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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of digital marketing and advertising on students’ perceptions and choices regarding academic departments, employing the social presence theory and the marketing funnel framework. The research sample comprised 156 students specializing in international marketing at B University in Korea, with data analysis performed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) software. This investigation applied a three-stage marketing funnel approach: awareness (impression), consideration (discovery), and conversion(department selection and enrollment).the study identifies that social media marketing, blogs, and SMS marketing are the primary factors affecting students’ departmental selection and admission decisions. Additionally, social media marketing and departmental homepages emerged as crucial in enhancing departmental brand awareness. Conversely, search engine marketing and telemarketing were found to have no significant impact on either department selection or brand awareness. The theoretical contributions of this study demonstrate that implementing digital marketing according to the marketing funnel is effective. In the awareness stage, the use of social media marketing is recommended, while blog marketing is effective during the consideration stage. Finally, in the conversion stage, encouraging clicks on the website and YouTube videos proves to be beneficial. These findings are useful for establishing effective digital marketing strategies and plans for academic departments. Ultimately, this research highlights the impact of digital marketing on department selection and loyalty.

Keywords

digital marketing digital advertising department choice departmental brand awareness SNS

Introduction

Today’s universities are experiencing a sharp decline in the school-age population, a sharp drop in college application rates, and fierce competition from domestic and foreign universities. As the demand for higher education increases and the competition to attract high-quality students intensifies, universities are exploring a variety of ways to recruit students. digital marketing has transformed the globe, and the higher education industry is no exception.¹ As many who graduated from high school in the 1980s or 1990s might remember, the primary means high school students used to obtain information about colleges of interest was by requesting printed brochures or catalogs. At this time, the university’s strategy to actively attract interested students was to reach out to potential students through brochures, campus visits, or admissions briefings.²

However, as today’s students prefer to contact universities of interest through social media,² it has become essential for universities to use social media as a key marketing tool.³ Also, changes have occurred in the recruitment process as millennials, termed ‘digital natives’, have reached college age over the past two decades.⁴ This generation is accustomed to immediate access to information thanks to the world in which they grew up, and expects information that is highly personal and tailored to their specific needs. Research has shown that this generation of students has a desire to collaborate and connect with others,⁵ and respond negatively to marketing messages that they perceive as disruptive.^6–8

Barnes and Mattson⁹ found that more than 90 % of North American university admissions offices considered social media to be very important in their recruitment plan. Therefore, to meet the expectations of millennials and reach potential students, universities must use social media as a strategic vehicle. Studies using digital marketing as a tool for universities to recruit new students have recently been published.^10,11 In addition, a study on the use of digital marketing by universities to enhance university brand image has recently been published.¹² Digital marketing, such as viral marketing, content marketing, and SMS marketing, has been found to be an essential tool for digital natives, the Millennials and Generation Z generation (after referred to as “MZ.”), in universities.¹² However, However, despite the necessity for digital marketing activities, the majority of higher education institutions are, in fact, lagging behind in their adoption of digital marketing.¹³ In this context, the process of integrating social media into a new recruiting tool is not straightforward. Schultz and Schultz¹⁴ regard integrated marketing communication (IMC) as a marketing decision that helps promote brand communication, and is made across multiple channels. Specifically, a university should determine one basic strategy for delivering a brand message, and to reach a diverse audience, then expose the optimized message to different media types.¹⁵

According to the 2021 social media market analysis report by DMC Media, a market research company, YouTube had the highest number of unique visitors (UV) by major social media in Korea with 37.66 million. Next, in order, were Band (19.65 million), Instagram (18.85 million), Facebook (13.71 million), Kakao Story (9.19 million), Twitter (5.17 million), and TikTok (3.1 million). The most used SNS by age is Instagram in their 10 s, 20 s, and 30 s, followed by Naver Band in their 40 s and 50 s. The average monthly usage time per person was 1627 min on YouTube, followed by 606 min on Twitter, 534 min on Instagram, 445 min on TikTok, and 431 min on Facebook. This report shows that digital marketing can play a sufficient role in enhancing the image of universities, as well as the selection of universities and departments.

As mentioned in the research by Schultz and Schultz, there is an urgent need for the integration of marketing communications. While businesses carry out their marketing activities through integrated marketing communications, schools are not in the same situation. In South Korea, with the sharp decline in the school-age population, traditional methods such as distributing pamphlets, visiting high schools, and holding information sessions are still being used to attract students and increase admission competition rates. However, with the advancement of mobile environments and the improvement of students’ digital literacy, there is a pressing need to build admission strategies that align with the digital nomad era. In other words, a digital marketing communication strategy is also necessary in higher education. In this context, this study was conducted to verify the effectiveness of digital marketing in college admissions, using students who were admitted to our university as the research subjects.

This study aims to examine the role of digital marketing in enhancing students’ department selection and image, based on an analysis of digital media among incoming freshmen. Given that students are essentially consumers, we seek to incorporate consumer behavior theory into our analysis. Specifically, the purpose of this research is to explore the impact of digital marketing on improving department image and, ultimately, influencing department selection, using commonly employed theoretical frameworks in the marketing field.

