The Use of Facebook as a Marketing Tool by Private Educational Institutions in Singapore

Abstract

With social network sites growing in popularity, many organisations have started to use this 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. This is not apparent to marketers and as such, many organizations are not leveraging on this media tool effectively. This paper examines the use of Facebook as a marketing tool by private educational institutions offering degree programmes in Singapore and investigates the extent that these educational institutions are leveraging on this new marketing communications tool. The findings suggest that marketing on social network sites remains in its infancy. Educational institutions in Singapore have started to use social network sites as a marketing communications tool. However, as the majority of visitors were using social network sites as an extension to existing mediums for seeking information, there is clearly the potential for the educational institutions to move to the next level in leveraging on social network sites to engage its members and generating a shared cultural meaning of their brands.