" of marketing

channels (Bunnag, 1996; Eiadkhao, 2011). Most schools rely heavily on print media

(street banners and brochures), website, and an educational fair to pass on their

information to students. This traditional media involves a "slow" process of

communication and transaction before reaching a limited customer base (Sobowale,

2018). Furthermore, motion media such as teacher introduction and a class welcoming

video, including a student interview clip, limited the access of viewers by being

published only on the school website (Billmanoch, 2007). Mangmee (2013) also

mentions the limitation of traditional marketing channels in public relations, as a

restricted method to publicize the school's achievements. She suggested that Waseda

remain on their way to improve public relations tools and finding "alternatives" beyond

advertorial, brochures, and catalogs, special events, or newsletters, so as to reach a

broad range of customers which is also much faster.

The last factor refers to "loosely-tied" school and student relationships

(Eiadkhao, 2011; Srikown, 1993). Nekatibebe (2012) stressed the one-way process of

traditional marketing, which is more product-centric and advertising-based and does not

give focus to the customer. This explanation is consistent with the assumption by

Bhayani and Vacchani (2018); the author highlighted the different dimensions of

technology-enabled relationships and traditional relationships with customers. Whereas

"social media" measures customer retention, and values the individual customer

relationship, but traditional marketing measures customer relationships as market share

and profit. Finally, Billmanoch (2007) suggested that traditional advertising could

create awareness that is widely recognized in student perception but still requires an

14
"alternative" solution to build trust and establish an "engagement" between school and

student.

Prior studies implied an "credibility," "invariability," and "disengagement" of

traditional methods as a restriction of marketing in the traditional Japanese language

school in Thailand. These restrictions have become extrinsic factors that distance

students from a purchase decision (Eiadkhao, 2011; Mangmee, 2013). These

shortcomings have motivated this study to an exclusive focus on an "alternative," which

possibly fills this gap. As mentioned by literature in the modern age (Bhayani

&Vacchani, 2018), social media appears to be a possible solution that increases the

capability of traditional marketing in support of the purchase decision. Hence, the next

chapter of literature reviews examines the possibility of this new media in extending the

boundary of traditional marketing.

2.3 The use of social media as a new pattern of consumer behavior

"History repeats itself" could be the best explanation of the change in consumer

behavior patterns of the 21st century (Doyle, 2008). Looking back to 1840, when the

telegram was invented, the importance of the pigeon-courier became overshadowed.

This is the same as when television arrived as a form of communication and radio took

a backseat; now it is the turn of print media and traditional advertising to retreat to the

background. The emergence of social media has overshadowed the role of traditional

marketing and turned consumer behavior on its head. The history of communication

demonstrates that whenever any new media arrives on the stage, it affects consumer

behavior, as it leads to a new pattern in media consumption (Bala, 2014).

15
 Research in the pre-internet era defined traditional media as a communication

channel delivering uniform messages in a "one-way process" (Apuke, 2016).

Researchers in modern age describe social media as a "two-way path," as it combines

technology with social interaction to create or co-create value and emphasize individual

participation (Jantsch, 2008). By using this definition, social media breaks the

limitations of traditional media, with its limited opportunities to present ideas and

opinions, and replaces it with an ability to receive and obtain feedback from real users.

The few and the slow traditional methods are replaced by a rapid process, offering

various online platforms to spread vast amounts of information in only a few seconds

(Apuke, 2016; Iblasi, Bader, & Al-Qreini, 2016). By linking all users, social media has

transformed the entire world into a global village where people can consume, create,

collaborate, and communicate freely with the brand via merely a few clicks or taps

(Jayasingh & Venkatesh, 2016).

Table 4 Comparing basic elements between traditional marketing and social media

(Apuke, 2016; Jayasingh & Venkatesh, 2016)

Traditional
Dimension Basic Element Social Marketing
Marketing

Two-way
Communication One-way
communication and
Channel communication
Multi-Directional

The commercial
Information exchange,
Transparency Technique message, Hard Sell
the Feedback loop
tactic

Credibility: biased Credibility:

Customer
advice, personal unbiased, no personal
Perception
stake, intrusive stake, inclusive

16
 A slow process of A rapid process of
transaction: transaction:
Transaction involves a directly creating, editing,
publishing and and sharing
broadcasting system

Limited access: one Alternative access:

Access
to many, company to many to many,
(Customer
the customer community to a member
View)

Offline media Online media

● Print: ● Communication
brochure, platform:
newspaper, Facebook, Line,
banner, Twitter
Availability magazine ● Sharing
● Broadcast: platforms:
TV, radio Instagram,
Platform
● Outdoor: Youtube,
exhibition, Soundcloud
fair ● Entertainment
platform: Candy
Crush
● Collaboration
platforms:
Pinterest, Wiki

Restricted method: Varies method:

Centralized approach Decentralized approach
Method
as "One size fits all." "Customize" and "teller
(Marketer View)
made" following user's
interest

Market share and Individual customer

profit Relationship: relationship:
Advertising and People and Community
Engagement Relationship
branding (creating interactivity
among like-minded
people around the brand)

17
 Most studies clarified the remarkable change of social media when compared to

the traditional in three dimensions; transparency, availability, and engagement (Table

4). By providing transparency of information from real-time feedback, accessible by a

variety of online communication channels, and creating a sense of belonging, these

potentials drove the possibility of social media usage by extending the limitation of

traditional marketing to become more prominent. The power of the new media led the

study to narrow down the scope to find the "distinctive characteristics" of social media

and to investigate the capability of this new information landscape in triggering a

purchase decision; which is beyond what the traditional model of Japanese language

schools have reached.

2.4 The distinctive characteristic of social media in triggering a purchase decision

Recent studies have highlighted the distinctive features of social media as

"transparency," "availability," and "engagement." Transparency refers to the perceived

independence in the exchange of information (Khatib, 2016). Availability describes

easy access to a variety of information sources with a both a speedier and a broader

range (Lee, 2013). Engagement is related to interactivity; that is an important element of

the communication process and serves as a relational maintenance strategy that

contributes to relational outcomes (Giaccardi, 2012). By using these definitions, social

media serves as a channel of assistance to increase the capability of the commercial

source and supports a purchase decision with less reliance on private sources (Evan,

2008; Hajli, 2013; Khatib, 2006). Existing literature interpreted the distinctive

characteristics of social media, that triggers a purchase decision as,

18
Transparency —— In the research finding by Khatib (2016), the "transparency" of

social media plays an active role and strongly influences the consumer to make an

effective purchase decision. The transparency implies openness, accountability, and the

freedom of "information exchange," which contributes to a "positive attitude" of the

consumer towards information available on social media. Khatib (2016) further

explained the information exchange on social media as a "feedback loop" in feeding and

receiving information. This feedback system has had a pronounced impact on how

people view their ability to share and gather unbiased information, to seek and find

reviews, to obtain and compare a broader range of recommendation independently,

which spurs the "discussion" between users and others about actual experiences before

and after the acquisition of a product or service.

The "positive attitude" toward discussions on social media is emphasized in

studies by Lee (2013). Even though, traditional media is seen as having a commercial

bias and a restriction on freedom, but the attitude of consumers towards information on

social media reflected different aspects. Customers perceived the information available

on online platforms as "highly credible" in that it provided a critical perspective and

offered trustworthy information from the real experience of the user. Following the study

by Solis (2012), in which the author identified social media as a "non-marketing source"

and this affected the perceived "trust" in third-party evaluation. Discussion on social

media has a stronger influence on the consumer decision-making process as the online

user has no stake in spreading positive or negative information.

The positive attitude of being "highly credible" and the preponderance of "trust"

due to the transparency of the "information exchange" of social media helps the consumer

overcome any uncertainty in buying online (Stuart et al., 2012). Therefore, we can say

19
that one of the most valuable aspects of social media is in its building and maintaining a

feedback loop of information exchange. A discussion within the system contributes to the

credible perception of customers towards online information, and that represents a

significant impact on a potential purchase.

Availability —— One of the profound changes that social media has brought to

individuals is availability. In this study, availability refers to the "accessible," "speed,"

and "variety" of the communication channel. From the aspect of the customer, social

media provides an ability to obtain access to any content at a faster speed and with a

comprehensive range. This distinctive characteristic accelerates the consumer decision-

making process to reach a rapid purchase decision, whereas mass media will take more

time in doing so (Ahmad & Khan, 2016)

"You can obtain information very quickly through social media's networks

whereas in mass media the situation is quite different in that you have to rely on for

instance magazines or TVs and that takes real-time"— (Lee, 2013, p.64)

"When using social media, you can search for the aspects that interest you"

(Lee, 2013, p.64)

This feedback represents how the customer has seen information from social

media that is "easier to find" and "information spreads faster" and "in large numbers"

(Solis, 2012). The "easy access" and "speed" of social media significantly shortens the

process of data collecting (Lee, 2013). Kozinets (2012) also conforms with this

assumption; the connectivity between each online platform increases the flow in the

process of decision making, which helps consumers make a decision rapidly with first-

20
hand information received from the actual users. In addition, a variety of online

communication channels also facilitate consumers with a convenient method to get in

touch with products and services individually, and this leads to a positive impact on

consumer buying decisions (Samson, Mehta, & Chandani, 2014).

Engagement —The study by Amodu et al. (2018) states that the distinctive

characteristic of "engagement" on social media has a great potential in influencing a

purchase decision. Engagement refers to a psychological state that is the outcome of an

"interactive" and a co-creative consumer "experience." Unlike watching TV or listening

to the radio, social media, as an "interactive" media, offers greater possibility for the

company to engage and have a real-time interaction with the potential consumer (Mercy

et al., 2010). Marketers utilize "functional interactivity" in social media by creating a

story or content generated to the newsfeed. The expression of this newsfeed allows

consumer to interact with machines, messages or other users, by "like", "share", "post",

"tag", "blog", "filling" out forms, "clicking" links or even developing online content

(Liu & Shrum, 2002; Nadaraja & Yazdanifard, 2014). Interactivity functions produce

higher response rates and a more considered attention from customers (Trusov et al.,

2009). This user-centered interaction creates a "co-experience" in connecting customers

with brands, friends, and like-minded people (Sahin, 2017).

A significant factor is that "experience" becomes an emotional bond between the

brand and consumers that creates a sense of intimacy and establishes a relationship

(Brodie et al., 2011; Purnawirawan et al., 2012; Sahin, 2017). When the relationship has

been nurtured constantly, it is transformed into an "engagement," which drives the

consumer to put the brand in a more favorable position than other competitors and

directly influences the decision to buy (Hutter et al., 2013).

21
 According to the existing literature review, the distinctive characteristic of social

media such as "transparency," "availability," and "engagement" support the assumption

that social media increases the capability of traditional marketing. By enhancing the

credibility of information sources, accelerating the process of data collecting, and

strengthening the relationship with customers, these features have caused this study to

propose that "social media" is an alternative in improving the marketing of Japanese

language schools. Based on the reasons described above, research questions of this

study aim to examine the distinctive characteristics of social media to trigger a purchase

decision of Japanese language students. The research questions are as follows,

Q1: Transparency of social media triggers the purchase decision of Japanese language

students

Q2: Availability of social media triggers the purchase decision of Japanese language

students

Q3: Engagement of social media triggers the purchase decision of Japanese language

students.