Literature review and hypothesis development

Search engine marketing

A search engine is a web software program or web-based script available over the Internet that searches for keywords in documents and files, and returns a list of results containing those keywords.¹⁶

Since these search engines were started in 1995, companies have been using search engines as a communication tool to efficiently organize information and deliver information to customers.¹⁷ Eke¹⁸ demonstrated that the top impression of content on search engines positively effects on marketing performance. Therefore, exposing the department’s YouTube channel, Instagram, and blog to the top on search engines can maximize traffic and enhance marketing performance. In addition, exposure of department-related images, videos, and ‘Jisikin’ to search engines may affect department selection and departmental image. Based on these previous studies, we establish the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1

The top impression of department-related contents on search engines has a positive effect on department selection.

Hypothesis 2

The top impression of department-related contents on search engines has a positive effect on departmental image.

Social media marketing

Social media is a tool for interactive communication, enabling the creation and exchange of user-generated content on the web, comprising activities that involve socializing and networking online, using texts, pictures, and videos.^19,20 Evans¹⁹ sees online advertising as a good way to inform the public about universities and related benefits from a higher education perspective. As such, digital advertising relies on the context and behavioral targeting of students^21,22 and uses a variety of advertising approaches to create customized advertisements to provide universities with low-cost, wide-range advertising.¹⁹ Jan & Ammari¹⁰ found that social media had a positive influence on student decision-making and college choice. According to recent study, 27% of prospective students found that YouTube videos had a significant impact on their college enrollment decisions. YouTube increases brand awareness and increases traffic by increasing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) performance (https://www.oho.com/blog, 2022.05.11). Based on the above literature review, a hypothesis is established that the department’s social media marketing effects influence both department selection and image, as follow:

Hypothesis 3

Social media marketing has a positive effect on the department selection.

Hypothesis 4

Social media marketing has a positive effect on the department image.

Blog marketing

The term “blog” comes from a combination of “web” and “log” or “Weblog”, which was eventually shortened to “blog”. When blogs first emerged in the 1990s, they were primarily online diaries in which people provided personal accounts of their lives. Since then, the blog has grown to include articles and media on topics such as news, politics, music, food, business, and more. Blogs have grown into a new and effective marketing strategy since visionary entrepreneurs began to perceive blogs as a marketing tool, and use them as a way to provide new information to their customers and create new businesses. Therefore, blog marketing can be said to be the process of reaching the target market of the business through its blog. The advantage of such blog marketing is that it can be started and operated at low cost, allowing customized blog marketing. The second advantage is that it is easy to use, allowing the user to become a professional blogger and an influencer. Third, blogs can create traffic on the website and provide purchasing opportunities, but also allow impression on the top search engines through search engine optimization. Finally, blogs provide opportunities for market participation, as well as profit creation through interaction with consumers.

User satisfaction with brand blog content has been shown to have a statistically positive effect on loyalty and sustainability.²³ Users who are satisfied with the content have a pleasant experience when visiting the blog and tend to maintain a lasting relationship with the brand. In addition, users form an emotional bond with the blog, which helps to recommend new users of the blog, and increase the loyalty of existing users.²⁴ Thus, much like businesses, can utilize departmental blogs to provide useful information for selecting a department, as well as forming a positive perception of the department and building an interactive space for potential students. Based on this, we established the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 5

Blogging has a positive effect on the department selection.

Hypothesis 6

Blogging has a positive effect on the department image.

Department website

According to Sung & Yang²⁵ suggest that a university’s image can be measured and interpreted through its website. Jager & Jan²⁶ argued that the university image is the result of a collective process reflected on a website that allows students to compare and contrast many programs and curricula. Having a good website is very important, as online has a huge impact on the attractiveness and satisfaction of the college to students, since today’s colleges and universities have become a marketing priority, and a challenge to recruit many students online.¹⁰ Additionally, the visualization of content on a website is a very effective tool to attract both international and domestic students.²⁷ Stack²⁸ argued that visual data are viewed as an alternative to conveying information while supporting written content within university websites. Stack²⁵ also argued that all university websites should aim to provide clear and accessible information in the simplest way and should aim to promote the best user experience in the minds of students. Jager & Jan²⁶ found that the greater the number of visits to the department’s homepage, the higher the application rate, as a result of correlation analysis between department website visits and department application rates through web log data analysis. Also, Leem²⁹ further demonstrated that college search volume on the search engine Naver had a correlation with the admission competition rate, and found that the higher the search volume, the higher the competition rate. Jan & Ammari¹⁰ found that websites had a positive effect on student decision-making and college choice. Sung and Yang³⁰ argued that every university should create a unique personalized website for different user groups to share opinions and show case various departments. Therefore, based on the literature discussed above, we establish the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 7

Department websites have a positive effect on the department selection.

