What is Social Network Sites

With social network sites growing in popularity, many organisations, including educational institutions, are starting to use this new platform to market themselves. However, marketing on social network sites is different from traditional marketing. Its value lies in engaging members of the social network and generating shared cultural meaning of the advertised brand rather than promoting awareness of the brand to a large number of people. As marketing on social network sites remains in its infancy and educational institutions are only beginning to understand that it is different from traditional marketing, it is not clear as to how educational institutions can leverage social network sites for their marketing effort. Using a case study on the use of Facebook as a marketing tool by a private educational institution offering degree programmes in Hong Kong, this chapter proposes a framework for marketing higher educational institutions on social network sites. The model suggests that educational institutions should encourage the participation of students on social network sites and engage the students through activities. The activities and participation of students on social network sites not only provide positive reinforcement of the decision to enroll in the education institution but also provide information to prospective students when they are evaluating the alternatives in the choice of an educational institution. In addition, the model also proposes that social network sites should facilitate the decision to enroll in the education institution by providing support in the application process.