Does Social Media Facilitate Admission to Business Schools: Evidence from Prospective Students

Abstract

Social media communication has many usages among students. The role and accountability of social media tools have greater importance than before. The scope of social media tools is wider than the traditional print medium. Business schools use social media tools to market and promote the courses, faculty, infrastructure, and other resources among prospective students. Students use social media tools to get aware of day-to-day happenings, news, events, and other purposes too. The present research focuses to understand the different usage of social media tools among prospective students and business schools. The research also aims to know the preferences of different social media tools among the management prospective students. Additionally, it also aims to understand the importance of social media reviews and ranking in business school marketing. To explore the usage and importance of social media tools among prospective management students, the researcher conducted the depth qualitative interviews with 72 prospective students. The prospective candidates have been selected from the four zones in about eight cities of India on a convenience basis. The qualitative depth interview has been transcribed through Microsoft ottero.ai and the same has been analyzed through the qualitative data analysis software Atlas.ti (version 9). The result suggests that prospective students use social media tools to collect admission-related information about the management institute. Social media reviews and ranking played a key role in business school marketing. Instagram and LinkedIn are prominent tools to market and promote business schools among prospective students.