2.5 The key success of social media marketing in triggering a purchase decision: A

comparison between successful and unsuccessful case studies in Thailand

The study identified the "key success" of social media in triggering a purchase decision

by referring to the successful case studies of social media marketing in comprehensive

literature. However, research conducted by Google (2019) in France, Germany, the

U.K, U.S, Japan, Canada, and Brazil associated with the customers’ journey to an online

purchase has shown different strategies, and various marketing channels influence the

customer at different points on the path towards purchase. The study, "How collectivist

22
and individualist cultures place strong value in consumer behavior" (Poo-im &

Savaikiat, 2012), affirm this assumption. The author clarified differences in cultures

between Westerners and Asians that are likely to affect the buying decision. The

collectivist culture of Japanese and Chinese society tends to influence the consumer to

favor the products and to avail the services that everyone else favors. In contradiction,

the people of the United Kingdom and the United States are more inclined to make their

individual decisions based on personal preferences and tastes, due to the individualistic

culture in western society.

In accordance with these results, the success factors which trigger a purchase

decision appear to be diverse and depend upon different variables related to culture-

related features, demographics features, norms, beliefs of individuals, or social pressure

(Yakup, Mucahit, & Reyhan, 2011). Therefore, this study has narrowed down the scope

of research into the context of Thailand by collating the key successes of utilizing social

media in triggering a purchase decision of Thais.

A study "Factors affecting social networks used in Thailand"

(Thammakoranonta, Chayawan, & Boonprakate, 2011) addressed the characteristics of

social media as embraced by the norms and beliefs of Thai people, which fulfill the

third level of Thais' basic needs. Referring to the theory of Maslow's Hierarchy of

Needs (1943), belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs

have been three essential factors that create the interpersonal relationship among Thai

people. Accordingly, the characteristic of transparency, availability, and engagement in

social media, represented a "collaborative system," and stimulated the interpersonal

relationship between Thai users. Social media for Thais has been used to search and

share information with like-minded people, communicate with friends, including the

23
starting and catching up with trends. These activities create a social influence, in which

the activity of the online user dramatically influences Thais' attitudes and decisions.

Many companies in Thailand have widely used collaborative functions in social

media as a "presenting channel" to synthesize a social influence. These functions are

clarified as "page feedback," "connectivity," and "content", and are acknowledged as

successful factors encourage an excellent performance of brand and services to trigger

the purchase decision of Thai consumers. By collecting data from several case studies;

Marie FranceBodyline, Starbucks Thailand, AIS, and Baskin Robbins, the study

compared successful with unsuccessful strategies, and discovered the key successes of

utilizing social media in triggering a purchase decision of Thai consumers (Dentham &

Wattanasuwan, 2013; Poo-im & Savaikiat, 2012).

Page feedback— Page feedback refers to information received from online users

towards a product. For example, quantitative information (the number of likes and

shares), qualitative information (comments and reviews, the sharing of posts by mutual

friends). Information received from a brand discussion is significantly related to the

"transparency" of the information source according to the customer’s perception. The

study "social media exposure and online buying behavior in Thailand" revealed that70%

of the respondents strongly agreed that the feedback on social media does affect their

purchase. The "positive page feedback" generates a "credibility" perception, which

triggered a purchase decision, whereas negative page feedback is likely to influence the

consumer to find an alternative (Changjenkit, 2013). In that sense, Starbucks Thailand

measures the Page Feedback from the Facebook function "the number of Page likes"

and "People talking about the brand." For example, the lower number shows that people

24
are not interested and stop discussing the brand. An "increase" shows interest in the

topic of discussion, which encourages credibility and positive word of mouth.

Page feedback also appeared to be an essential factor of www.siam

square.co.th", the clothing companies in Thailand (Poo-im & Savaikiat, 2012), which

had a great success in utilizing social media to increase customer and business growth.

The company disclosed the high number of likes and shares, more reviews and

recommendations on new feeds, and significantly reinforced credible perception toward

the brand. Furthermore, consumers can be activated in making a purchase when they see

their friends sharing impressions or posting a product. The company, therefore, used an

online marketing campaign to encourage a positive discussion by giving rewards or

gifts to fans who liked pages, shared posts, or bought the product. By doing this, they

could target new customers, increase sales, and accurately collect feedback from

participating customers.

Connectivity Platform—This referred to easy access to information, prompt response to

messaging, and connectivity platforms. Accessibility is another crucial player as was

determined by "Marie France Bodyline Thailand," these slimming and beauty centers

succeeded in targeting consumers on the online platforms (Dentham & Wattanasuwan,

2013). Although they put more effort into offline marketing by direct approach to the

customer, the company also provides easy access to its Facebook Page to target online

users. When customers visit the page, they immediately see necessary information on

the information bar, such as the course offered, phone number, and address of the

website. The administrator also shows a prompt response in all customer's posts, by

answering questions and giving advice and recommendations about the programs

provided. Every online campaign offers a link to other online channels. A QR code or

25
mobile applications are provided to facilitate payment.

Content — This refers to a method in which the brand creates and distributes relevant

and valuable stories to entice and involve its target audience (Plessis, 2017). This study

measured successful content by the "frequency" that enhances the perception of

intimacy, the "story" or "activity" that generates interactivity from online users and

establishes customer engagement. In that sense, a successful case study demonstrates

how the content nurtures engagement and entices the fan to make a purchase decision.

Marie France Bodyline Thailand illustrated the ability to create "intimacy" in

customer perception by controlling the "frequency" of content posts on its Facebook

page. To do so, they keep updating new information and activities to generate traffic in

news feeds with the correct amount of frequency, since an excessive activity of posts

will create a feeling of invasion instead of impressing a prospective customer. For the

next step, the "story" provided on the Facebook page is considered the key success in

"attracting" customers, the company has created content in a general way but is still

related to services to entice fans to visit the page. The successful content was

exemplified by fans with tips, or advice to keep healthy in shape. They also revealed

that even though the content does not explicitly concern the services, but is more of a

"general topic" it could quickly draw a customer's "attention."

To turn a liker become a fan, Marie France Bodyline Thailand created

"activities" such as a "Sunday Quiz” to encourage customer participation. The

administrator will ask a question every Sunday regarding the brand services or general

questions about slimming. Those who are fans of the page can participate to win a prize

or giveaway from the Company. Finally, they trigger a purchase action by offering a

discount package and bundling them with free medical check-ups. These bundled

26
services are used as incentives, which are more likely to influence a customer to show

interest and acquire the service.

When compared to the unsuccessful case studies, the "negative page feedback,"

"disconnectivity," and "unattractiveness" distinguish the unsuccessful players from the

successful ones (Table 5). For example, Unisense Thailand (a slimming institute) has a

low number of page likes and lacks any fan discussion. Baskin Robbins (an ice cream

and cake specialty shop) and AIS (a phone service provider) regularly provide an offline

promotional campaign that is required to be implemented at each particular store

location instead of by online redeeming. The Facebook page is not very active, utterly

blank without any updates, or no recent posts, wall posts, pictures, and comments.

Posted content on the Facebook wall was abundant with entertainment and humor but it

is not relevant to the fans or the products. According to these cases studied, the

successful factors and the unsuccessful factors trigger a Thai purchase decision as page

feedback, connectivity, and content (Table 6).

Table 5 Successful and unsuccessful factors of social media marketing strategy

to trigger Thais' purchase decisions (Dentham & Wattanasuwan, 2013)

The limitation of The distinctive Successful factors Unsuccessful

traditional characteristic of of social media factors of social
marketing in the social media marketing strategy media marketing
Japanese in Thailand strategy in
language school Thailand
in Thailand

Credibility Transparency Positive Page Negative Page

Feedback Feedback
One-way Two-way
communication in communication The high number of
a commercial with an page likes and shares

27
 creates information The low number of
uncertainty and a exchange builds Positive comments page likes and
less than credible the feedback loop and reviews shares
perception. that contributes to
credibility Brand discussion Negative comments
perception. (from keyword and reviews
search)
No brand discussion

Invariability Availability Connectivity Disconnectivity

The slow process The speedy Prompt response to No response to

of transaction, transaction, access customers messages customer messages
Inaccessibility to online media,
with offline the variability of Provide necessary The information bar
media, and tools information on the is completely blank
invariability of information bar without any
tools information.
Provide link access
to another online No link access to
channel another online
channel

Disengagement Engagement Attractiveness Unattractiveness

Content Content
Loosely-tied Strengthening ties
between school between brand and Frequency and Low frequency or
and student customer by consistency create excessive of posted
functional intimacy: right content
interactivity on amount of posted
social media content. Irrelevant content:
content filled with
Approachable fun, humorous and
content draws entertaining update
attraction: content but not relevant to
relates to general the product
things but is relevant
to the product. One-Way
Broadcasting:
Interactive content constant hard selling
retains a but lacking
relationship: activity,

28
 campaign establishes interaction with the
a customer customer
engagement
Offline discount
Online discount and campaign:
and campaign: decreases the chance
triggers a purchase of a purchase
behavior decision.

According to the successful social media marketing strategy above, the key

success factors are Page feedback, Connectivity, and Content (Dentham &

Wattanasuwan, 2013; Poo-im & Savaikiat, 2012) which were used to examine the

distinctive characteristic of social media. Page feedback (information and discussion

received from online users), is used to examine the transparency characteristic of social

media. Connectivity (accessible information and a variety of online communication

channels that the school provides), are used to examines the availability characteristic of

social media. Content (the frequency and story that the school posted on online

platforms) examines the engagement characteristic of social media. Research questions

are represented as follow,

Q4: Positive Page feedback is positively related to transparency

Q5: Connectivity is positively related to Availability

Q6: Content is positively related to Engagement

29
Figure 3 Conceptual framework

30
 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research approaches

The study conducted an in-depth interview with 30 students and two marketers from

three Japanese language schools using different business models; a Japanese language

institution, a private tutoring school, and a Japanese language school and study abroad

agency. The different types of organizational structure showed a broader aspect in the

different criteria of the students in the school’s selection and the different approach of

the schools to influence the students’ decisions.

3.2 Data collection method and tools

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the interviewees

(Easwaramoorthy & Zarinpoush, 2006). In a semi-structured interview, predetermined

questions relating to the research were prepared to direct the conversation towards the

satisfaction of the research objectives. However, additional questions were also included

to follow the real-time situation, and the respondents answered independently in their

own words. Some sample questions that were included in the interview are included in

Table 6:

Table 6 Sample questions

Code Questions for marketers Questions for students

What is the crucial reason for
General Why did you decide to choose
most students to study at your
Questions this school?
school?
How has social media Which source of information do
Social media
changed the way that schools you consider the most necessary
marketing
conduct their marketing. before making a decision?

31

How do you encourage positive
Transparency
feedback on social media?
How do you approach students?
Did you read reviews and
comments on Facebook before
making a decision?
How did you know about the
school?

Availability Which communication

How do you contact the school
channel do you consider most
when do you need further
effective in reaching students?
information?
Which activity do you use to
keep in touch with the students?
What kind of content on the
Engagement school's Facebook page do you
What kind of posted content
consider necessary to make a
has received a high response
decision?
from students?
How has marketing activity Do you consider a friend’s
Traditional
changed from before and after opinion to be necessary before
marketing
social media has evolved. making a decision?
(A detailed version of the interview guide is presented in Apps.B)

The method of purposive sampling was used to develop samples of the research.

the people sampled were 30 students and two marketers from three Japanese language

schools in Bangkok. Students and marketers were divided into three groups based on

different organizational structures; an association; a private Japanese language school,

including a language school; and a study abroad agency (Table 7). Each group

contained at least 10 students and one marketer. Interviewees were mostly Bangkok

residents who were aged from 20-35 years old, and had been studying Japanese

language for approximately 1 to 2 years at the intermediate to the advanced level. Some

schools required that the name of institute be kept confidential. This is why the study

cannot reveal the name of the first school (Japanese language association) and the third

school (Japanese language and study abroad agency).

