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Social Media in Higher Education: A Framework for Continuous

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Article in International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education · November 2018
DOI: 10.4018/IJICTE.2019010108
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International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education
Volume 15 • Issue 1 • January-March 2019
Social Media in Higher Education:

A Framework for Continuous Engagement
Vikas Kumar, School of Business Studies, Sharda University, Greater Noida, India
Pooja Nanda, School of Business Studies, Sharda University, Greater Noida, India
ABSTRACT
Higher Education Institutes across the world have started using social media to reach out to the
prospective students as well as to interact with current students and alumni. Social media improves
the communication on one hand and helps in promotional and development activities on the other.
Present work explores the integration of social media in different processes in Higher Educational
Institutes. A student enters the institute with admission process and exits after completion of degree.
While on the campus, a student is involved in curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.
At the same time, a student participates in the communication with the fellow students and other
corporate and social forums. In all of these activities, social media can play a prominent and vital role.
However, the success of social media roles depends upon; how the different stakeholders are engaged.
A comprehensive study has been carried out to identify the role of social media in different activities
of the higher education institutes. These activities range from looking for the new students, engaging
them on the campus and maintaining communication after they leave the campus. Implications from
teaching-learning, administrative, marketing and communication perspective have been identified. A
framework has been proposed to integrate the specific social media channels in different processes in
the higher education institutes. The framework will be very much useful in developing successful social
media campaigns for higher educational institutes as well as to effectively engage the stakeholders.
Keywords
Higher Education, Information Systems, Media, Social Media
INTRODUCTION
Social media has emerged as a powerful medium of communication across the globe and its extensive
use has changed the way, people communicate and interact online. Social media channels include
the social networking sites, blogs, vlogs, instant messaging, and virtual communities. Beyond the
boundaries of personal communication, social media is also redefining the ways in which organizations
are reaching their audiences and communicating with the individuals (Hendricks & Schill, 2015).
It has become an integral part of the strategies of almost all industrial sectors, and higher education
institutes are also prioritizing social media to connect to a large audience. This can also be attributed
to the fact that social media has become the primary means of interaction within the world for younger
DOI: 10.4018/IJICTE.2019010108

Copyright © 2019, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

109
generation, and this young generation is the primary audience for the higher education institutions.
According to 2017 statistics, the average time spent by millennial users (people born after 1980)
worldwide on mobile internet is 223 minutes per day, which has actually got doubled from 2012 to
2017 (Statista, 2017). This proves a strong dependence of young people on the internet as part of
their daily line.
Higher Education environment is also experiencing a period of great change (Bolat & Sullivan,
2017). Alterations in student tuition fees, de-regulation of student number controls, value for money,
trends towards large-scale marketing and viewing the student as the consumer are a number of changes
being observed in higher education (Scullion & Molesworth, 2016; Tomlinson, 2015).Correspondingly,
the Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) are looking forward to new and effective tools for marketing and
internet based tools and technologies can prove very much vital in this. Technology not only makes it
easy to obtain information, but also allows people to interact through cyberspace (Kusumawati et al.,
2014). Nayar and Kumar (2018) have argued that Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
removes the big constraints of time and space in higher education and enables access on anytime and
anywhere basis.With the rising prominence of social media in recent years, many promotional tools
like traditional print and broadcast media have faced major challenges like timeliness, convenience
and cost effectiveness. That is why, a large number of HEIs have also embraced some forms of social
media for promotional purposes. Prior to introduction of social media, higher educational institutions
relied primarily on websites as a basic environment for engagement due to the interactive nature
of the web (Kang & Norton, 2006). Traditional marketing tactics have always facilitated one way
communication; however, social media provides organizations with the opportunity to engage in two-
way communications with their audiences. In this regard, social media has the ability to “…facilitate
dialogue among groups that wouldn’t easily be in conversation with each other- current students,
prospective students, alumni, parents, and friends of the college…” (Bednar, 2013).
Communication is placed at the core of the human experience. Apart from the use of social
media in marketing, it can also find applications in interaction, teaching-learning, awareness and
communication. Social media enables educational institutions to provide stakeholders with information
about institutional news, events, new policies, job vacancies, new research programs and alumni
engagement in an easy and faster way. Social media provides a perfect platform for highlighting new
courses and campus facilities in an attempt to attract more students. With majority of student crowd
present on social media, it provides institutes a platform to promote activities, receive feedback and
start conversations. It provides a better way to connect with parents and keep them up-to-date. Thus,
social media serves as an important medium of connecting students, teachers, parents, alumni and other
stakeholders. It also helps in reviewing user-generated comments and content related to all aspects
of the provision of higher education services (Scullion & Molesworth, 2016). Undoubtedly the 21st
century students are active, digital savvy and better choice makers, whose expectations, motives and
experiences are socially constructed (Kandiko & Mawer, 2013). The social media landscape, therefore
creates opportunities for HEIs to amplify psychological engagement with students and to increase
influence by following student-to-student conversations (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).
Growth of Social Media