Hypothesis 8

Department websites have a positive effect on the department image.

SMS marketing

Short Message Service (SMS) refers to a text messaging service using a phone, web, or mobile communication system. Today, SMS serves as a simple form of communication between two people that allows text messages to be sent between cell phones. SMS marketing is a part of mobile marketing, where businesses use these SMS features to send messages, and pay for them as part of an advertising or promotional campaign. SMS marketing is becoming one of the most promising channels for influencing customer behavior, enhancing loyalty and providing after-sales service.

Today, a mobile phone is considered a device that can reach users anytime and anywhere when needed via phone call, SMS, or messaging application, such as WhatsApp and KakaoTalk. SMS advertisements are received from various brands and product promotions are received on mobile devices almost every day. According to the advertisement product performance report by Bizsprings,³¹ Kakao keyword advertisement and Kakao Talk advertisement showed the highest among the top 20 advertising media that lead to conversions during visits in the 4th quarter of 2021 and the 1st quarter of 2022. Therefore, KakaoTalk-based department SMS marketing could have a positive effect on student department selection and departmental image.

Hypothesis 9

SMS marketing has a positive influence on the department selection.

Hypothesis 10

SMS marketing has a positive influence on the departmental image.

Telemarketing

A telemarketing method refers to a method of promoting products by calling from a selected list of customers.³² Such marketing has the advantage of lower cost and higher yield than other marketing when consumers are precisely targeted.^33,34 In other words, engaging in telemarketing without a strategy may incur unnecessary cost expenditure. According to Begam,³⁵ telemarketing has a statistically significant positive effect on business performance. In today’s higher education environment, as competition to attract new students becomes fiercer, universities are competitively using telemarketing to attract more students. Therefore, the following hypotheses are established based on the literature discussed above:

Hypothesis 11

Telemarketing has a positive effect on department selection.

Hypothesis 12

Telemarketing has a positive effect on a department’s image.

Departmental image, department selection, and loyalty

According to the study, social media-based marketing activities and brand equity have a positive effect on the purchase intention of luxury brands.³⁶ In general, based on the research results of Keller and Aaker,³⁷ this brand equity is classified into four dimensions of perceived quality, brand association, brand awareness, and brand recall.³⁶ According to Bennett, Ali-Choudhury, and Savani³⁸ universities need to build trustworthy brands to increase awareness of higher education services. That is, the most prominent dimensions for creating brand equity in higher education are academic education, learning environment, campus life, prestige, and job prospects after graduation.³⁶

According to Darban & Li³⁹ students drive almost every step in the decision-making process of choosing a university today. Therefore, universities should make an effort to satisfy the needs of students through marketing activities in the awareness stage of the marketing funnel to increase brand recognition.⁴⁰ Coulter & Collins⁴¹ found that when students choose a university, an online search for a university is one of the most influential sources of information. In the college selection process, students ask their friends for advice and recommendations through social networks, and also refer to college social network pages and websites.^20,40–42 Similarly, according to Evans¹⁹ and,⁴³ for students to exchange their thoughts and ideas about universities online with their peers, it both helps to recognize the university brand, and helps them choose a university, and build university loyalty. Building upon these insights, the variables utilized in the studies by Keller and Aaker, as well as Bennett, Ali-Choudhury, and Savani, were modified to suit this research. In the context of South Korea, the concept of “department selection” refers to the selection of a major or academic department. Additionally, the image of a department reflects the overall atmosphere of the major, encompassing aspects such as relationships between professors and students, relationships among seniors and juniors, extracurricular activities, and on-campus activities. As for department loyalty, it includes affection and interest toward the major or department, as well as the willingness to recommend it to fellow students.

Based on this literature review, the following hypotheses are established:

Hypothesis 13

Departmental image has a positive effect on departmental loyalty.

Hypothesis 14

Department selection has a positive effect on departmental loyalty.

Research model

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of digital marketing, including blogs, YouTube channels, Instagram and Facebook page, and department websites, and digital advertisements, including search advertisements, YouTube advertisements, and Instagram advertisements, on departmental image, department selection, and ultimately, departmental loyalty. Figure 1 shows a conceptual research model to prove this. The conceptual model of this study is based on the marketing funnel model of Butler and Peppard,⁴⁴ which emphasizes sequential steps, and the social presence theory, which highlights the importance of social interaction in digital marketing.

Figure 1.

Conceptual research model.

This study is based on three stages of the marketing funnel: awareness (impression), consideration (exploration), and conversion. In this study, marketing activities in the awareness stage are including search engine marketing and social media marketing to maximize departmental brand recognition and reach. In the consideration stage, the marketing activity includes marketing of Naver blog and website to maximize traffic and participation. Next, marketing activities in the conversion stage include KakaoTalk-based SMS marketing and telemarketing by phone to maximize department application and registration rate.