32
 Table 7 Category of samples

Sample Definition Participants Age

10 Students & one
A social enterprise established 20 –
Sample1: Japanese Chief Marketing
in collaboration between the 25
Language Officer (CMO)
private and the government years
Association (Ms. Somjai
sector old
Wattanabanjerd)
Sample 2: Waseda A private language school 20 –
10 Students & one
Japanese language operated by a legal entity 28
CMO (Ms. Kessirin
and cultural schoolwhich provides a full language years
Mangmee)
(Thailand) course old
A Private language school
24 –
Sample 3: Japanese operated by a legal entity
35
language and study which provides a full service 10 Students
years
abroad agency of language course and a study
old
abroad counseling service

3.3 The background of the Japanese language schools

Sample 1– The Japanese language association was founded in 1976 during a difficult

period when Thai peoples reacted against Japanese products. The fear of foreign

exploitation among Thais encouraged a group of Thai students and a professor, Goichi

Hozumi, to set up an organization to alleviate this situation. Thus, the first Japanese

language association was established with collaboration between the Ministry of

Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI) and the Japanese language students

alumni in Thailand. This technological association aimed to pass on Japanese

technological knowledge to Thai workers and ensure a peaceful environment between

the two countries.

At present, the association has transformed from a non-profit organization to a

social enterprise. They have also expanded the service to book publishing, and have

become the license holder of ‘Minna no Nihon go’ which is a compulsory textbook for

33
Japanese language students in Thailand. Students from this sample mostly represented

undergraduate students majoring in the Japanese language who were aged between 20

and 25 years old. The study conducted an interview with the CMO, Ms. Somjai

Wattanabanjerd, who has been in charge of public relation and marketing activities for

15 years (W. Somjai, personal communication, October 7, 2019).

Sample 2 – Waseda Japanese language and cultural school was founded in 1993 by

Saha Pathanapibul Co., Ltd., which was engaged in the business of consumer goods

distribution and property development. Following restructuring through joint ventures

with Japanese partners it became necessary for the company to develop the Japanese

language skills of its employees. The great expense of hiring an outsourced training

program ignited the motivation of Sahapat to expand the business to the field of

language education. It took more than eight years before the company obtained a license

from Waseda University to operate a language school in Thailand. At present, Waseda

Japanese language schools have become the school with the highest name recognition in

Thailand. They now operate three branches, in Bangkok, Sri-racha and recently in

Chiangmai.

This sample represents student aged from 20 to 28 years old, who are mainly

employees in Japanese firms, graduate students and undergraduate students. The CMO

who participated in the interview, Ms. Kessirin Mangmee, was a former employee of

Sahapat’s subsidiary before she stepped up as a key player in the success of Waseda for

a decade. She has a background in language education and earned a the Master’s degree

in marketing with a thesis on “ The School Image of Waseda”, which is referred to at

the beginning of the literature review (M. Kessirin, personal communication, October 8,

2019).

34
Sample 3 – The Japanese language and study abroad agency provides a full service of a

Japanese language course and also a study abroad agency for those who wish to study in

Japan. Language courses are offered from the beginner level to intermediate level. Since

the major service is focused on the study abroad agency, this sample represents student

who were preparing themselves for further study in Japan and those who were polishing

their professional skill in careers such as interpreters and teachers.

3.4 Methods to analyze data

The raw interview was translated and summarized according to the tenets of academic

writing. A coding process was used for mapping data. Coding is a method of tagging

data that is relevant to a particular point, and the code is used to compile descriptive

information during a study (Elliot, 2018). In this study, a code tree was used to order

codes, and keywords from research questions were labeled based on the code tree.

Information from the interview was mapped following the code tree, which was

arranged in three levels, namely social media marketing, traditional marketing, and

others (Apps. A).

35
 RESULTS

According to the data collected, the results of the research questions were clarified in

two steps. Firstly, the result of social media triggers a purchase decision of students.

Secondly, the result of the success factors in the social media marketing strategy is

positively related to the characteristic of social media that triggered a purchase decision.

The sequence is explained as Q1: transparency – Q4: page feedback, Q2: availability –

Q5: connectivity, Q3: engagement - Q6: content. The results of each research question

are described based on three samples; Japanese language association, Waseda Japanese

language and culture school, and Japanese language and study abroad agency,

respectively.

4.1 The characteristic of transparency – The key success of page feedback

Table 8 Sample quotes of transparency

Samples Transparency Q1: Results

"Most of our students know us from friends. Word Less

of mouth appeared to perform better than social influential
Japanese
media mechanisms for us. The majority of our factor
language
students were recommended by old students who triggered a
association
have studied with us before."— CMO, a Japanese purchase
language association decision

Most
“Information from online media was enough for
Waseda influential
making a decision. When I went to school, the
Japanese factors
information from the school hardly affected me,
language and triggered a
because I had already made up my mind.”—
culture school purchase
student, Waseda
intention.

36
 “I didn’t take much consideration from a friend’s Most
Japanese opinion. When I researched by myself, I had influential
Language and already made up my mind, and I only asked my factors
Study Abroad friend for a reconfirmation.”— student, Japanese triggered a
Agency language and study abroad agency purchase
intention.

Transparency affects the purchase decision— The majority of the students and

language schools agreed that the transparency of information obtained from social

media and online communities influenced their purchase decision (Table 8). The

information exchange from online sources mostly affected students from the Japanese

language and study abroad agency and Waseda Japanese language school (third and

second sample), respectively. In contrast, information exchange from social media

appeared to be a less influential factor in driving the decision making of students from

the Japanese language association (first sample). In this sample, a recommendation from

friends and teachers seemed to play the major part in triggering a purchase decision.

Table 9 Sample quotes of page feedback

Key success Sample quotes Q4: Results

"During the past ten years, the majority of answers

have changed. Ninety percent of students know us
from Facebook, and Google searches, not from a
friend making a recommendation anymore. Positively
Therefore, our team made an effort to get our school related to
to show up on the first list of google searches and the
Ranking
social media, no matter how much we had to pay"— transparency
CMO, Waseda.

“I was too lazy to look up for another school. When

this school showed up on the first list on google, I
was like… OK, I will go with this one. The school’s

37
 name sounded familiar to me, my friend mentioned
Waseda a couple of times, and I saw the
advertisement on Facebook. So, I called them and
registered on that same day.”— student, Waseda

“I did not ask anyone, but I feel like this school is

reliable because when I search the keywords on
Google, the name of this school showed up on the
first list.”— student, Japanese language and study
abroad agency

“On Twitter and Instagram, I can search and get

another aspect, not only information from the school.
I read reviews from bloggers, that they wrote about Positively
Comments their experiences while studying in Japan. I watched related to
and Reviews videos about the school’s activities, and read the
feedback and recommendations from other users.”— transparency
student, Japanese language and study abroad agency

“I have known this school from my friend’s post on

Facebook. She used to be a student and also worked Less
Post sharing there. So, I've seen many activities related to this positively
on news school from her. That's how I have known that this related to
feeds school exists"— student, Japanese language and the
study abroad agency transparency

“The Facebook algorithm forced us to buy Facebook

Ads, so that customers can see us, and it is true that Negatively
The number
paid-ads increase the number of ‘likes’. However, related to
of likes and
those likers seem like ghost users to us. We do not the
shares
even know whether they really exist or not"— CMO, transparency
Japanese language association.

Ranking and brand discussion with a positive relevance to transparency— Among the

key success factors of social media marketing strategy, “ranking” on Google search and

social media, including “comments and reviews," represented a positive related to

38
transparency, which most effectively triggered a purchase decision (Table 9). A result

of the interview demonstrated that a credible perception is strongly related to ranking.

As a higher ranking is shown on the list, this led to a higher reliability as perceived by

the students, and that possibly caused them to eliminate other options and to proceed

into the final stage of the purchase decision. In that sense, Waseda Japanese language

school claimed that they made an afford to make their name appear on the top of the

search engine, hashtags, or first trending on Twitter, which is considered to be most

effective to influence a student’s decision.

Furthermore, the data discovered that students rely heavily on comments and

reviews from online communities and social media, especially students from Japanese

language schools and the study abroad agency (third sample). Information obtained

from a hashtag, retweet, and bloggers provided a different aspect beyond information

initially derived from the school's website and the brochure provided. The visualization

data from video clips, stories, and pictures from online users, comments, and response

to comments between users on discussions generated the interest as perceived in the

student’s perception.

“Comments on Pantip or social media show the same positive direction. There was a

plethora of information, so I did not know which one I should believe.”— student,

Japanese language school and study abroad agency

Nevertheless, the result also demonstrated an excessively positive or negative

feedback discouraged the dynamic of the feedback loop, resulting in a diminishing

credible perception towards online information. Finally, post sharing on news feeds

39
presented a less positive relationship. To some extent, post sharing by mutual friends

possibly increases the perceived trust in customer perception. However, other sources of

information were also required to generate credibility, which leads to a purchase

decision.

Limitation of Facebook Algorithm—According to one interview, a negative relation to

transparency is made clear in two aspects; that is the number of likes and shares and

Feedback measurement (Table 9). The CMO of the Japanese language association stated

that the Facebook algorithmic enhances the number of likes; however, those likers do not

enhance the brand. The Facebook mechanism favors a ghost liker who does not exist

rather than the real target market.

“One thing that differs social media from traditional marketing is feedback

measurement. Traditional marketing offers us a clear-cut calibration of how to measure

feedback. We can count the number of used ticket coupons, which we distributed at the

booth to see how many people are interested in us. But for social media, it is far more

challenging for us to measure the feedback since we do not know whether they are just

clicking like or are they really interested in us.” — CMO, Japanese Language

Association.

The CMO at Waseda also confirmed the limitation of feedback measurement from

the number of likes and shares on social media. The number of likes represented the

person who is just "interested," and not a customer with the motivation to "purchase." By

the traditional marketing method, such as attending the booth and giving a coupon to

students who register for the trial class, they can count the amount of the target market,

40
who have a strong motivation to purchase from the registered list than those online users

who ‘like’ the page but with limited motivation.

4.2 The characteristic of availability – The key success of page connectivity

Table 10 Sample quotes of availability

Samples Availability Q2: Results

"We continue to advertise through radio

because we have a publishing business. Our main
customers are still in the traditional platform"—
CMO, Japanese language association.