Social media is growing at a tremendous pace. More and more people, especially young generation,
are using social media platforms to express their opinions on all aspects. Adoption of social media has
been increasing in recent years and the number of worldwide users is expected to reach 2.9 billion by
2020 (Statista, 2017). Both the rapid adoption of social media and growth in the portable devices, have
contributed to this transformation. The shift in communication has thus mounted up to a huge amount
of user-generated content, such as views, sentiments, thoughts, news, locations, and preferences. The
rise in social media users’ data is thus proportional to the rising need for organizations to monitor
and use these data to their advantage. Through this user-generated data, decision-makers can have
access to timely perception of the market’s mood and consumers’ attitudes towards an organization,
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service or product. Marketers can investigate those social media data to discover new knowledge such
as brand popularity and understand the performance of their competitors, and afterwards use these
findings to gain a competitive edge over their competitors or make informed strategic decisions about
their organizations. As per a report by social media examiner in 2016, a significant 90% of marketers
said that social media is important to their businesses (Socialmediaexaminer, 2016).
Kumar and Pradhan (2015) have presented the different aspects of social media marketing along
with the specific channels. Social media delivers measurable results in sales, leads, and branding. As
per DMA’s response rate report (DMA, 2016), 74% of marketers planned to grow their social media
advertising in the next 12 months. The statista.com (Statista, 2017) statistics estimated the expected
revenue to be 41 billion USD in 2017, up from 17.85 billion in 2014.This depicts that the worldwide
revenue from social network advertisement spending is accelerating at a faster pace and industry is
looking forward to its wide range applications.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND HIGHER EDUCATION
Over the last decade, higher education has been on a steep growth trajectory. Expectations on the
part of young people and their parents are high. Therefore, Higher Education has become one of the
fastest-growing service sectors (Alwi & Kitchen, 2014). Recent changes in the Higher Education
context have forced institutions to reconsider their operational and strategic models, integrating market-
driven practices to remain competitive and to maintain economic viability (Scullion & Molesworth,
2016; Tomlinson, 2015). Marketing theories and concepts, which have been effective in the private
sector, are now being applied by many HEIs to gain competitive advantage (Hemsley-Brown &
Oplatka, 2006; Jan & Ammari, 2016; Royo-Vela & Hünermund, 2016). There are various reasons
that make digital marketing the best means of reaching out to the majority of the student population
today. Some of these are:
• Students spend more time on the internet rather than other medias (including television);
• Advertisements on the internet are highly effective and outperform the traditional
advertising methods;
• Prospective students use internet for searching / selecting the educational institutions and courses;
• Parents and guardians have started to judge a school or college based on its website and its
online presence;
• Students explore and compare the institutions on the basis of their online presence;
• Majority of the institutions using internet for the student application and query processes;
• Expatriates and outstation students rely heavily on the web for admission application process.
Education institutions need to be managed more in comparison to corporate brands (Whelan &
Wohlfeil, 2006). Social media is seen as a viable tool for university communicators due to its low cost,
immediacy, and use by a large number of students (Kelleher & Sweetser, 2012). If we consider the
process flow in the higher education institutes (Figure 1), there are four important processes starting
from the promotion and admission process.
In all of these processes, social media can lead to improvements in the way how HEIs can assist
in with student development. Furthermore, different ways have been identified by which institutional
departments can use social media to communicate with various audiences (internal and external)
regarding various processes in the universities/institutes. These have been discussed below.
Promotion and Admission Process

