Tweets, Likes, and Click-Throughs:
Assessing the Return on Investment of Higher Education
Social Media Marketing Initiatives
Christina Crovetto
Master of Science in Higher Education, Drexel University School of Education Advisor: Dr. Gregory J. Nayor
Abstract
Methodology
Although higher education institutions have
gradually adopted and integrated social media
technologies into their marketing efforts, the
efficacy of these initiatives has not been
substantially measured. Higher education poses a
different set of challenges for marketing
professionals, who must navigate the constantly
changing social media landscape in their attempts
to promote their institutions’ mission and image to
students, parents, and alumni both within the
United States and abroad. To this end, institutions
must strategize and increase their marketing
efforts in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
This research study set out to examine the extent
to which social media technologies are being
utilized and measured by college and university
marketing professionals to promote their
institutions’ mission and image.
A quantitative research design and
online survey instrument was employed
in October 2014 to answer the three
research questions that guided this
study:
The purpose of this study was to measure the
efficacy of university marketing initiatives
distributed through social media vehicles including
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on promoting the
mission and image of higher education institutions.
For purposes of this study, an online survey
instrument was e-mailed to marketing and
communications professionals employed at public
and private colleges and universities across the
United States. Multiple-choice and open-ended
questions were included in the survey, as well as
questions incorporating a five-point Likert scale.
3. How are higher education institutions
using social media metrics to
measure the success of their
marketing campaigns?
This research study is significant to the field of
higher education marketing and communications
as it demonstrates the extent to which
professionals in the field are successfully utilizing
social media to promote their institutions’ image.
The implications of this study can serve to identify
deficiencies in the current technologies and
measurement tools that will help to create newer,
more effective tools to gauge the return on
investment of institutional marketing initiatives.
Results
• The social media management dashboard Hootsuite
was ranked as the most effective software tool used to
measure institutions’ social media marketing initiatives.
• The majority of the survey respondents, or 41 percent,
said that social media was critically important in their
institutions’ social media marketing strategy.
• The majority of respondents, or 76 percent, predicted
that they would dedicate more resources to social
media marketing in 2015.
1. To what extent do social media
marketing initiatives promote a
university’s mission and image?
2. To what extent are social media
marketing initiatives more costeffective than traditional vehicles such
as print and billboard advertising?
Purpose of using social media. This figure demonstrates the
purpose of social media vehicles used by higher education
marketing and communication professionals. Of the 17 survey
respondents, five (29 percent) reported that they used social
media to promote the image of the institution; another five (29
percent) said that used it to publicize institutional programs
and events to the university community and general public.
Only two respondents (12 percent) said that they used social
media to encourage a dialogue among university
constituents—an interesting revelation when viewed in terms
of Grunig’s dialogic loop theory.
Recommendations for Future Study
• A larger sample size would provide a more
comprehensive overview of institutional practices in
regard to social media marketing.
• Identify a sample of marketing and communications
professionals who would agree in advance to
participate in the survey, after which their respective
institutional websites might be evaluated in terms of
their effectiveness in communicating their institutional
mission and image.
• The extent to which institutional websites are
engaging in a dialogue with their constituents using
Grunig’s two-way symmetrical community model
presents another opportunity for future study.
• A sample of 76 e-mail addresses of
public relations and marketing
professionals currently employed at
public and private colleges and
universities were selected. A total of
17 institutions responded to the
survey instrument.
• Survey respondents were asked to
rate their perception of how social
media is being used at their
respective institutions as well as the
vehicles they are currently using to
measure the return on investment of
social media marketing initiatives.
Conclusions
References
Hawkins, A. G., & Frohoff, K. M. (2010). Promoting the academy The challenges of marketing higher education. Research in Higher
Education Journal, 7, 1-13.
Kang, S. & Norton, H. E. (2004). Nonprofit organizations’ use of the
World Wide Web: Are they sufficiently fulfilling organizational
goals? Public Relations Review, 30.
doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2004.04.002
Perception of effectiveness of popular social media vehicles in
measurement of return on investment. Participants were
asked to rate the effectiveness of seven popular social media
metrics software tools using a five-point Likert scale. Google
Analytics and Tweetdeck were ranked as very frequently
effective by 30 percent and 20 percent of survey respondents,
respectively. Hootsuite was ranked as frequently effective by
75 percent of survey respondents, while their perceptions of
uberVU and SproutSocial were evenly divided between very
rarely effective and frequently effective.
Kent, M. L., & Taylor, M. (2004). Toward a dialogic theory of public
relations. Public Relations Review, 30 279–28. doi:
10.1016/S0363-8111(02)00108-X
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Dr. Gregory J. Nayor for his
continued support throughout the Drexel University
Master of Science in Higher Education Co-op experience.