“I have known this school from the book that

Japanese they published. I usually buy books from their Less influential
language publisher. I saw a brochure attached at the back factor triggered
association of the book, and I then realized they also have a a purchase
language course. decision
One day when I had a plan to learn a third
language, the name of this school was the first to
come to my mind.” — student, Japanese
language association

Accessible— “We once advertised our new

branch in rural area through a radio spot because
the local people preferred to listen to the radio
back then. But we do not do that anymore since
the internet and social media reach everywhere.
Online communication channels allow us to
Waseda A moderately
reach our students in a very short period"—
Japanese influential factor
CMO, Waseda.
language and triggered a
culture school purchase
“I prefer face to face communication before I
intention.
take any action. If I couldn’t see the place or staff
in person, I would not know what kinds of
question I should ask. I also would like to see the
place to check whether the classroom is ok or
not. If the classroom is like any other tutoring

41
 school, or the study atmosphere is not good, I
might turn to another option.” — student,
Waseda

"I rely on online information the most. It is more

convenient for me because it takes too much time
to go to the school and get the brochure myself."
— student, Japanese language and study abroad
agency.
Japanese Most influential
language and "I chose this school because of the accessible factors triggered
study abroad data. They had a bunch of advertisements which I a purchase
agency could see everywhere. Unlike other schools of intention.
which I haven't seen any advertisements or heard
the name before"— student, Japanese language
and study abroad agency.

“Indeed, the brochure provides more detail, but I

already made up my mind (more than 80%)
before I went to the school. The brochure and
information from the school were not speedy
enough.”—Student, Japanese language and study
abroad agency.

Availability triggered a purchase decision— The interview asserted the distinctive

characteristic of availability in social media to possibly trigger a purchase decision of

students to some extent, particularly in the third sample of students from the Japanese

language and study abroad agency (Table 10). This was caused by the different services

of ordinary language schools (first and second sample) and the language school with a

study abroad agency (third sample). The Japanese language schools in the ordinary

model from samples one and two provide only a language course. This type of business

model gives them a competitive advantage in offering a physical environment that

students can experience themselves. However, the Japanese language school, which also

42
offered a full service of a study abroad agency, is limited in its ability to provide an

experience in the actual schools in Japan to the students. For this reason, students from

the third sample relied heavily on information obtained from social media to determine

their plans.

In addition, a minor reason was the different amount of information demanded

by the student due to different purposes for study. Students from ordinary Japanese

language schools required less information to reach a final decision compared to those

who had a plan to continue their studies in Japan. The interview discovered that students

in the third sample needed a wide range of information in addition to the curriculum and

the teacher which included the living guide, accommodation, transportation, and food.

All of these considerations take a significant part in the decision making. Consequently,

students from this sample relied heavily on various platforms and services before taking

any action. The large amount of information they expected to collect, caused a speedy

response from staff, and easy access to information on various platforms facilitated

their process of data collecting. This convenience builds considerable confidence and

satisfaction towards online services, which accelerates the process of the purchase

decisions of students that will take place easily when compared to other samples.

On the opposite side, the speedy and accessible information only moderately

affected the purchase decision of students from the second sample (Table 10, Waseda)

and was even less of a drive to the decision-making of students from the first sample

(Table 10, Japanese language association). Although the fast process of transactions on

social media facilitated the sharing of information to reach a broader range of students

and drove them to achieve the purchase decision faster, some students still required the

43
actual atmosphere, and face to face communication as a reconfirmation before making a

purchase at the final stage.

In conformity with student behavior from the Japanese language association

(first sample), the school has reduced advertising and marketing activities in print media

and allocates a greater proportion of its budget in free online magazines. However, they

still run several offline marketing activities such as brochures and radio spot in line with

their customers behavior. The institute also publishes books and holds license of ‘Minna

No Nihongo’ a compulsory textbook for a student in the Japanese language program.

The majority of their target market usually receives information from the print media.

The Chief Marketing Officer stated that most of their students are readers who are

inactive on social media and students who have known them from the textbook used in

schools and universities. This is why they continue to run marketing campaigns and

activities through the brochure attached to the books, and a radio broadcasting system.

Potential social media platforms for them are not Facebook or Instagram, like other

schools, they prefer the Youtube channel and pod-cast instead.

“Social media is excessive. The overwhelming information feed in new feeds has

diminished the feeling of exclusivity which we gain from word of mouth” — CMO,

Japanese language association

Inaccessibility retained the feeling of exclusivity—The CMO of a Japanese language

association (first sample) also highlighted another aspect. The too accessible and

excessive information from online platforms causes the feeling of exclusivity gained

from word of mouth to deteriorate within an organization. Some services and programs

44
such as a summer camp or short language courses in Japan offered by the school

restricts the number of students in control of the quality. Since the majority of

customers are group customers from Japanese companies operating in Thailand, the

school have a lower demand for individual clients. Therefore, the school relied on word

of mouth within its client networks to screen the qualified students. However, too

accessible and excessive information of social media, caused the school suffered from

an inability to maintain its old customers and struggled to perform the background

check of new one.

Table 11 Sample quotes of page connectivity

Key success Sample quotes Q5 : Results

"I feel insecure about chatting on social media
platforms because I don't know when they will
get back to me." — student, Japanese
language association
Negatively
Prompt Response related to
"It was easier to call rather than ask on
to customer availability
Facebook chat, which is much slower, and I
don't know whom I talk with." — student,
Japanese language and study abroad agency

"As of now, most of the students have made a

final decision based on the available
information we provided through online
sources, especially at the Bangkok branch.
Comprehensive Positively
They mostly contact us only to ask a few
Information related to an
questions through Facebook messenger, and
(provided by availability
most of them had already made a decision
school)
when they came to the school"— CMO,
Waseda

"We do have Facebook, website, and Line.

Interconnected We developed our online platforms to link
with each other. We link the Facebook page to

45
 the website to support online registration. It Positively
works for the student to make a payment as related to
they are not required to come to the availability
school."— CMO, Waseda

“I did research. I googled and compared this

school and another one. But when I went to
the Facebook page of the first school, it linked
with the website and Line. I kept clicking a
link and reading information and totally forgot
about the other school.”— student, Japanese
language school and study abroad agency

Comprehensive information and Interconnected positively related to availability—

The interview demonstrated the comprehensive information provided by the school and

interconnected are positively related to availability (Table 11), it is mainly the students

in the Bangkok area who have already known about the school. A variety of platforms

responded to the different requirements of students. For example, students from the

second sample (Waseda) prefer to check the course schedules on websites and read

feedback from Pantip (an online community). Unlike students from the third sample

(study abroad agency), they prefer to collect feedback from Facebook, blogs, and

Instagram. They also addressed information provided, such as the online payment

method, a Facebook link to an online registration system, or telephone number and

location on the Facebook information bar, facilitated the decision-making process, and

significantly enabled them to achieving a purchase decision.

"I would have liked to ask something, but it showed that the administrator was active 12

hours ago, which means no one will answer my question for sure. But by sending an

email, you can expect that they will reply to you. The form of e-mail creates a strong

46
 sense of professionalism that enforces responders to respond to your message.” —

student, Japanese language and study abroad agency

In contrast, prompt response to the customer through online communication

channels represented a negative relationship with the availability (Table 11). From the

aspect of the student, online media remains incapable of exceeding the capability of the

traditional channel. Students require face-to-face communication, and offline media

such as telephone, and email to contact the school. The given reason correlates with the

feeling of insecurity. To illustrate, Facebook messenger was perceived as unpredictable

according to student's attitudes, as one cannot predict the date and time of responding.

Furthermore, the student is unable to verify the identity of the responder on online

media when compared to an email or telephone in which they can identify the

respondent through the name, contact and voice.

4.3 The characteristic of engagement – The key success of content

Table 12 Sample quotes of engagement

Samples Engagement Q3: Results

“This platform also includes our competitors and

those who are not our competitors who have a
Less
different business model. Youtubers, or
influential
Japanese influencers on Facebook who create content like
factor
language “five minutes learning Japanese by yourself,” took
triggered a
association customer’s attention away from us. Instead of
purchase
spending five minutes to read through our content,
decision
they spend time with other content with fresh
information which is more entertaining.” —
CMO, Japanese language association

47
 “I am rarely active on Facebook. When I make a
decision, I jump directly to the website”—
student, Japanese language association

Less
“They infrequently update information on the
Waseda influential
facebook page. I only access the Facebook page to
Japanese factor
check when it is a holiday or when the school will
language and triggered a
close.”— student, Waseda
culture School purchase
decision

“Before I made a decision, I like to watch a lot of

videos and photos about the cities and the
experience of foreign students in Japan on the
Facebook page. These encourage me to keep up
with my plan. I can imagine how my life is going
to be when I am there.”— student, Japanese
Language School and Study abroad
Most
Japanese influential
language and factor
“I read content on their Facebook Page; they
study abroad triggered a
usually update student life and the atmosphere of
agency purchase
the school in Kyoto. When I chose a school, I
decision
rarely access the website. I mainly ask friends and
read stories which they posted about schools on
their Facebook page.”— student,
Japanese Language School and Study abroad
agency

Engagement influences a purchase intension—The collected data indicates the

characteristic of engagement in social media that tolerably influence the purchase

decision of students, particularly students from the third sample (Table 12, Japanese

language and study abroad agency). Students from this sample a highly responsive to

content posted on Facebook and You-tube. The attractiveness of content and activity

posts on social media draws a student's attention and generates interactivity between the

48
student and the school's online platforms to a certain degree. An interview found that

content related to pictures and videos are highly related to the student's impression and

trust, which will potentially lead to the purchase intention of the student.

"Sometimes, students complain that our website is very boring and difficult to find.

Information is not up-to-date, so we created a Facebook page and created some activity

or campaign for our students"—CMO, Waseda.

In the second sample (Table 12, Waseda), students from Waseda responded

moderately to content posted on Facebook. The CMO revealed that even though they

have created some campaigns and activities on the Facebook page and Twitter account,

students have a low awareness of these activities. On the other hand, the Facebook Page

has remained an indispensable platform for students to be update on the school

schedule, the school holidays, and a campaign on special occasions. In the last samples

of the students from the Japanese language association (Table 12), the content appears

to have a lower correlation with the characteristic of engagement in social media. Most

of the students from these samples are less aware of the existence of the school’s

Facebook page or any social media platforms. They preferred to access the website to

check the schedule and make a registration.

Table 13 Sample quotes of content

Key success Sample quotes Q6 : Results

“When I had to choose between two schools Positively

I asked for information from friends. After a related to
friend mentioned this school, this name popped the engagement

49
Frequency and up in my head. It was like…. I had heard this
consistency of name before, and I saw them on newsfeed a
content couple of times. But for the other schools, the
name didn’t ring a bell. That’s why I chose the
first one I was familiar with.”— student,
Japanese language and study abroad agency

I get a feeling of the professional atmosphere

from their Facebook page. They are very active
and keep updated information on their
Facebook Page, whereas other schools do not"
— student, Japanese language and study
abroad agency

“Every time we posted our new schedule on

Facebook Page, some students text us via
messenger”— CMO, Waseda.

“The content of this school is very interesting.

They keep updated videos and pictures about
places to go, and where to eat in Japan. Some
of them have cartoon characters, or an
animation provided information about a career
path, the atmosphere of the classroom, and tips
on living in Japan. I was really impressed by
that, and these made me trust them"— student,
Positively
the Japanese language and study abroad agency
related to
Approachable
The
content “I have followed the school’s Facebook Page
engagement
to update information since I decided on a plan
to study further in Japan. They are always
update schedules, dates and time of events on
the Facebook page”— student, Japanese
language and study abroad agency

Interactive “I like the content that they posted a lot, Less positively
Content but I have not shared any of them on my related to an
wall”— student, Waseda engagement.