Effective strategic planning and brand management requires more than traditional advertising and
marketing methods in the present day globalized scenario. Communicating a brand successfully to the
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Figure 1. Process flow at higher education institutes
current and prospective students requires very specific plan along with the effective communication
tools. Social media has become an important tool that can influence a student’s decision to inquire,
apply, and enroll or not. A survey conducted in the year 2014 by Zinch cloud services (social admissions
report, 2014) found that 68% of students used social media to research schools, and 38% used it as
a decision tool to select a school to enroll. Social media is especially a popular trend among college
students (Theone,2012). Admissions department of higher education institutes is focused on creating
connections with students and have a specific task of bringing in the next wave of qualified applicants
to the institute. This department invests in social media usage because many students use these social
networks and to get more authentic information about the institute. Social media portals can be used
as a source of information for incoming students and provide a sense of connection before stepping
in the university campus. Social media offers tools for targeted marketing and hence reaching the
perfect audience. Institutions that craft and manage a unified brand message achieve a competitive
advantage in recruiting, retaining and building loyalty amongst their students, parents, staff, faculty,
alumnae and donors. Following strategies can be used to improve the admission process in Higher
Educational Institutes by using social media:
• Give 360° virtual tours of campus: The universities and Higher Educational Institutes can give
a 360° virtual tour of the campus so that the prospective students can get a feel of being at the
campus and have a look at the amenities;
• Posting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s): Before taking admission in any college, students
have many queries/questions in their mind which they would like to clarify before their final
decision. Institutions can post FAQs on the social media and students can actively participate
in the discussion;
• Posing creative questions: Many creative questions can be posted on social media to generate
interest among the prospective students;
• Active Response to the queries: HEIs can respond to the queries on social media in a nearly
real-time manner and in the most informal way;
• Event Postings: Institutes should keep posting about current events happening in the campus.
This helps the prospective students in understanding the vibrancy at the campus;
• Connect with a Social Cause: It is always good for the reputation of colleges or institutes to
work for some social cause. HEIs should connect to some to some social cause through the social
media, this can help in reaching to a wider audience and improving the brand image of the institute;
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• Posting Deadlines and Reminders: Regular reminders about application deadlines etc.
can be posted on the social media to keep a constant touch with the applicants. Postings
regarding the common aptitude exams and the applicable national / international tests can
prove to be very effective.
As educational institutes are targeting an ever‐increasing and diverse student base, successful
branding and promotion helps them to differentiate from competitors. This results in increased
enrollment, expanded fundraising capabilities, improved networks and hence an established brand.
On Campus Engagement
Social learning theory says that students learn best when they learn from each other (Kumar & Sharma,
2016). In this regard, social media can play a vital role in carrying out the learning activities, which are
both educational and engaging. Social media enables students to plug into social media sites such as:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and more throughout the course of their everyday
activities. These interactions can be tapped towards the learning process. Classroom announcements
and discussions can be carried forward to micro-blogging sites, where more interaction can take
place. In addition, university programming councils and students’ affairs departments are student
organizations that plan and execute events for students on campus. These departments can look at
the content, comment, moderate and share the messages over social media. Thus, students are able
to invest more time and energy towards a fruitful objective. This leads to a successful group learning
format, strongly appealing to young and socially conscious learners. The activities can have a positive
influence on the student engagement within the campus. Interactive content can come from online
videos, photos, blog etc. Interactive dialogues are supported by discussion boards, online forums,
virtual meetings and recorded text messaging transcripts on social media sites. Social media also
transforms the role of the educator from being a content provider to a content interpreter. Thus, the
learning environment becomes more flexible with high level of participation and feedback mechanisms
from the students. Following strategies can be used to improve the on-campus engagement of students
in Higher Education Institutes by using social media:
• Share Resources/ Material: Students can share online resources related to coursework;
• Post/Upload Assignments: Homework / assignments can be posted to remind students to do
their homework;
• Informative Postings: Program councils can post information about campus activities, lecture
series, workshops happening in the college/university;
• Online Feedback: Social media offers opportunities for a wide range of impact, as well as
provide venue for immediate feedback and support;
• Specific Event Pages: Most Institutes organize the annual technical and cultural fests. Dedicated
pages can be designed for these events and promotions can run throughout the year at no additional
costs. This also leads to a continuous engagement of students to their own events;
• Create Online Communities: Using social media to create an online community can allow
for electronic conversations to take place and the ability to educate students about resources
available at their institution;
• Hosting Blogs: Students can share what they know with the others by hosting blogs and inviting
other classrooms to see what they have learned. Teachers can post blogs to keep parents ‘in the
loop’ about what their child is learning.
Social media can be a useful tool to promote a sense of belongingness within the campus
community and contributing to persistence of students. When these sites are used properly, they can
generate conversation and provide opportunities for students to become more involved with their
academics and with the campus community. Participation of teaching and support staff in these spaces
113
provide the opportunity to build richer relationships with learners and to notice concerns, issues, or
misunderstandings. This leads to a creative, thoughtful, and lively culture of engagement within the
institute, including a rapid turnover of very high-quality content.
Placement and Career Development