Empirical analysis

Measurement items

The questionnaire was pre-tested on a student group majoring in international marketing of B. University in Korea during spring semester, 2022. The information gathered from this pre-test was used to fix the readability and quality of the items. A list of measurement items was generated to ensure face validity and minimize overlap between constructs.⁴⁵

The variables utilized in the studies by Keller and Aaker³⁷ and Bennett, Ali-Choudhury, and Savani³⁸ were modified to suit this research. In the context of South Korea, the concept of “department selection” refers to the selection of a major or academic department. Additionally, the image of a department reflects the overall atmosphere of the major, encompassing aspects such as relationships between professors and students, relationships among seniors and juniors, extracurricular activities, and on-campus activities. As for department loyalty, it includes affection and interest toward the major or department, as well as the willingness to recommend it to fellow students.

Data collection

The sample for this study consisted of first-year freshmen at University B. After conducting a preliminary survey, the final questionnaire was completed, and the final survey was administered. Data were collected from students majoring and double majoring in a course designed for first-year students. An example of a survey item is as follows: “I believe that I can obtain concise and clear information through the university’s website.” Out of a total of 160 questionnaires, 4 were excluded from the final analysis due to internal inconsistencies and missing values, resulting in 156 questionnaires being used for analysis. Table 1 below summarizes the demographic characteristics of the sample.

Table 1.

Demographic characteristics of the sample.

Gender (No., %)	Dept. (No., %)	Grade (No., %)	Digital media usage time Zone (No., %)
Male 43 (27.6)	Int. Marketing Dept. 86 (55.1)	Freshman 26 (16.7)	Late evening (10 p.m.−12 p.m.) 70 (4.9)
Female 113 (72.4)	Spanish Dept. 9 (5.8)	Sophomore 17 (10.9)	Early evening (6 p.m.−10 p.m.) 41 (26.3)
	Japanese Dept. 8 (5.1)	Junior 57 (36.5)	Afternoon (1 p.m.−5 p.m.) 27 (17.3)
	English Dept. 7 (4.5)	Senior 56 (35.9)	Early Morning (1 a.m.−6 a.m.) 12 (7.7)
	Others 46 (29.5)	Senior 56 (35.9)	Late Morning (7 a.m.−12 a.m.) 6 (3.8)
Total Response No.: 156

Measurement model

In this research model, questionnaire items were derived using the Likert 5-point scale, the validity and reliability of the derived variables were tested, and the PLS structural equation model was used as the test method.³ In the process of testing the measurement model, the test was conducted after removing the items and variables that exhibited issue reliability and validity.

Table 2 shows that the Cronbach’s α value satisfies 0.7 or more for all variables, while the CR and AVE values are (0.7 and 0.5), respectively, indicating that all conditions are satisfied. Therefore, it is judged that the measurement model of our model has internal consistency. According to Fornell and Larcker,⁴⁶ if the square root of the average variance (AVE) extracted for each factor is greater than the correlation coefficient between the factor and other factors, it is judged that the PLS measurement model has discriminant validity. Table 3 shows that the square root value of the extracted AVE value is relatively larger than the correlation coefficient value between the factors. Therefore, it is judged that the discriminant validity of the measurement model of this study is satisfied.

Table 2.

Reliability test results.

	AVE	CR	R²	α
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)	0.639	0.768		0.713
Social Media Marketing (SMM)	0.708	0.936		0.918
Blog Marketing (BGM)	0.832	0.952		0.932
Dept. Website (DWS)	0.703	0.875		0.788
SMS Marketing (SMS)	0.731	0.916		0.877
Telemarketing (TeM)	0.944	0.971		0.941
Dept. Selection (DeS)	0.794	0.920	0.644	0.869
Dept. Bland Image (DBI)	0.857	0.947	0.471	0.917
Dept. Loyalty (DeL)	0.842	0.941	0.736	0.906

Table 3.

Intercorrelation coefficient and AVE.

Variable	SEM	SMM	BGM	DWS	SMS	TeM	DeS	DBI	DeL
SEM	0.799
SMM	0.170	0.841
BGM	0.120	0.554	0.912
DWS	0.149	0.490	0.439	0.838
SMS	0.159	0.443	0.440	0.538	0.855
TeM	0.182	0.265	0.405	0.367	0.671	0.972
DeS	0.182	0.658	0.714	0.421	0.535	0.423	0.891
DBI	0.178	0.600	0.416	0.554	0.481	0.357	0.461	0.926
DeL	0.140	0.629	0.447	0.531	0.491	0.378	0.525	0.865	0.918

As shown in Table 4, the measured cross-loading value represents the loading value between the latent variable and the measured items of those variables. Looking at the loading values shaded in Table 4, it can be seen that the measurement items explain the latent variables well, because all the measurement items have a loading value of 0.7 or higher, which is the reference value.

Table 4.

Cross-loading value.