50
 “Cheap price strategy will hurt our brand value
and reputation”— CMO, Waseda
Online discount Negatively
and promotion related to
“I am not really concerned about discounts or
campaign Engagement
promotion. It is not a big deal for me.
Curriculum and the teachers are my biggest
concern”— student, waseda

Frequency and approachable content is positively related to engagement —The

frequency and consistency of content provided by the school on social media is strongly

correlated to customer engagement (Table 13). The interview represented that the

frequency of advertisements and content generated through new feeds significantly

affect a feeling of intimacy, and this led the student to put the school in a favorable

position. Most of the students revealed that when it comes to the final decision between

two alternatives, they preferred to choose the one that sounds familiar to them. These

results support the notion that the frequency of posted content potentially builds trust in

customer perception, which possibly motivated students to eliminate alternatives and

jump directly to familiar options based on what they perceived as favorable. However,

the study also found that intimacy alone cannot lead the student to determine; they still

consider other factors such as quality of content to achieve a decision to purchase.

“At that time, I learned the Japanese language just for fun, and I didn’t have any

serious plan until I ran into content about Chorishi Semmon Gakkou (a cooking

college) on newsfeed posted by this school that I had followed for a long time. Once I

clicked like, I started to see more content about study in Japan. I am a chef; that's why

this content motivated me to decide further my studies in Japan"— student, Japanese

languages and study abroad agency

51
 “Before I made a decision, I was worried they were going to fool me. So, I looked up a

picture in a Facebook album. There was the album name ‘study abroad’. I searched for

the picture of students, and the picture at the airport to see how well they treated their

students, how were the schools, the staff, and what did the sensei (teacher) look like.”—

student, Japanese language and study abroad agency

This interview demonstrated the quality of content on the Facebook page plays a

crucial role in triggering the purchase decision of students in the third sample. The

interview discovered that the approachable content related to lifestyles, such as

traveling in Japan, food, and vocabulary, possibly draws customers’ attention (Table

13). The approachable content is able to generated interaction between the school and

the student to some extent, through functional interactivity by clicking like and sharing

a photo. A cartoon character and a promotion video retained student attention, and this

builds a favorable impression towards the school more than general information.

Furthermore, content related to a career path, students’ achievement, and school tour

appeared to be a significantly success; in motivating students' to settle on a plan among

all types of content. Finally, Facebook picture album related to the student and the

school’s officer potentially build a trust towards the school, as the student was able to

verify the identity of the school and the existence of the agency from the photo album.

However, interactive content has been found to be less positively related to

establishing engagement (Table 13). Even though the school, themselves, had created a

campaign encouraging customer participation, students remained inactive in sharing

opinions, attending activities, or expressing their opinion about the school services. For

example, Waseda once had a collaborative campaign with Starbucks, giving free cash

52
cards for ten students who shared an impression about the school on their Facebook

page. However, most of the students from this sample had little awareness of the

campaign. They accessed Facebook a couple of times, only to check the course schedule

and the school holidays.

“As a newcomer, I would say that an educational fair or workshop is the best way to

present our brand image and make people recognize the name “Waseda” from day one

without any social media to up until now” — CMO, Waseda.

The workshop is the critical success to create an engagement with a student—Even

though the CMO of Waseda acknowledged the potential of social media in narrowing

the distance between the school and the student, she dramatically emphasized the key

success of customer engagement as an outdoor activity. Waseda successfully promoted

its new branch in Chiangmai (a province in the northern part of Thailand) with a

"workshop." The marketing team selected a trending topic, namely "environmental

protection," to link a story with Japanese culture. For example, they conducted a

workshop on “Furoshiki” (Japanese fabric wrapping)” in several schools and

universities. They taught students how to wrap gifts with cloth and introduced Waseda

at the end of the workshop. They invited the participants to follow them on Facebook to

make a reservation for a free trial class. By posting the schedule of the workshop on

social media and taking the team out to interact with the students, Waseda managed to

target real customers through a real conversation with students who will show a

potential in making a purchase.

53
“The amount of information running through news-feeds distracted me from searching

for information. I keep sliding the screen, and in the end, I didn't take enough time with

each content. That's why I prefer to look up information from a website. It encourages

me to concentrate on information and provides more details than on social media"—

student, Japanese language school and study abroad agency

Contrary to other types of content, online discounts and promotion campaigns

and excessive content posted on the school page represented a negative reaction in

creating engagement with a student (Table 13). Excessive posting could create a feeling

of intrusiveness, which possibly turned a potential customer away from the school's

content. Furthermore, the majority of students hold a neutral perspective towards

discount and promotions as their main priority is courses and curriculum. In accordance

with the school's aspect, Waseda abstains from a competitive price strategy so as to

maintain its brand position. Also, the first sample, the Japanese language association

offers promotions and discounts in a traditional form only to support book publishing,

such as by giving a book discount for an association’s members.

54
 DISCUSSION

The results demonstrated that the characteristic of transparency in social media is the

most influential factor in triggering the student’s purchase decision (Table 14). Page

feedback, such as ranking and brand discussion, reflected the positive relation to

transparency, and this conforms with an assumption by Khatib (2016). As the author

stated, information exchange in social media helps the consumer to overcome

uncertainty in the purchase. Furthermore, the transparency of social media brought

about different aspects from a prior study of traditional Japanese language schools

(Eiadkhao, 2011). The study discovered that information fed on social media increases

the capability assessment of the student in the final stage of decision to less reliance on

private sources and more reliance on public sources; this encourages one to decide for

oneself, although based on third party evaluation. Also, the key success, the number of

likes, and shares brought about critical aspects against the assumption by Dentham and

Wattanasuwan (2013). The result indicated this set of information is not competent to

identify the real purchaser when compared to the traditional method.

Another promising finding was that the characteristic of availability in social

media barely influenced the student purchase decision (Table 14). The key success,

comprehensive information, and interconnection platform ties well with previous

studies by Lee (2013) and Khatib (2016). These factors performed as a shortcut in the

data collecting process, which expedited the chance of a purchase decision (Table 14).

Notwithstanding, the results have shown the limitation of social media which has failed

to act as an online communication channel and is unable to exceed the capability of

traditional media to promptly respond to customers (Dentham & Wattanasuwan, 2013).

55
The unpredictable date and time of response and the unidentified responder have

become the biggest concern, and this increases the student’s uncertainty and causes

them hold off making a final purchase decision.

A similar pattern was obtained in the aspect of the engagement (Table 14). The

findings are in line with the assumption by Amodu et al. (2018) to a certain degree. The

key success, frequency, and approachable content (Dentham & Wattanasuwan, 2013)

contributed to initiating a sense of intimacy, impression, and trust in students'

perception. Nevertheless, the sustainable engagement between school and student

demanded real interaction beyond the interactivity function (i.e., like and share) from

social media. Communication and co-activity in the actual place potentially generated

the co-experience and created a stronger tie in which the customer is easily activated to

make a purchase decision.

Table 14 Results

Characteristics of Social media Key Successes of Social Media

Marketing

Q1: Transparency of social media triggers the Q4: Positive Page feedback is
purchase decision of Japanese language students Y positively related to transparency Y

Ranging, comments, and reviews Y

The number of likes and shares N

Q2: Availability of social media triggers the Q5: Connectivity is positively related Y
purchase decision of Japanese language students N to Availability
. Comprehensive information, Y
Interconnection
Promptly responds to customer N

Q6: Content is positively related to

Engagement Y
Q3: Engagement of social media triggers the
N
purchase decision of Japanese language students.
Frequency and approachable content Y
Interactive content, Online discount N

56
 At this stage of understanding, these findings support the notion that social

media increase the potential of traditional marketing, in encouraging the credibility of

an information source, providing variable channels to share and spread information, and

also relatively enhances the tie between the school and the student through the

interactivity function. However, a successful implementation cannot rely only on

social media marketing but also depends upon several other factors to trigger the

purchase decision of students. In this finding, it appeared that the differences business

model of each Japanese language school affects the different pattern of student’s

purchase decisions.

The first sample of Japanese language institute has shown a less effective

implementation of social media in its marketing strategy. The organizational structure

as a social enterprise gained them a competitive advantage due to the support and

cooperation with other organizations (i.e., Japan Foundation, METI- Japan).

Information fed within the network appeared to be a key success, with the word-of-

mouth from one Japanese cooperation to another caused them less reliance on marketing

activities. Another key success comes from the first-mover advantage as a license

holder of ‘Minna no Nihon go’, which is used as a compulsory textbook for secondary

and higher education in Thailand. In that sense, they can attract students effortlessly

since student intimate with the school’s name who has published the text book.

Furthermore, an interview with students contributed a crystal-clear explanation of how

the organizational image of an “association” significantly contributed to a credible

perception in the customer’s mind, and this played a significant part in determining the

final decision of students in this sample, with or without social media.

57
 The second sample of Waseda Japanese and Culture language school achieved

success in partially implementing social media into traditional marketing. For the

Bangkok branch, social media marketing has effectively increased the chance of

purchase decisions by facilitating information sharing and online payment for students

who already know the school. Nevertheless, public reaction from outdoor activities such

as workshops, educational fairs, and open houses are considered an indispensable tool

for introducing the school to new customers who are not familiar with the name. Face-

to-face interaction and activities in the actual place are considered a playmaker

effectively triggering a purchase decision. In this step, social media demonstrated the

ability to support widespread information sharing to announce the date and time of

events and reach a broader range of customers.

The last sample of the Japanese language and study abroad agency demonstrated

the achievement in fully implementing social media in its marketing strategy due to the

limitation of providing an in-store experience. As the school offers a full service as a

Japanese language course and study abroad agency, physical access to location, the

atmosphere of the actual classroom, and accommodation in Japan have become a

limitation when compared to other types of Japanese language school. The lack of

access to the actual place and product has driven the true potential of social media to a

prominent place. The ability to contribute visualization data, and the story-telling of

online content, draw on virtual experience in fulfilling the imagination of the student.

Content related to culture, living, career path achievement, and food, these elements

represented the key factors that drive the motivation of Japanese language students to

reach a purchase decision in this sample.

58
 CONCLUSION

This research investigates the role of social media in reinforcing the potential of

traditional marketing in Japanese language schools in Thailand. The theoretical

framework is built on the theory of the consumer decision-making process by Cox et al.

(1983) to examine the critical aspect of the decision pattern of Japanese language

students. The research concept was constructed by integrating the character of social

media in triggering a purchase decision with key successes of social media marketing in

Thailand to identify factors that motivate students in the final stage of their purchase

decision. Based on the qualitative analysis from three Japanese language schools and

students in Bangkok, the research delineated the possibility of utilizing the distinctive

characteristic of social media as transparency, availability, and engagement to influence

the purchase decision of students.

In the findings chapter, the study highlights a new method of explanation, which

makes this study different from prior researches based on 4p marketing (Eiadkhao,

2011; Billmanoch, 2007). Prior research stated attitudes from friends and colleagues as

affecting the majority in the decision making of the student. In contrast, public sources

(advertising from schools) and the student themselves are considered as less influential

factors. In contradiction to the aforementioned research, the results strongly support the

potential of social media to encourage students to decide for themselves based on the

credibility of information obtained from the school and online sources. However, it is

notable that even though social media could possibly influence the purchase decision to

a certain degree, but the role of social media is inadequate to perform as a trigger in the

purchase decision of Japanese language student. In triggering a final decision a face-to

59
face-communication, and a physical condition such as the atmosphere of the actual

place of study are also required.

