Effect of Social Media Outreach Engagement in Institutions of Higher Learning in India

Abstract

Word of mouth has for long been the holy grail of marketing. Word of mouth now is word of mouse. Peer reviews, opinions and comments are now the number one influencer prior to choosing an institution of higher learning amongst students considering their relatively high exposure to social media. In this research a study was made on 160 respondents who embraced the online community on social sites like Facebook, Orkut and PaGalGuy as aspirants in five B Schools across India. The participants’ patterns and their level of participation were observed. The survey measured the defined variables to verify the hypotheses on the flow of information and perceptions using a 7-point Likert scale. The conceptualisation of social identity consisted of three dimensions: evaluative social identity, cognitive social identity and affective social identity, each of which contained three items. The study indicated that the prospective students of B Schools participate in social media discussions not necessarily on account of social identity created but on account of behaviour identity of the individual; Information relevance is not as significant as information value; Information value drives usage frequency and Usage frequency is a significant driver for the post participative behaviour. The findings will be useful for the B Schools by tracking the usage, involve those active in the group prior to joining in Brand (School) Building activities at a later phase (as alumni).