Facebook and Public Relations in Higher Education

Abstract

Nowadays It is essential for universities and faculties to interact on-line with their potential applicants, current students as well as other stakeholders. In recent years, social media such as Facebook has provided higher education institutions with new means of communication with their target groups. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of the most popular social network Facebook by selected faculties in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and to provide a set of practical benchmarks on successful communication with public. To answer presented research questions, a convergent parallel mixed-methods research design was used. Firstly, a focus group investigation was put forward to clarify what communication channels are generally used by applicants and students when searching and sharing information about faculties. Secondly, a quantitative data analysis, based on data mining using tools such as Power BI and Netvizz, was presented. Data for year 2017 obtained from sixteen Facebook profiles of selected faculties were used. The findings provide evidence on the use of Facebook by an institution – customer communication by the faculties. Furthermore, they reveal that different message features generated different customer behaviour. The study contributes to a better understanding of marketing-related activities on social media in higher education.

Facebook Communication and Marketing Influence on Decision-Making and Choice of University Student Representatives: A Student’s Perspective

“…This then highlights the relevance that Facebook has to modern communication and public relations. Eger, Egerova and Kryston (2019), who suggested that the usage of social media has changed approaches to communication and publication relations by organisations, support this assertion. In the following sections the literature and grounding theory for the study were provided.…”

“…The main social media platform of interest in this paper was therefore Facebook. Facebook has provided an innovative means of communication to institutions of higher learning (Eger, Egerova & Kryston, 2019). Young adults tend to use Facebook daily for social interactions (Pempek, Yermolayeva & Calvert, 2009).…”

“…The adoption of online communication platforms by universities and faculties when communicating with students has become imperative (Eger, Egerova & Kryston, 2019). Social media facilitates communication among university employees and students as well as the general public though websites (Eger et al, 2019). Understanding the role of social media in Tapiwa CHININGA* Ellen RUNGANI** Norman CHILIYA*** Tinashe CHUCHU****…”

Webometri̇k Siralama Si̇stemi̇ndeki̇ Üni̇versi̇teleri̇n Kurumsal Başarilari İle Facebook Popüleri̇teleri̇ Arasinda Bi̇r İli̇şki̇ Var Midir? Türk Üni̇versi̇teleri̇ni̇n Bütünsel Örneği̇

“…On the other hand, there is an ample evidence for institutional branding activities that focus on the use of social media in higher education. Furthermore, these activities impact the development of the relationship between an institution and the public and gain students' brand loyalty towards the institution (Eger, Egerova, & Kryston, 2019). Moreover, universities' promotional campaigns can be done transparently on social media and this situation could increase institutional trust thanks to communication activities with users on social media channels (Maresova, Hruska, & Kuca, 2020).…”

Social media as a tool for developing learning spaces of city universities around the world

“…Social media have driven content development and sharing between different communities and maintained control over the main trend of the social culture of the digital society [4]. Social media serve as the platform for conducting business, expert branding, and facilitating education [5]. Society is actively exploring the potential of the web and selftraining by means of online courses, marathons, and useful content [6].…”