Furthermore, these findings provide additional implications for effective social

media marketing for Japanese language schools in Thailand. The key role of the strategy

depends on the business model and the brand position of each school. Schools with a

study abroad agency require full implementation of social media marketing to fulfill the

limitation in being able to provide a physical condition to students. Whereas the

traditional Japanese language school still requires traditional methods to create an in-

store experience to pursue the purchase decision of a new customer. Establishing a

balance between traditional media and social media is the main managerial implication

of this study. Schools should consider the behavior of the target market to identify the

marketing channel and the adaptation level of the mixed marketing method to engage

the potential customer. In conclusion, the result also implies the essential nature of both

traditional and social media, neither of which the educational business can ignore. By

abandoning traditional media, the school possibly loses engagement with the student.

By abandoning social media, the school can lose its competitive advantage because they

are not fast enough to catch up with the competitors.

This research, like other papers, still found a limitation of information sources

due to a lack of available resources relevant to the study. Previous research in the field

of Japanese language schools were mainly related to education, and market research

related to Japanese language school as discussed were based on 4P marketing, and the

aspect of traditional marketing. Also, there are but few case studies related to social

media marketing in Thailand to back up the research questions. Regardless of that fact,

future research could continue to explore the role of social media in encouraging the co-

60
experience and interaction between the school and the student and identify the key

success in utilizing the interactivity function in triggering a purchase decision.

61
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 Appendices

Appendix A. Code Tree: Successful social media factor in triggering a purchase

decision of Japanese language student

(A) Social Media Marketing

(AA) Transparency (Information exchange, Positive Attitude - Credibility,

trust )

(AAA) Positive Page Feedback

(AAAA) The number of likes and shares

(AAAB) Ranking

(AAAC) Recommendation and Reviews

(AAAD) Post sharing by friends

(AB) Availability (A rapid transaction, Accessible, Variability method)

(ABB) Connectivity

(ABBA) Prompt Response to message (Facebook Messenger,

Line)

(ABBB) Comprehensive information

(ABBC) Interconnected

(AC) Engagement (Interactivity, Experience, Intimacy, relationship)

(ACA) Content

(ACAA) Frequency and Consistency

(ACAB) Approachable Story

(ACAC) Interactive Content

(ACAD) Online Discount and Campaign

(B) Traditional Marketing

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 (BA) Incredibility (One - way communication, negative attitude - bias

information, commercial message, intrusive)

(BB) Invariability (Slow transaction, inaccessibility, offline media - Telephone,

Email, Walk-in, Restricted method - Print, Broadcast, Website, Outdoor)

(BC) Disengagement (Activity in actual place)

(C) Another keyword

(CA) Marketing Mixes

(CB) Organizational Structure

(CC) First Mover Advantages

(CD) Other factors affect the purchase decision

Appendix B. Code Book

Level Level Level Level Code Name Sample Quote

1 2 3 4
Code Code Code Code

A Social Media Marketing: "They usually said marketing is the less

The processes for creating,
communicating, delivering,
and exchanging offers that
have value for consumers
and empowering society at
large
important factor in educational business. But for
me, it is not always true. Marketing should come
with the quality of the course. We can miss
neither of them. The student couldn't know we
have such a great course if we don't tell them
and show them what we have" — CMO,
Waseda

"Social media is considered effective in terms of

public relations and information search. It can
distribute information faster and accessible to
everyone. But it cannot be considered as a
powerful tool to influence the purchase
decision." — CMO, Japanese Language
Association

SNS encourages the credibility of a language

school—"Information obtained from the school
is the most influential factor on my decision
making and friend's recommendation comes in a
second place."— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

AA Transparency: The "Since I have no friends who were studying at

freedom of information Waseda, I took comments from the online
exchange which

73
 contributed to the positive
attitude of consumer
holding toward information
available on social media.
AAA Page Feedback
AAAA The number of likes and
shares
74
community as the most reliable source."—
student, Waseda
“Information from online media was enough for
making a decision. When I went to school, the
information from the school hardly affected me,
because I had already made up my mind.”—
student, Waseda
Feedback collection —"Online feedback could
help us know the customer feedback to some
extent, but the best way to get the real feedback
is an informal conversation with students during
the break or after the class. For example, we
usually ask our students simple questions like
"how was the class today?" or "How was today's
test? "Was the exam too difficult?". Then if
students feel uncomfortable with some point,
they naturally speak it out, something they feel
uncomfortable to write on paper" — CMO,
Waseda
“One thing that differs social media from
traditional marketing is feedback measurement.
Traditional marketing offers us a clear-cut
calibration of how to measure feedback. We can
count the number of used ticket coupons, which
we distributed at the booth to see how many
people are interested in us. But for social media,
it is far more challenging for us to measure the
feedback since we do not know whether they are
just clicking like or are they really interested in
us.” — CMO, Japanese Language Association
"An emergence of SNSs had turned our
customers from passive customers to active
customers. Social media encourages them to
voice out feedbacks in every channel; Line,
telephone, and even a survey. However, we
mainly consider our survey, which they filled
out after finishing the course as the most
important. Then we consider comments on
social media or websites as a minor part." —
CMO, Japanese Language Association
Positive attitude —"We used to advertise our
field trips and summer camps in Japan in
magazines, but we didn't do that anymore.
Nowadays, we are looking for a Facebook page
related to travel or food guide in Japan, which
more than 1,000,000 likes, then we hire them to
promote our contents" — CMO, Waseda
Negative attitude — “The Facebook algorithm
forced us to buy Facebook Ads, so that
customers can see us, and it is true that paid-ads
increase the number of ‘likes’. However, those
likers seem like ghost users to us. We do not
even know whether they really exist or not since
we couldn’t identify their identity"— CMO,
Japanese language association
 "I clicked like and followed the Facebook page
after I made a decision. I also looked at the
number of likes, but I did not take this number
seriously. To some extent, I feel that a higher
number of likes and shares mean higher
trustworthiness of the page, but what I am
interested more was the Facebook photo album"
— student, Japanese language school, and study
abroad agency.

AAAB Ranking “If student searches a keyword “study in Japan,”

other schools will show up on the first list, but if
they search “study the Japanese language in
Thailand,” Waseda will come up as the first list
too” — CMO, Waseda

"I searched for keywords like "Japanese study

language" and "Bangkok," and Waseda showed
up on the first list"— student, Waseda

"During the past ten years, the majority of

answers have changed. Ninety percent of
students know us from Facebook, and Google
searches, not from a friend making a
recommendation anymore. Therefore, our team
made an effort to get our school to show up on
the first list of google searches and social media,
no matter how much we had to pay"— CMO,
Waseda.

“I did not ask anyone, but I feel like this school

is reliable because when I search the keywords
on Google, the name of this school showed up
on the first list.”— student, Japanese language
and study abroad agency

AAAC Recommendations and Positive Comments — Back then, I didn't take

reviews a look at any advertisement at all. I searched
keywords like "where to learn Japanese" and
"Bangkok" in google, then the list of schools
came up. I read through comments from the
search engine and Pantip. I selected the school
which received positive feedback and looking
for more information about that school from
other sources, such as the website and Facebook
page. Also, I was asking friends and directly
asking for information from the institution
(Facebook messenger)"— student, Waseda

The same direction of comments decreased

credibility— "I checked comments and
feedbacks from the online community and
Facebook page. But I did not rely on only these
sources, because sometimes they showed the
same positive direction. So I also considered
other sources at the same time, such as my
friend and sensei"— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

“Comments on Pantip or social media show the

same positive direction. There was a plethora of
information, so I did not know which one I

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 should believe.”— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

"It was like 50-50, if the comment on Facebook

or Internet said it was OK, I wouldn't trust that
information 100%. I keep searching information
from other sources anyway to read different
aspects."— student, Japanese language
association

Online feedback encourage self-decision

making— "I didn't ask any friends, just read
some comments on Facebook and website. Then
I contacted the school directly, and I feel it was
ok, that's why I went to the school and decided
to register the course on the same day."—
student, Japanese language association

“Information from online media was enough for

making a decision. When I went to school, the
information from the school hardly affected me,
because I had already made up my mind.”—
student, Waseda

"When I went to the school, I had already made

up my mind."— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

"I didn't see any advertisements before, neither

ask anyone, because I don't know any friends
who study the Japanese language at that time. So
I relied heavily on google search and
information obtained from the school, which it
took a majority part in my decision making."—
student, Japanese language school and study
abroad agency

Negative comments — Negative comments —

"There was a time when we found negative
feedbacks on online communities. They said
Waseda was very expensive. But those
negativities didn't affect us that much since we
have a good reputation for a long time. We also
have great support from students who love and
pride in being part of our school. Thus, positive
feedback from royalty students have spread over
negative feedbacks from somebody who even do
not count as our real customers"— CMO,
Waseda

“On Twitter and Instagram, I can search and get

another aspect, not only information from the
school. I read reviews from bloggers, that they
wrote about their experiences while studying in
Japan. I watched videos about the school’s
activities, and read feedback and
recommendations from other users.”— student,
Japanese language and study abroad agency

AAAD Post sharing by friend “I have known this school from my friend’s post
on Facebook. She used to be a student and also
worked there. So, I've seen many activities
related to this school from her. That's how I have

76

AB Availability: refers to the
fast process of transaction,
accessible information, and
a variety of communication
tools.
77
known that this school exists"— student,
Japanese language and study abroad agency
Fast process of Transaction— “We plan to
shift our focus more on social media and reduce
the role of traditional media. Otherwise, we can
lose our competitive advantage, because we are
not fast enough to beat our competitors” —
CMO, Waseda
“Social Media are a good supporter to spread the
information, especially time and date of events
which we will attend. Online communication
channels such as Line, Twitter, or YouTube,
facilitate us to reach our students in a concise
period" — CMO, Waseda
Accessible — “We once advertised our new
branch in rural area through a radio spot because
the local people preferred to listen to the radio
back then. But we do not do that anymore since
the internet and social media reach everywhere.
Online communication channels allow us to
reach our students in a very short period"—
CMO, Waseda.
"I chose this school because of the accessible
data. They had a bunch of advertisements which
I could see everywhere. Unlike other schools of
which I haven't seen any advertisements or
heard the name before"— student, Japanese
language and study abroad agency.
Speedy shorten the purchase decision — “I
didn’t compare this school with other schools,
because I didn’t know about language school
that much. So when I search for information, I
just chose from whatever the first name came
up”— student, Japanese language school and
study abroad agency
“I rely on online information the most. It is more
convenient for me because it takes too much
time to go to the school and get the brochure
myself.” — student, Japanese language and
study abroad agency.
“I was too lazy to look up for another school.
When this school showed up on the first list on
google, I was like… OK, I will go with this one.
The school’s name sounded familiar to me, my
friend mentioned Waseda a couple of times, and
I saw the advertisement on Facebook. So, I
called them and registered on that same day.”—
student, Waseda
“I made a final decision mainly based on
information received from the school. My
friend’s recommendation didn’t influence me
that much at that time. If my friends
recommended this school but the information I
received was not that good, I would look for
 another option.”— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

The problem of Facebook Algorithm —

“Sometimes, we advertise our school on
Facebook, but the problem is that there is no
way to guarantee how many customers we will
get. We might reach 200 peoples per each
advertisement, which is faster and more
convenient. However, we cannot guarantee how
many people out of 200 people will become our
students. There is no way to know whether they
are interested in us or click the like button. Thus,
by going out and participate in events in an
actual place, we can accurately attract the real
customer “— CMO, Waseda

