Social media usage in higher education: Role in marketing and communication during COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Major higher educational institutions exert efforts on social media to establish relationships with students, aspirants, alumni and other stakeholders. These efforts have been increased in the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 as institutions are left only with social media channels as a medium to communicate and build their branding. Therefore, it is important to examine the various Facebook posts that become important for delivering the information and building a positive association with its stakeholders. The current study adopted the content analysis method to examine the various posts of the top 20 Indian universities during June 2020-November, 2020. The results revealed that university type, post category and post format were the important factors to increase the reachability (likes and shares) and engagement (comments and total engagement) of the post with its stakeholders during the above-stated period. Additionally, the posts in the category of events and announcements recorded the highest engagements. The current study also examined that the top relevant comments, content (positive sentiments and negative sentiments), gender, and users were not the factor in increasing engagement. This study provides strategies for universities to increase reachability and engagement concerning content creation and its format on social media platforms. © 2022. Transnational Press London. All Rights Reserved.