Variable	SEM	SMM	BGM	DWS	SMS	TeM	DeS	DBI	DeL
SEM1	0.955
SEM4	0.708
SMM1		0.859
SMM2		0.851
SMM3		0.838
SMM4		0.830
SMM5		0.848
SMM6		0.821
BGM1			0.854
BGM2			0.933
BGM3			0.928
BGM4			0.931
DWS1				0.786
DWS2				0.906
DWS3				0.904
SMS1					0.854
SMS2					0.862
TeM1						0.969
TeM2						0.974
DeS1							0.915
DeS2							0.918
DeS3							0.837
DBI1								0.922
DBI2								0.947
DBI3								0.908
DeL1									0.887
DeL2									0.906
DeL3									0.902
DeL4									0.747

Structural model

Goodness-of-fit test

The study model test was analyzed using the PLS structural equation model, which provides variances that account for endogenous constructs, as well as path coefficients between latent constructs. Tenenhaus et al.²² propose the use of Goodness-of-Fit (GoF) as the global fit index in the PLS structural equation model. The GoF value can be obtained using the following equation (Wetzels et al., 2009):

G o F = \sqrt{\bar{A V E} \times \bar{R^{2}}} = \sqrt{\bar{C o m m u n a l i t y} \times \bar{R^{2}}}

(1)

The GoF value can be obtained by the geometric mean of the mean communality and the mean R squared for endogenous variables. In the PLS structural equation model, since commonality is the same as average variance extracted (AVE), the cut-off value for commonality (0.5) can be applied (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). The GoF value for the model proposed in this study was 0.695, exceeding the maximum threshold of 0.58 for the evaluation criterion for R squared. This model is an appropriate level, when compared with the reference value suggested by previous research model.

Hypothesis test and results

The PLS model, in which each construct consists of a reflective measure, provides a loading value for each measure item. Since this PLS model does not directly provide a significance test or coefficient interval estimation for the path coefficients of the research model, it is presented using the bootstrapping technique.

Table 5 shows the hypothesis test results of this research model that were obtained using this analysis. Based on previous studies, this study tested the effect of digital marketing on departmental image, department selection, and then departmental loyalty. We assess the significance of path coefficients to investigate the hypothesized relationships proposed by the conceptual research model. The individual path coefficients of the PLS structural model can be interpreted as standardized beta coefficients of ordinary least squares regressions. To estimate the significance of the path coefficients, we used the bootstrapping method with a sample size of 1,000, as recommended by Chin.⁴⁷ Figure 2 and Table 5 present the results of the structural model analysis.

Table 5.

Hypothesis test results.

Path				Standardized path coefficient (β)	t-value	Accept/Reject
H1	SEM	→	DeS	0.04	0.65	Reject
H2	SEM	→	DBI	0.04	0.49	Reject
H3	SMM	→	DeS	0.34	4.29***	Accept
H4	SMM	→	DBI	0.39	4.97***	Accept
H5	BGM	→	DeS	0.45	7.76***	Accept
H6	BGM	→	DBI	0.04	0.08	Reject
H7	DWS	→	DeS	0.06	0.81	Reject
H8	DWS	→	DBI	0.27	2.95***	Accept
H9	SMS	→	DeS	0.19	2.17*	Accept
H10	SMS	→	DBI	0.10	1.15	Reject
H11	TeM	→	DeS	0.03	0.66	Reject
H12	TeM	→	DBI	0.08	0.38	Reject
H13	DBI	→	DeL	0.79	21.85***	Accept
H14	DeS	→	DeL	0.16	3.44***	Accept

Statistical significance at *p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001.

Figure 2.

Hypothesis test result.

The direct paths between digital marketing and department selection/brand image, and then departmental loyalty were tested. The relationships between search engine marketing and department selection (H1) and brand image (H2) were not supported. But the relationships between social media marketing and department selection (H3) and brand image (H4) were supported. Thus, social media marketing has a positive effect on department selection and brand image. While the direct path between blog marketing and department selection (H5) was supported, the direct path between blog marketing and departmental brand image (H6) was not. Thus, blog marketing has a positive effect on department selection, but not on brand image. The direct path between department website and department selection (H7) was not supported. But the direct path between department website and departmental brand image (H8) was. Thus, the department website has a positive effect on departmental brand image, but not on department selection. The direct path between short message service and department selection (H9) was supported. But the direct path between short message service and departmental brand image (H10) was not. Thus, the short message service has a positive effect on department selection, but not on departmental brand image. The relationships between telemarketing and department selection (H11) and brand image (H12) were not supported. Thus, the telemarketing has no significant effect on both department selection and brand image. Finally, direct paths between both departmental brand image (H13) and department selection (H14) and departmental loyalty were supported. Thus, departmental brand image and department selection have a positive effect on departmental loyalty. Based on the marketing funnel, when classifying the impacts of digital marketing on department image and selection, it was found that social media marketing is more effective than search engine marketing in the awareness stage. In the consideration stage, blog marketing was confirmed to have a significant influence on department selection. Finally, in the conversion stage, text messaging was found to be more effective than phone consultations. Thus, it was confirmed that applying appropriate digital marketing strategies for each stage of the marketing funnel is effective.