“Facebook algorithm does not elaborate enough

to support the classification of our target market.
Some of them are just interested in Japanese
culture or food but not a language. Once when
we bought Facebook ads, the algorithm included
those online users in the same group with our
real customers who aim to learn the language”
— CMO, Japanese language association

Inaccessibility retains a quality — “For some

language camps in Japan, we usually announce
on the announcements board at the school and
brochure. This is our intention not to advertise
special programs on social media because we
would like to restrict the number of individual
customers and control the quality of students
since we already have group customers from the
government and Japanese firms.” — CMO,
Japanese language association

Directly jump to the website—“I am rarely

active on Facebook. When I make a decision, I
jump directly to the website”— student,
Japanese language association

“I could get information faster from directly

access the website or call them rather than
waiting for a reply from a Facebook
Messenger.”— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

Variety of Tools — “Almost of print media

have turned into online media consistency with
the transformative of customer behavior in the
modern age. We once used to advertise our
school in Info biz (Free Japanese business
magazine), which all of them have gone now.
Hence, we are advertising on online free
magazines and mobile applications such as Dako
instead.” — CMO, Japanese language
association

“We encourage word of mouth by interviewing

students and teachers and recording a clip video.
Then we posted them on the website and our

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 Youtube channel (TPA Channel).”— CMO,
Japanese language association

The podcast as a future trend — “Apart from

Youtube, we consider podcasts as our potential
platform. This media capable of exceeding the
limitation of “Take it or leave it of the
broadcasting system.” Customers can choose
and customize their content; they can skip
whatever they don’t like and jump into their real
interest. This opportunity facilitate us to reach
our reader more effective.” — CMO, a Japanese
language association

AAB Connectivity

ABBA Prompt response to Online communication channel— "Most of the

customer students contact us by telephone and Facebook
Messenger, but not that much in Line. For those
who have already made a decision, they will
come to school. For those who remain to
hesitate, they texted us on facebook messenger."
— CMO, Japanese language association

"After I searched google, I had two choices in

my mind. But I chose this school because they
replied to me faster and gave me comprehensive
information than at the other school. Thus, I
decided to walk in and ask for further
information."— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

"I decided a time limitation because I have to

prepare a document and apply before the school
in Japan start the semester. This school respond
to me fastest, that’s why I chose them”—
student, Japanese language school and study
abroad agency

Insecure —"I feel insecure about chatting on

social media platforms because I don't know
when they will get back to me. Once, I would
have liked to ask something, but it showed that
the administrator was active 12 hours ago, which
means no one will answer my question for sure.
But by sending an email, you can expect that
they will reply to you. The form of e-mail
creates a strong sense of professionalism that
enforces responders to respond to your
message.” — student, Japanese language and
study abroad agency

"I feel more comfortable and more secure in face

to face communication more than contact the
school through online communication channels.
I prefer to go directly to the school and asking
for information with a real officer, not a chatbot
on Facebook messenger."— student, Japanese
language school and study abroad agency

ABBB Comprehensive "As of now, most of the students have made a

Information final decision based on the available information
we provided through online sources, especially

79
 at the Bangkok branch. They mostly contact us
only to ask a few questions through Facebook
messenger, and most of them had already made
a decision when they came to the school"—
CMO, Waseda

"Social media is fast, clear, and convenient for

students to search for information, and we can
sell the course through this channel too.
However, some information needs in-person
communication to gain trust from customers, in
which online communication channels cannot
meet our needs at some point when customers
need information in detail"— CMO, Waseda.

"Information from social media which I

collected by myself, is more comprehensive than
information I received from the school, as I
know only one-sided information"— student,
Japanese language school and study abroad
agency

"Information from what I did research and what

I obtained from the school was no difference,
but I would like to see the place before making a
purchase."— student, Japanese language school
and study abroad agency

ABBC Interconnect "We do have Facebook, website, and Line. We

developed our online platforms to link with each
other. We link the Facebook page to the website
to support online registration. It works for the
student to make a payment as they are not
required to come to the school."— CMO,
Waseda

“I did research. I googled and compared this

school and another one. But when I went to the
Facebook page of the first school, it linked with
the website and Line. I kept clicking a link and
reading information and totally forgot about the
other school.”— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency student

AC Engagement: An outcome
of interactive and co-
creative that consumer
experience to nurture
intimacy and a
relationship which
ultimately lead to a
decision to buy

ACA Content: Method that
creates and distributes the
relevant and valuable story
to entice and involve the
target audience
Hard Sell Contents —"I would say hard-sell
advertising is a perfect strategy for the
newcomer. When we first established the school,
we were a new face, nobody knew us, they even
spelled our name wrong. Thus the enthusiastic
and straight forward approach to representing
who we are, what our product is, are the key
successes for the first phase. Then soft-sell
approach would be the next step to strengthen
customer base" — CMO, Waseda

80
 Create a story —"The key success of
successful marketing is not only about what the
product is, but also how to sell a product. Thus,
creating a story and adding value are essential
strategies. By giving them stories like "lifestyle
in Japan," "educational and career path," in
Japanese university or company has become our
tactics to attract student's attention. This is the
real power of storytelling, as it could make them
see how far they can be with language course we
provided"— CMO, Waseda

Content creator as a disruptive — “This

platform also includes our competitors and those
who are not our competitors who have a
different business model. Youtubers, or
influencers on Facebook who create content like
“five minutes learning Japanese by yourself,”
took customer’s attention away from us. Instead
of spending five minutes to read through our
content, they spend time with other content with
fresh information which is more entertaining.”
— CMO, Japanese language association

“The amount of information running through

news-feeds distracted me from searching for
information. I keep sliding the screen, and in the
end, I didn't take enough time with each content.
That's why I prefer to look up information from
a website. It encourages me to concentrate on
information and provides more details than on
social media"— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

ACAA Frequency and consistency Intimacy—"Some schools contacted us directly

of content and invited us to conduct workshops or study in
Japan guidance, and when we asked them how
they have known us, they said students
requested our school. Students have known us
from following our Facebook page. So
Facebook is very effective for spreading and
sharing information that traditional media
cannot reach" — CMO, Waseda

"So far, we have 16,000 likes, but as I told you

before, the Facebook algorithm cannot make all
of 16,000 likers see every content we post on
our page. In contrast, a subscriber in Youtube
appeared to be our real customer who interested
in our content." — CMO, Japanese language
association

“Every time we posted our new schedule on

Facebook Page, some students text us via
messenger”— CMO, Waseda

“I have seen the school’s advertisements on

Facebook and some Facebook pages. Because I
have followed Facebook pages that relevant to
Japan. So content about this school often pop up
on my newsfeed”— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

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 "If schools didn't pay much attention to the
content or didn't update any information, I
would find another option. But this school is
different, they are very active on the Facebook
page"— student, Japanese language school and
study abroad agency

The name of this school sounds so similar to me.

It was like….. I heard this name before. That's
was the first reason for me to chose this
school"— student, Japanese language school
and study abroad agency

Intimacy eliminates the option — “When I had

to choose between two schools I asked for
information from friends. After a friend
mentioned this school, this name popped up in
my head. It was like…. I had heard this name
before, and I saw them on newsfeed a couple of
times. But for the other schools, the name didn’t
ring a bell. That’s why I chose the first one I was
familiar with.”— student, Japanese language
and study abroad agency

Encourage trust — I get a feeling of the

professional atmosphere from their Facebook
page. They are very active and keep updated
information on their Facebook Page, whereas
other schools do not" — student, Japanese
language and study abroad agency

Excessive/Infrequency of content posted —

“Social media is excessive. The overwhelming
information feed in new feeds has diminished
the feeling of exclusivity which we gain from
word of mouth” — CMO, Japanese language
association

"Do they have a Facebook page? I didn't know

that before."— student, Japanese language
association

“They infrequently update information on the

facebook page. I only access the Facebook page
to check when it is a holiday or when the school
will close.”— student, Waseda

ACAB Approachable Story Youtube clip — " We post several clips on

Youtube channel. The response depends on the
story. For example, the video related to Kaizen
got a high viewer and responded"— CMO,
Japanese language association

Photo Album — "Pictures of the place,

activities, comments, and feedbacks posted on
Facebook, make me trust the school. Once, I
went to another school, but the place was quite
small and outdated. I suddenly lost my passion
since I walked through that door, so I turned to
another choice"— student, Japanese language
school and study abroad agency

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 “Before I made a decision, I was worried they
were going to fool me. So, I looked up a picture
in a Facebook album. There was the album
name ‘study abroad’. I searched for the picture
of students, and the picture at the airport to see
how well they treated their students, how were
the schools, the staff, and what did the sensei
(teacher) look like.”— student, Japanese
language and study abroad agency
"I search more about the picture and atmosphere
of the school in Facebook picture albums and
google street view.”— student, Japanese
language school and study abroad agency

"I focus more on the picture and atmosphere of

the classroom. It is very difficult for me to
decide without any picture."— student, Japanese
language school and study abroad agency

Travel and lifestyle content—“The content of

this school is very interesting. They keep
updated videos and pictures about places to go,
and where to eat in Japan. Some of them have
cartoon characters, or an animation provided
information about a career path, the atmosphere
of the classroom, and tips on living in Japan. I
was really impressed by that, and these made me
trust them"— student, the Japanese language
and study abroad agency

“I read content on their Facebook Page; they

usually update student life and the atmosphere
of the school in Kyoto. When I chose a school, I
rarely access the website. I mainly ask friends
and read stories which they posted about schools
on their Facebook page.”— student,
Japanese Language School and Study abroad
agency

"Contents which draw my attention are more

about general things, such as traveling, food,
events, vocabulary, and tips. I like to share
contents about vocabulary to learn new words
because I am a Japanese language tutor."—
Japanese language school and study abroad
agency student

"Sometimes, I click like content, which almost

of them are not relevant to the Japanese
language, or school information. It is mainly
about tips for living in Japan."— Japanese
language school and study abroad agency
student

“Before I made a decision, I like to watch a lot

of videos and photos about the cities and the
experience of foreign students in Japan on the
Facebook page. These encourage me to keep up
with my plan. I can imagine how my life is
going to be when I am there.”— student,
Japanese Language School and Study abroad

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 “At that time, I learned the Japanese language
just for fun, and I didn’t have any serious plan
until I ran into content about Chorishi Semmon
Gakkou (a cooking college) on newsfeed posted
by this school that I had followed for a long
time. Once I clicked like, I started to see more
content about study in Japan. I am a chef; that's
why this content motivated me to decide further
my studies in Japan"— student, Japanese
languages and study abroad agency

Lifestyle content triggers a need

recognition—“I have followed the school
Facebook page after I had become the language
student for a while. So once, when I liked the
page, I had started to see more content on a
newsfeed, which motivate me to settle the plan
to study further in Japan”— student, Japanese
language school and study abroad agency

Information updated content retain a

relationship — “I have followed the school’s
Facebook Page to update information since I
decided on a plan to study further in Japan. They
are always update schedules, dates and time of
events on the Facebook page”— student,
Japanese language and study abroad agency

ACAC Interactive Content Interactive Content — "Sometimes, students

complain that our website is very boring and
difficult to find. Information is not up-to-date, so
we created a Facebook page and created some
activity or campaign for our students"—CMO,
Waseda

“I like the content that they posted on newsfeed

a lot, but I have not shared any of them on my
wall”— student, Waseda

Collaborative Campaign—"Sometimes
outdoor activity comes with many conditions,
bad weather or readiness of personnel and
equipment which we do not know. Thus we
have created online campaigns and have invited
our fan page to share their impression. For
example, we once collaborated with Starbucks
and invited students to share an impression
about studying in Waseda on the newsfeed. We
selected ten customers and gave them a free cash
card from Starbucks" — CMO, Waseda

ACAD Discount and online "We do not focus on discounts and promotions
campaign that much. We used to give a discount or free
trial class for students when we first opened the
first branch in Bangkok. At present, we offered
the free-trial course only for the new branches
outside the Bangkok area, like in Sriracha and
Chiangmai — CMO, Waseda.