Students generally attend university for two reasons: to learn and to set themselves up for a future
career. Employability may not be a primary concern during the first year, but as a student nears the
completion of higher education degree, employment becomes a prime concern. Student placement
has always been a concern for the higher-education institutions and several factors have increased
this pressure in the recent times. Perez et al. (2010) have discussed the most important employability
challenges for the present day education and training system. A tight economic envelope and more
competition for jobs among a wider pool of candidates means that students need to do everything
they can to edge ahead. Social media is a powerful tool that connects students with professionals,
alumni, recruiters and organizations. Getting digital at university, as in learning how to lead, connect,
and network, is an important part of employability. For example, students should be using LinkedIn
for networking and career intelligence and learning how to use Twitter for professional development.
Social media channels will evolve over time, but the functionality and value within each site/service/
app is what matters at present. A lot of emphasis is required to guide young people, how to use the
information and how to evaluate the reliability and validity of career information. Social media can
also provide better industry exposure to institutions looking for on campus placement. Following
strategies can be used for a more effective role of social media in placement and career development:
• Professional Profile Building: Social Media channels such as LinkedIn makes it easy to build
a professional profile in a very standardized way with least efforts. Students can be motivated
to use these tools in an effective way;
• Job Hunting: A lot of organizations post their jobs through the social media. Students can tap
this, while looking for the final placements and the internships;
• Following targeted organizations: Students can follow the target organizations and keep
themselves updated on the happenings in these organizations;
• Participation in Professional Groups: A lot of professional groups have been organized on
different channels of social media. Students can join the relevant groups on social media and
keep themselves updated with the latest knowledge;
• Networking with the established professional: Periodic connections can be made with the
established professionals and this can lead to successful network in due course of time;
• Showcasing knowledge and interest: Students can share their knowledge, expertise and
experiences. This can help in proving their skills and leading to recommendations towards
specific projects and jobs;
• Establishing an Institutional Image: Institutes can build a professional image of themselves
with their social media profile. Number of followers on the social media and effective engagement
can prove as vital tools of this. An established institutional image always leads to better recruiters
on the campus.
Alumni Networks and Professional Development

