Abstract
Tertiary Institutions among other businesses have been promoting their services through various conventional media which can be considered as an integrated form of communication. On the other hand, with the incorporation of the modern technologies into individual and professional lives, tertiary cannot only communicate effectively with their target audience, but they can also use social media to disseminate information and obtain feedback.Using a quantitative research approach, this research identified the social media channels students use to search for tertiary institutions, examined the various social media platforms students actively engage in, how the use of social media influence students’ tertiary institutions decision-making process and identified other factors that influence students’ choice of tertiary institutions. Results showed that respondents heavily rely on university website to search for tertiary institution information even though they are very active on WhatsApp, spending over 2 hours daily. The findings of this research adds on to existing research on consumer decision making with respect to their choice of tertiary institutions. It also helps authorities of various tertiary institutions, to improve on their social media platform activities and also develop communication strategies in other to attract potential students through the various social media platforms. It might serve as the required cause for those institutions that have no presence at all on social media to establish one since prospective students might make use of such handles in selecting schools. Keywords: Social Media, Tertiary Institutions, Ghana DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-30-07 Publication date :October 31 st 2019
Highlights
With the unavoidable incorporation of the Internet into individual and professional lives, marketers are scrambling to find the right spot to be in cyberspace (Keller, 2013)
Social media platforms are categorized in eight main titles: social networking sites, blogs, micro blogs, content sharing sites, wikis, social bookmarking sites, podcasts and forums. (N Gizem, Secil, & Evrin, 2013)
For the purpose of this research, the quantitative research methodology was used because the main objective of this research was to examine the effect of the use of social media on students’ choice of tertiary institutions and since a quantitative research methodology supports the view of measuring the effect of one variable on the other and allows the generalization of results (Creswel, 2012) the choice of this type of research approach
Summary
With the unavoidable incorporation of the Internet into individual and professional lives, marketers are scrambling to find the right spot to be in cyberspace (Keller, 2013). The emergence of social media has created a new and wide landscape for marketers to find the right spot to interact effectively with their customers as well as prospective customers on the internet. The term “social media” has basically been viewed in the public circle as a means of connecting people globally and creating a platform that allows interactions among them. According to Fotis, Buhalis, and Rossides, (2012), social media can be defined as “group of internet based applications that are built on ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content. Social media can be defined as online platforms that people use to share opinions and experiences including photos, videos, music and perceptions with each other. Social media platforms are categorized in eight main titles: social networking sites, blogs, micro blogs, content sharing sites, wikis, social bookmarking sites, podcasts and forums. (N Gizem, Secil, & Evrin, 2013)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