Conclusions and future works

This study divided the components of digital marketing into search engine marketing, social media marketing, blog marketing, website, SMS marketing, and telemarketing. In addition, by combining traditional consumer purchasing decision-making theory and social presence theory, the effect of digital marketing on student department selection and departmental image was investigated. In this section, based on the empirical analysis results above, we discuss the findings of the research. First, our results do not support Hypotheses 1 and 2: search engine marketing has no significant effect on student department selection and departmental image. Search engine marketing refers to marketing activities that expose products or services to the top search lists of search engines through search advertisements, display advertisements, and search engine optimization to attract customers, and convert them into purchases. In this study, Naver, the most used platform in Korea, was considered as the search engine. The exposure of images and videos related to the International Marketing Department on Naver search results was considered, and the exposure of contents related to the department to ‘Jisikin’, one of the Naver menus, was considered. The reasons for not supporting Hypotheses 1 and 2 are that the primary source of information for Korean students about universities is the “Sumanhwi” cafe, and there is a strong tendency to perceive prominently displayed search results as advertisements. In other words, they do not trust the rankings of advertisements that appear in search engines, except for cases where original content is displayed.

Second, our results support Hypotheses 3 and 4: social media marketing has a significant effect on student department selection and departmental image. Social media marketing refers to the activity or process of using social media technologies, channels, and software to create, communicate, deliver, and exchange something of value to consumers. For social media marketing in this study, YouTube channel and Instagram business account operation were considered, and YouTube advertisements using Google Ads were considered. The Department of International Marketing has operated a YouTube channel under the name ‘Mantingi’ from May 2021. In addition, we made 11-s and 16-s promotional videos for the department, targeting 13−19-year-olds and Busan city and Kyungnam province in Korea, and running skippable in-stream ads on YouTube. Our finding demonstrates that the continuous operation of the department’s YouTube channel and YouTube video advertisement greatly influenced student department selection and image building. The support for Hypotheses 3 and 4 can be attributed to the success of precise regional targeting, as it has been confirmed that the MZ generation in Korea responds to short videos. This reflects the characteristic of students wanting to quickly acquire the information they desire.

Third, our results support Hypothesis 5, but not Hypothesis 6: blog marketing has a significant effect on student department selection, but not departmental image. Blog marketing is a marketing method that both continuously provides valuable content creation and posting to consumers, and maximizes user click-through rate and inflow by using search engine optimization to get top exposure in search results. The Department of International Marketing has regularly posted marketing-related information and student activities as content. Through continuous search engine optimization activities, it has made a high impression on the Naver search result list. As a result, potential students could easily flow into the International Marketing Department’s blog, while it facilitated the search for information on the International Marketing Department. This led to the submission of the department application, which could be viewed as a conversion stage. As a result, our finding demonstrates that blog marketing activities had a great influence on the student choice of department. However, the blog activity period of the Department of International Marketing was short, and the lack of accumulated contents did not affect the formation of the departmental image. Support for Hypothesis 5 was confirmed, indicating that important decisions regarding recognized departments require opportunities for students to read and evaluate content directly. Even if a department is recognized through social media, there is a strong desire to verify detailed information and the characteristics of the department firsthand. Hypothesis 6 was not supported because while the utilization of digital marketing can serve as a useful tool for certain selections, it does not aid in strengthening the overall image. Factors influencing the enhancement of the overall image are separate from this.

Fourth, our results do not support Hypothesis 7 but do Hypothesis 8: the department web page has no significant effect on student department selection but does on departmental image. Department web pages are equivalent to corporate landing pages and can be seen as a resource that can increase reliability. Potential students and current students can enter the department webpage through search engines or social media. If there are many visitors through this inflow, the department’s competition rate or image can increase. Also, Leem²⁹ found that the higher the number of university searches on the search engine Naver, the higher the university’s competition rate. However, even if the number of visitors to the department website is high, it cannot lead to department selection if the department webpage is unattractive, and the dwell time on the webpage is short. At the time of this study, it is presumed that it was not possible to select a department because the website structure of the international marketing department was not strong, the content was not made attractive, and the meaning was not deep. However, it had an impact on the formation of the department’s image. Therefore, if the department homepage is configured to be attractive to potential students, and direct management, such as interactive conversations and counselling, can be made through the homepage, these can lead to department selection and image improvement.

The reason for not supporting Hypothesis 7 and the support for Hypothesis 8 is that department websites are perceived as places for information exchange, requiring accurate and up-to-date information, along with abundant departmental activity photos and diverse content changes, making them tools that represent the overall image of the department. Thus, it can be inferred that students sense the atmosphere of the department through its website.