Alumni are the brand ambassadors of their institutions. A strong and a positive relationship with
their alumni can benefit the institutes socially, academically and professionally. Social media is
perhaps the most important and effective tool in keeping a continuous engagement with the Alumni
and keeping track of their activities. Today, there are numerous alumni groups on various social
networking platforms with a large number of active members representing the particular HEI. In a
study conducted by Council of Advancement and Support for Education (CASE) in 2014, it was found
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that about 84% of social media used by educational institutions are directed to engage alumni (http://
blog.vergepipemedia.com/staying-connected-with-college-graduates-social-media-and-alumni).
Institutions should harness this social media presence of their alumni for activities that are beneficial
for students, staff, higher level management as well as the alumni. Earlier alumni associations and their
alma-mater were treated as separate entities, wherein one’s existence was independent of the other.
Many alumni associations seldom had any continuous interaction with the institution they graduated
from. With the advent of Social Media, alumni relationship has taken a different turn altogether. The
success of institutes is highly dependent on the alumni networking. A success cycle of Alumni relations
has been represented by Figure 2. Networking with the Alumni can lead to awareness and perception
about the institute among the prospective students and this can lead to the effective admissions in
the institute. Further, the continued relationships can lead to better student experience at the campus
and hence leading to a strong alumni network at the end.
Universities have started harnessing the power of alumni through various networking platforms
like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc. by creating their alumni groups and profiles on them. For
instance, at IIT-Madras (www.iitm.ac.in), the strength is the strong alumni network of people who
are all extremely successful in their respective careers (http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/
The-alumni-advantage). Social networking sites are helping alumni associations to grow stronger.
Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), has a HR e-group called Mica HR that
has job postings in different industries and at various management levels. All the members are alumni
of MICA and can post and receive updates. Information technology also enables alumni groups
to stay in touch and be updated about their alma mater. Some of the other examples are: Loyola
University Chicago sends Valentine’s Day greetings to college sweethearts, reaching out to alumni
who met on campus (https://www.bwf.com/alumni-engagement/). Cornell University invites alumni
to share their “Big Red Love Stories” on a special alumni webpage, with over 160 postings to date
(https://www.bwf.com/alumni-engagement/). University of Missouri-Kansas City asks alumni to
“Be Our Valentine” and make a donation to the alumni fund in honor of a loved one(https://www.
Figure 2. The success cycle of maintaining alumni relations
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bwf.com/alumni-engagement/). Kent State University created a Valentine’s Day video greeting card
with a link to upcoming alumni events (https://www.bwf.com/alumni-engagement/). Rhode Island
School of Design hosted a “Some Day My Prints Will Come” Valentine gathering at an alumnae’s
local letterpress studio (https://www.bwf.com/alumni-engagement/). Various ways in which alumni
connections can help a university are:
• Placement Source: Alumni network offers the biggest sources of placement opportunities for
students. Alumni can help students to connect to their companies with the social media. E.g.
Elon University provides a Skype suite so that employers can conduct interviews remotely as
well as multi‐screen facilities so that employers can present information via video chat while
also using a PowerPoint;
• Mentoring Support: Alumni can play an active role in student mentoring programmes in their
areas of expertise. They also play a significant role in contributing scholarships to deserving
students. E.g. – The German Academic Exchange office - DAAD (Deutsche Akademischer
Austausch Dienst) wishes to stay in contact with its former scholarship holders via social media;
• Career Guidance: Alumni is a huge talent pool whose guidance can be beneficial to many
students in their respective areas of study. For example – IISC (The Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore) is truly proud of its illustrious and accomplished alumni who have made exceptional
contributions to the advancement of science and technology worldwide (https://www.alumni.
iisc.ac.in/page/about);
• Fund-raising: A strong alumni association can be one of the biggest benefactors of an institution
in contributing to the various developmental activities of the institution and social media has
a lot of role to play in this. E.g. Colgate University (@colgatealumni) in New York, integrated
Facebook Connect to its donation process, allowing donors to post about their gifts to the school
in their Facebook status (mashable.com/2009/07/23/alumni-social-media). Because of the huge
reach of Facebook and the visibility of status updates, other alumni of the school will also be
encouraged or reminded to donate.
PROPOSED FRAMEWORK