"Our board committee usually said our price is

reasonable for such a quality we provide to
students. Instead of offering a discount, we
usually give them free books or materials which

84
 can encourage our student's potential" — CMO,
Waseda

“Cheap price strategy will hurt our brand value

and reputation”— CMO, Waseda

"We create a few questions and give a book

discount on Facebook Page. But our promotion
is made only for support book publishing
business. Disruptive technology caused us to
struggled to sell the book." — CMO, Japanese
language association

“I am not really concerned about discounts or

promotion. It is not a big deal for me.
Curriculum and the teachers are my biggest
concern”— student, Waseda

"I don't interest in any discounts or

promotions."— student, Japanese language
association

B Traditional Media Limitation — " Before step up as a leader in

Marketing: The collective Japanese Language school in Thailand, Waseda
process of performing had been through a very tough time when the
marketing research, Japanese language didn't mainstream as
promoting and selling nowadays. As a newcomer, this was very
products challenging for us to attract the target with only
available resources at that time"— CMO,
Waseda

BA Incredibility: The attitude from a friend before social

Negative attitude towards media— "Back then, I got a job position at JAL,
the commercial source, so I was looking for a beginner course before
which creates uncertainty attending the language practice session held by
and unreliable perception. the company. I decided to choose the school
where my friend recommended"— student,
Japanese language association

"I chose this school because the name sound

similar to me. I had known the school from my
teacher when I was in secondary school. My
teacher mentioned about TPA a couple of times.
She didn't directly mention the school, but
whenever she had a small talk, gave an example,
or shared information about open house held or
education fair, the name of TPA also first came
up."— student, Japanese language association

"At the first decade of Waseda, we did a survey,

and we found out that recommendation by
friends came as a first answer when we ask the
question "How do you know Waseda," but it is
not like that anymore" — CMO, Waseda

"Most of our students know us from friends.

Word of mouth appeared to perform better than
social media mechanisms for us. The majority of
our students were recommended by old students
who have studied with us before."— CMO, a
Japanese language association

85
Ss BB Invariability: The slow
process of transaction,
inaccessibility with offline
media, and invariability of
tools
BC Disengagement: A low
involvement between
86
The slow process of communication —"Even
we rely on outdoor activities to reach students,
but we cannot deny that by printing brochure
and attending every fair, consume time and the
budget, but still limit access to a small group of
people. Some event, we got only 50 students
who registered their name on our list" — CMO,
Waseda
Disruptive technology — “In our case, we used
to pay for commercial ads in both magazines
and free magazines, but nowadays there are
none of them survive anymore in the age of
digital”— CMO, Japanese language association
Restricted Method — "We once advertised our
school in Student weekly (Free English
magazine). Still, the problem was almost of
readers were students who are interested in
learning the English language, not Japanese. But
we had no choice back then, as there were few
Japanese language magazines" — CMO, Waseda
"Back then, we mainly used materials like
brochures as a tool to provide necessary
information that students should know, such as
course, price, access, or even a contact. We took
them with us to every educational fair and
exhibition which we were attending" — CMO,
Waseda
Brochure — “Indeed, the brochure provides
more detail, but I already made up my mind
(more than 80%) before I went to the school.
The brochure and information from the school
were not speedy enough.”— student, Japanese
language and study abroad agency.
Broadcast — "We continue to advertise through
radio because we have a publishing business.
Our main customers are still in the traditional
platform"— CMO, Japanese language
association.
Strong Network — "We send our Japanese
teacher to train employees in other Japanese
firms. Most employees and trainee teachers have
known us from word of mouth within our
network." — CMO, Japanese language
association
Email— "Email is the most convenient option
for me so that I can list questions that I would
like to ask and they can answer me point by
point"— student, Japanese language school and
study abroad agency
Telephone —"It was easier to call rather than
ask on Facebook chat, which is much slower,
and I don't know whom I talk with." — student,
Japanese language and study abroad agency
Unpredictable—"Sometimes outdoor activity
comes with many conditions, bad weather or
 customers and brands readiness of personnel and equipment which we
performed as passive and could not know. By this uncontrollable
involved a weak level of condition, we had missed many chances to target
relationship (Gabbott & our customer" — CMO, Waseda
Neumann, 2014).
Unsustainable — After I finished the course,
the relationship between the school and the
student gradually fades. Since I had no longer
interested in any activities or attended any
school's events anymore"— student, Japanese
language school and study abroad agency

“I couldn’t remember that much. As far as I

remembered, there was only one time; I attended
a language exchange event”— student, Japanese
language association

"I neither followed any information about the

school or attended any activity held by the
school." — student, Japanese language
association

Outdoor Activities —“As a newcomer, I would

say that an educational fair or workshop is the
best way to present our brand image and make
people recognize the name “Waseda” from day
one without any social media to up until now”
— CMO, Waseda.

Before we have a google search, we encouraged

word of mouth by building an alumni network.
We try to keep relation with them by created
some activities and events to gather them
together”— CMO, Waseda

The network is the key success —"Japan

foundation and our alliances are the key success
more than any other marketing activities. Our
position is very different from other tutoring
schools. Information, recommendation, and
word of mouth fed within our network
encourage the reputation and credibility of the
school and create a sense of exclusivity. We can
organize language exchange programs and
cultural events between Japanese and Thai
cooperations from the support of our alliances
who are members of this network." — CMO,
Japanese language association

Reader network—“I have known this school

from the book that they published. I usually buy
books from their publisher. I saw a brochure
attached at the back of the book, and I then
realized they also have a language course.
One day when I had a plan to learn a third
language, the name of this school was the first to
come to my mind.” — student, Japanese
language association

"I am engaged with this school because I bought

their book since I was a child."— student,
Japanese language association

87
 Workshop — “At present, we are concentrating
on the workshop, which is considered as our main
strategy that differentiates Waseda from other
schools. We initially apply this strategy to our
new branches in Chiangmai, following with
Sriracha and Bangkok.

Recently, we successfully promoted our new

branch in Chiangmai (a province in the northern
part of Thailand) with a “workshop.” We selected
the location of the workshop, which close to local
markets, universities, and tourist attraction spots.
Then, the marketing team chose a trending topic,
namely “environmental protection,” to link a
story with Japanese culture. For example, we
conducted a workshop on “Furoshiki” (風呂敷,
Japanese fabric wrapping)” in several schools and
universities. We taught students how to wrap gifts
with cloth and introduced Waseda at the end of
the workshop. We invited the participants to
follow us on Facebook to make a reservation for
a free trial class. By posting the schedule of the
workshop on social media and taking the team out
to interact with the students, Waseda managed to
target real customers through a real conversation
with students who will show a potential in
making a purchase.

The feedback was really good, and students

totally love it. So we decide to keep up with this
strategy and apply it to other branches. We
recently went to Kasetsart University and
University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce,
and all university loves it because they don’t
have to prepare anything. Since we brought
equipment on our own” — CMO, Waseda

Conversation — "Maybe, there are other

schools that specialize in social media
marketing. I can say that because I have seen
many schools doing way better than us. But for
now, we believe in taking our team out and
making a conversation" — CMO, Waseda

Membership Program — “Sometimes we

launch discounts or promotions to retain our
students, But our main promotion is the
membership program. We give a discount and
privileges to our members, such as a discount
for a book, language course, and a seminar.” —
CMO, Japanese language association

C CA Marketing Mixes "We could say that Social media and traditional
media should come together. We cannot archive
without either of them" — CMO, Waseda.

"We do believe in the traditional way of

marketing. As of now, we remain to prioritize
traditional media and social media equally
However, we really aware of the trend of social
media. We expected to do something with social
media in the near future. We plan to shift our
focus more on social media and reduce the role

88
 of traditional media. Otherwise, we can lose our
competitive advantage, because we are not fast
enough to beat our competitors"— CMO,
Waseda

"Every channel affects us all, but it is difficult to

tell which one is the most effective" — CMO,
Japanese language association

CB Organizational Structure “The organizational structure as a social

enterprise gives us a competitive advantage in
targeting customer and reduce marketing cost,
due to the strong network and collaboration. But
this also limits the opportunity in business
expansion and profit-making like other private
tutoring schools.” — CMO, Japanese language
association

"I decide to choose this school because of the

name of "institution" sound professional to me
"— student, Japanese language association

"I didn't have any favorable perception of this

school. The quality was so-so and nothing
special. But I first chose this school because the
name "institution" of TPA sound professional
and more credibility than other schools"—
student, Japanese language association.

"If I didn't know anything before, I would

believe in the reputation of this school, which
the name as an institution sounds professional to
me. But when I had my own experience in
studying there. I can tell you that there are better
options than this one."— student, Japanese
language association

“I had a plan to further study in Japan. So I think

it was more convenient to study at this school.
Because It provides a full-service both language
courses and study abroad agency"— student,
Japanese language school and study abroad
agency

CC First Move Advantage "We accept that our long history as a first
Japanese language institution significantly
affects the selection of most students. Most of
them have already known us from the book
since we are an officially license holders of
Minna No Nihongo. All secondary students in
the Japanese language program in Thailand use
it as a compulsory textbook. So whenever there
are any changes in this textbook, we are the first
one who knows that change. By this first-mover
advantage, we can change our language course
following the new version of the textbook before
anyone else knows that. In that sense, other
institutions always one step behind us."— CMO,
Japanese language association

CD Another factors affect Parent and company — "Final purchase

purchase Decision decision possibly depends on age. Students who
are young still have to rely on their parents as

89
 they provide financial support. But for those
who are adult, sometimes the final decision
made by the company or even student
themselves"— CMO, Japanese language
association

Japanese teacher —"I chose Waseda because

they claimed that all classes are taught by
Japanese teachers. Learning with a native speaker
is my biggest concern" — student, Waseda.

Atmosphere — "Information from what I did

research and what I obtained from the school
were no differences, but I just want to see the
place before making a purchase."— student,
Japanese language school and study abroad
agency

"When I finished the information search, I called

them, and I went to the school by myself, because
I would like to experience the real atmosphere of
how is it like to study there"— student, Waseda

“The teaching method of Waseda is unique. Not

only a high-quality class but also an atmosphere,
officer, and location, all of these factors affect the
decision of students" — CMO, Waseda.

Face to Face communication — "I relied on

information obtained from the school the most. I
feel like comments on the internet or Facebook
provides general information that everyone
should know. In contrast, you can get
information in detail which you really want to
know from face to face communication."—
student, Waseda

“I prefer face to face communication before I

take any action. If I couldn’t see the place or
staff in person, I would not know what kinds of
question I should ask. I also would like to see
the place to check whether the classroom is ok
or not. If the classroom is like any other tutoring
school, or the study atmosphere is not good, I
might turn to another option.” — student,
Waseda

90