Tweets, likes, and click-throughs: assessing the return on investment of higher education social media marketing initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The widespread use of social media has dramatically changed how people see higher education and altered how institutions share their mission and image. While colleges and universities have increasingly added social media platforms into their marketing plans, the real effectiveness of these efforts has not been thoroughly studied. Traditional advertising methods once allowed institutions to gauge impact through direct responses, but today’s social media metrics are much more complex and less clear. This study examined how much higher education marketing professionals use and assess social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and WhatsApp, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative case study, semi-structured interviews, and institutional documents were used to understand current practices and opinions. Participants included individuals managing marketing and social media at four-year, non-profit colleges and universities around the U.S., including Duke University, Princeton University, Eastern Washington University, the University of Arkansas, and Yale University School of Medicine. Additionally, six Facebook pages of well-ranked U.S. universities were analyzed to see how they communicate their identity. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected social media activity, leading to greater reliance on digital communication but also exposing staffing and resource challenges. Because social media continues to evolve and the pandemic situation evolves, the study suggests that future research will provide helpful insights into long-term changes in social media use by higher education institutions.