Considering the prominent activities of the HEIs, a framework for social media engagement has been
proposed for the HEIs as shown in Figure 3. The framework considers the most important processes
and their associated social media platforms. As discussed in the previous section, admission process
is the starting point for student interaction. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest can serve
as the most important social media platforms for this activity. Students can participate in the FAQ
chats and queries using their Facebook accounts. This interactivity allows prospective students to feel
more connected and engaged with the universities they are considering attending. Pictures and videos
of the campus infrastructure and the activities can be shared with the help of YouTube, Instagram
and Pinterest. Teens are the primary audience for Instagram and this can be perfectly targeted by the
admissions team.
Discussion forums and sharing of materials are two most important activities in the on campus
engagement process. Learning Management Systems can play in significant role in the material sharing
and conducting the feedbacks. WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter can be used to create the discussion
forums and online communities. They can also be helpful to conduct the open feedbacks and both the
personal and group communications. In case of Alumni networking, mentoring and career guidance
are the two most important activities and LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter as well as Blogs can play a
significant role in this. Connection on LinkedIn helps you to keep a track of the career moments of the
Alumni, whereas Facebook, twitter and blogs can realize the continuous communication. Fundraising
campaigns can also be initiated and realized with the features of Facebook. Similarly, job hunting and
116
Figure 3. Framework for social media engagement in higher education institutes
professional profiling are the most important activities in the placement process. LinkedIn proves
to be the most effective tool in professional profiling the connections. Many organizations post jobs
through LinkedIn. Along with that Facebook, Twitter and Blogs can also help in preparing for jobs
and job hunting.
In totality, integrating social media platforms help in improving the processes at HEIs through
improved and fast communication with better engagement of the stakeholders. Since, many of the
social media platforms are shared by different processes, it becomes easy to control them from a
single handle and keep a track of the information flow and activities.
117
CONCLUSION
Social media offers a big opportunity to the higher education institutions in terms of student
engagement and development in a very constructive way. Four major areas of concern for the HEIs
can be addressed by the proposed framework to integrate the institute processes with specific social
media tools. Integration of the specific social media tools throughout the journey of students can make
their experience more rich and engaging and hence leading to the success of HEI. The framework
allows the students to engage with both: campus community as well as the outside networks and offers
a perfect connect throughout their lifetime. Successful social media campaigns can be developed by
the institutes on the basis of framework and help students gain most out of their education. Choice
of specific channels can also lead to a focused attention on a specific tool for a particular purpose
and avoid the unnecessary budgets and efforts.
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Journal of Brand Management, 13(4-5), 313–329. doi:10.1057/palgrave.bm.2540274
Vikas Kumar received an MSc in Electronics from Kurukshetra University, Haryana, India. This was followed
by an MSc in Computer Science and further a Ph D. from the same university. He also did his MBA in the area
of Operations Management & IT. His PhD work was in collaboration with CEERI, Pilani and he has worked in a
number of ISRO sponsored projects. Dr. Kumar has designed and conducted number of training programs for the
corporate sector and is a trainer for a number of Govt of India departments. Along with six books, He has more
than 100 research papers to his credit in various national and international conferences and journals. He was the
Editor of International Quarterly Refereed Journal “Asia-Pacific Business Review” during June 2007-June 2009.
He is a regular reviewer for a number of International Journals and on panel of examiners on a number of Govt.
Universities for UG / PG and doctoral programmes.
Pooja Nanda is currently working with Sharda University. She has also done her MBA in the area of IT. She has
more than 15 years’ experience in education sector and has presented many research papers in national and
international conferences.
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Social Media in Higher Education: A Framework for Continuous

Vikas Kumar Pooja Nanda

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Social Media in Higher Education:

Growth of Social Media

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Promotion and Admission Process

Figure 1. Process flow at higher education institutes

Placement and Career Development

Alumni Networks and Professional Development

Figure 2. The success cycle of maintaining alumni relations

Figure 3. Framework for social media engagement in higher education institutes

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