Fifth, our results support Hypothesis 9, but do not support Hypothesis 10: SMS marketing has a significant effect on student department selection, but not on departmental image. SMS marketing is one of the mobile remarketing methods that can target the influx of consumers using the Internet-based SMS. Today, the Internet-based SMS is known as an in-app message service that is optimized for mobile. Compared to the traditional phone-based text service, it has the advantages of increasing the conversion rate, transmitting various multimedia messages, and enabling personalized targeting through rich data accumulation and analysis. This study considered Kakao Talk-based SMS marketing, which among various in-app message service tools, is the most used in Korea. According to BizSpring,³¹ KakaoTalk marketing was the highest among the media that can lead to conversion when landing pages are visited. In this study, the most basic functions of KakaoTalk were used to induce the submission and registration of departmental applications through individual text message transmission and consultation. Therefore, it is judged that this activity could affect department application submission or registration, but did not affect departmental image. However, if a KakaoTalk business channel is opened, and department news and advertisements are continuously posted on KakaoTalk, it is expected to have a high conversion rate and have a strong impact on image formation. Hypothesis 9 was supported, while Hypothesis 10 was not. This indicates that it is difficult to enhance the overall image through short text messages; however, they can serve as a means to instill final confidence during the department selection stage. In other words, a single message at the moment of decision can provide an opportunity for affirmation, but it is not a determining factor in shaping the overall image of the department.

Sixth, our results do not support Hypotheses 11 and 12: telemarketing has no significant effect on either student department selection or departmental image. Today, especially after the outbreak of COVID-19, publicity through printed catalogs, in-person visits, in-person phone calls, and phone-based text messages did not appear to have a significant effect on students.⁴⁸ In particular, it is judged that telemarketing over the phone is not very helpful in selecting a department or forming an image, because 13- to 24-year-old students, called the MZ generation, are highly dependent on search results, word-of-mouth on social media, and purchase reviews. Therefore, our finding demonstrates that it is effective marketing for department managers to invest heavily in interactive marketing, such as Kakao Talk, rather than one-way marketing based on phone calls. The reasons for not supporting Hypotheses 11 and 12 stem from the finding that recent students exhibit reluctance towards communication methods involving phone calls. Specifically, it has been confirmed that this generation prefers to communicate via SNS messages rather than phone calls. Based on these results, universities need to analyze student behavior models through research on the marketing funnel and consumer behavior models to implement effective digital marketing strategies for enrollment promotion. Additionally, it was confirmed that setting clear objectives is paramount. Specifically, it is essential to determine whether the goal is to increase department selection or enhance department image, as this will influence the application of different digital marketing methods. While existing researchers have focused solely on the media characteristics of digital marketing, this study examined the relationship between various digital media and department selection, department image, and loyalty.

Implications

This study presented theoretical and practical implications from the viewpoint of the strategic use of digital marketing and digital media to attract new students in the environment of higher education, where the school-age population is rapidly decreasing. The theoretical implications of this study are as follows. First, the marketing funnel model of Butler and Peppard,⁴⁴ which is mainly used in the traditional marketing field, is applied to the university digital marketing field to strategically use digital media to attract new students successfully. In the awareness stage of the marketing funnel, the social media impression of the department’s representative video was maximized, so that prospective freshmen, the target market, could recognize the department’s brand. In the consideration stage of the marketing funnel, content was continuously posted on blogs, YouTube channels, and the department’s homepage, so that prospective freshmen could better understand the information about the department, and it maintained the top position in the search results list by optimizing the search engine. In the final conversion stage, prospective freshmen were asked to submit their department application form by clicking on the call-to-action (CTA) on the blog, YouTube channel, and homepage of the department. In addition, KakaoTalk-based SMS (In-App) marketing to induce registration was attractive to prospective freshmen.

It was confirmed that applying the marketing funnel framework is essential in the integrated marketing communication strategy for attracting new students. Based on the university admission season, this study identified the temporal distance from the admission season and demonstrated that the digital marketing tools applicable at the awareness stage differ from those used at the consideration and conversion stages. This study highlights that to maximize the influx of new students, it is not merely about conducting marketing activities for recruitment but about employing a digital marketing strategy based on the marketing funnel framework.

The second is the application of consumer behavior models that can influence department choice and departmental brand recognition. In general, the factors that induce consumer behavior in the consumer behavior model are stimulus factors. To improve department selection and departmental brand recognition, it was checked whether positive responses and the behavior of students can be induced depending on what media stimuli are provided. This is to confirm which media is optimal for the digital native generation, the MZ generation, to induce reactions and actions. In other words, it was confirmed that Instagram, YouTube, and blogs had a strong influence on department selection and departmental brand recognition.

Third, From the perspective of the marketing funnel, the types of digital media have been classified. In the awareness stage, it is crucial to employ strategies that enable students to recognize the department through social media. In the consideration stage, providing opportunities for direct reading and reflection is essential. Finally, in the conversion stage, it is important to increase interest and guide department selection through clicks.

