Engaging International Students With Social Media in Higher Education

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: Division A Graduate Student Poster Session

Abstract

In recent years, educational institutions gradually adopted diverse “branding” strategies to survive in an increasingly competitive higher education environment. This paper aims to discover the use of different social media applied by American research universities as a necessary tool of representing campus life and engaging international students. In this study, the target social media categories involve Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Blog, etc. Brand equity theory, as a theoretical perspective is generally applied in this paper. Researchers predominantly analyzed the frequency and degree of social media presented in universities’ international official websites. Findings explored the popularity and overwhelming influence of social media implantation in attracting international students.

Authors

• Jingyi You, Florida State University

• Jiayao Wu, University of Florida