This study also presents practical implications. A university’s public relations department or admissions department should recognize that it is effective to conduct school publicity or departmental publicity through earned media that affects student social presence. Like corporations, universities today find it difficult to survive without publicity or advertising. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the characteristics and behavioral patterns of prospective freshmen who want to choose a department, and to reflect this in the department promotion. In other words, it is necessary to break away from the traditional advertising that costs a lot of money, to build an attractive department website, to expose the top of the search engine, and to promote the department through various social media platforms.

In other words, it was confirmed that utilizing media that can enhance the social presence of prospective students is more effective. Constructing text in digital media that evokes emotions or a sense of realism similar to what can be experienced in face-to-face communication is crucial. This approach aims to make prospective students feel as though they are receiving in-person admission counseling. Furthermore, it is essential to create texts, images, or videos that simplify complex or difficult-to-understand information, enabling prospective students to grasp it more easily. This approach helps foster a sense of social presence and realism for the students.

Second, it is possible to expand the effect on public relations and advertisements that led to the selection of a department. This means that students who apply and enroll in schools through social media, blogs and websites have a significant impact on their loyalty to the department. This makes it possible to derive a strategy that can maximize the student enrolment rate or minimize the student dropout rate in terms of department operation. Students who entered the department with a positive brand image for the department are more likely to recommend the department to their juniors and friends, because they have high loyalty to the department.

Third, the department should pursue a digital marketing strategy suitable for the level of digitalization conversion of potential freshmen. Depending on the level of digital transformation readiness of organizations and consumers, pursuing an appropriate digital transformation strategy can avoid over- or under-investment. Therefore, it is necessary for the public relations department of the university or the admissions office to present a digital marketing strategy step-by-step, according to the digital transformation level of potential freshmen.

Finally, departments need to build content suitable for various social media based on their unique and differentiated characteristics, and then pay attention to digital advertising to maximize awareness, traffic, and conversion. As the results of this study prove, students’ decision to select a department is mainly influenced by the content appropriate to the earned media of the department (e.g., YouTube channel, blog, Facebook page) and the department website, which is the media owned by the department. Department marketers should also develop a strategic digital media mix strategy by identifying paid media (e.g., search engines, YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram) that can influence student department choice.

Lastly, the policy implications suggest that university authorities are making efforts to attract new students through various methods to overcome the decline in the school-age population. Existing promotional strategies include outdoor advertising, pamphlet distribution, and direct visits to high schools. However, it is important to reduce the emphasis on these traditional methods and strategically utilize digital marketing from a marketing funnel perspective. There is a need to increase the budget allocated for digital advertising. Furthermore, to accurately measure the effectiveness of digital marketing and utilize it strategically, it is essential to establish specialized centers at the university level for online data analysis. This would enable the enhancement of data-driven promotional strategies.

Furthermore, there is a need to adopt an integrated approach that combines traditional marketing tools with digital marketing tools. While times and trends are changing, it is true that human emotions are more effectively stimulated in face-to-face environments than in digital ones. In this context, strengthening efforts such as hosting traditional admission information sessions and establishing in-person counseling departments is crucial. In an era where AI and information technology are advancing, strategies that can touch the warmth of human emotions will become increasingly important. By integrating traditional marketing tools that enhance social presence and the marketing funnel framework with digital marketing tools during the period when prospective students independently gather and verify information, the likelihood of influencing their university selection decisions will significantly increase.

Limitations and future works

Despite the many implications presented above, this study has several limitations. First, since the data were collected from only a specific department of one university, there may be challenges in generalizing the results. However, considering the mobile environment in Korea and the sources of information processing among students, it is clear that the study is sufficiently supported by the circumstances. In other words, although the sample size is small, it consists of individuals who demonstrate passion and interest in relation to their major selection, which makes the reliability of the study sufficiently credible. Further research can be conducted by using the same model to collect data from different universities and departments and comparing the results with the findings of this study. To overcome the limitations of this study, we plan to collaborate with professors from three universities in the Busan area who are interested in digital marketing research in South Korea, as well as share this research with two professors from universities in the Seoul area. By aggregating samples from various universities, we aim to identify differences between students in the metropolitan area and the Busan area. Additionally, we believe it will be possible to examine the disparity in the perceived impact of the declining school-age population between metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions. Second, given that this study applied a quantitative statistical method, some variables can be verified using qualitative data. For example, it may be interesting to analyze data that reflects consumer behavioral measurement data that is visited by the department’s website, which is the owned media, or the department’s social media channel, which is the earned media. Lastly, departments with high actual search volume showed high competition for freshmen, but it was confirmed as a factor that was not adopted in this study. By conducting a qualitative study on these factors, it is judged that it will be a meaningful study to determine why this phenomenon occurs. Furthermore, future research could explore the influence of interdisciplinary studies on department selection and loyalty. As more universities introduce interdisciplinary programs, it would be valuable to analyze how students perceive and select these programs compared to traditional single-major departments. A mixed-method approach, incorporating both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, could provide deeper insights into students’ motivations and expectations regarding interdisciplinary education.^49–54

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Seong-Won Eum

Funding

The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the research grant of the Busan University of Foreign Studies in 2025.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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