Here are the key findings from the survey results: - Facebook is the most popular social networking site among the student sample. - 65% of students surveyed were unaware of the Oxford Brookes Business School Facebook page. - Of the 35% who were aware of the page, 50% did not know it existed previously. - When asked when they accessed the Business School Facebook page, most students (14) said it was during their university application rather than before. - Qualitative feedback from students suggested the Business School Facebook page could improve its promotion and segmentation/targeting strategy to better engage students. - Competitor analysis found other university business school pages implemented features that engaged students more individually rather than

1. U55001
Foundations for Academic Success
Assignment 3 – Final
How Do Business Schools Use Facebook to Engage
With Students?
Name Matthew Smith
Student Number 11024125
Seminar Leader: Jacqui O’Rourke
Word Count: 2698
Report Submission deadline: Monday Week 9 26th March
via drop box in Simon Williams Undergraduate Centre
1

2. Assignment 3
How do Business Schools use facebook to engage with students?
Statement of Originality ...................................................................................................... 3
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 4
Terms of reference.............................................................................................................. 4
Introduction/background ..................................................................................................... 6
Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 7
Methodology........................................................................................................................ 9
Findings & Discussion ...................................................................................................... 10
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 17
Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 18
References ........................................................................................................................ 19
Appendices ....................................................................................................................... 21
2

3. Statement of Originality
Student No. 11024125 Student Name Matthew Smith
Module No. U55001 Module Title Foundations for Academic Success
Seminar tutor’s name: Jacqui O’Rourke
Extract from the Student Conduct Regulations:
2.2.1 Students shall comply at all times with the provisions of the Regulations for Candidates taking
Assessments. In particular they shall not commit impersonation, collusion, plagiarism, falsification,
duplication, submit the work of others as their own, or otherwise cheat in any assessment.
Explanation of terms used in the Student Conduct Regulations:
Impersonation means taking an assessment on behalf of another student, or allowing
another person to take an assessment on your behalf.
Collusion means producing assessed work by working with another person who you
have not been authorised to work with by the Module Leader. This includes, but is not
limited to, allowing another student to copy your work.
Falsification means presenting invented data, for example claiming that you have
conducted interviews or sent out questionnaires when you have not, or altering or
making up your results.
Plagiarism means submitting the work of someone else as if it were your own. When
you include someone else’s ideas in your assignment, you must provide a reference in
the text. If you copy someone else’s words (a quotation), you must show clearly in the
text how much was copied by using speech marks. It is not enough just to list your
references at the end of your assignment. Guidance on the correct use of references
can be found on www.brookes.ac.uk/services/library, and also in a handout in the Library.
Duplication means submitting work for assessment which has been assessed before,
either in this University or elsewhere, without acknowledging the extent of the previous
submission.
If you do not understand what any of these terms mean, you should ask your Module
Leader to clarify them for you. The full regulations may be read in the Library, or
accessed on-line at
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/regulations/sturegs.html
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
Except for those parts in which it is explicitly stated to the contrary, this work is our
own work. It has not been submitted for assessment for credit previously at this or any
other academic or professional institution.
Student signature:
Matthew Smith …Date 7/3/12
CHECKLIST: Please check the following statements are true and initial each box.
We have included a full reference list using the Harvard style of referencing MS
We have provided Harvard style references for all the ideas, empirical evidence and other materials we have used in the main body MS
of this piece of work
We have used quotation marks and referenced all passages (including page numbers) taken word for word from my source material MS
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We completed this work without any unauthorised help MS
3

4. Executive Summary
How do Business Schools use Facebook to engage with students? The purpose of this
report was designed to see how successful the Oxford Brookes University Business school
Facebook page was for current and prospective students. Following the brief, literature was
examined, offering information surrounding Facebook, the problems with social media,
marketers limitations when it comes to social networking, supporting students entering
unfamiliar environments, students lack of academic engagement on social networking sites
and the debate on what is considered most valid form of measurement towards a Facebook
pages performance. Methods of research were studied to ensure quantitative and qualitative
data would be collected. Research ethics into each method was also investigated to ensure
data collection was morally correct for the student as well as giving valid, accurate and
reliable results. The research strategies used in this report included a flow-chart survey,
online survey and detailed competitor analysis, which provided validity in terms of results.
Data analysis from the research results explores the majority of negative responses made by
Business students at Brookes University and reviewing of quantitative information on student
recommendations towards the Facebook page. Finally more effective competitor usage of
Facebook as an online marketing tool, compared to Brookes Business School was analysed.
This revealed a variety of differences in relation to promotion and awareness of their
university Facebook pages and the features implemented in order to become more individual
rather than just the whole of Business. Recommendations for improvements for the
Facebook page were drawn from the findings and discussions, to ensure the Brookes
Business School marketing department could create more effective engagement with
students.
4

5. Terms of reference
The purpose of this report was to assess the effectiveness of the Oxford Brookes Business
School Facebook page and discover which aspects require development for both the benefit
of the university, current and future students. The report is focusing on the marketer’s
expectations from the Facebook page and the students’ responses through conducting
primary and secondary research to assess performance. The report will outline the
Business School’s current social networking usage in comparison to its’ competitor business
schools in terms of posts, updates and features, to provide an understanding of students
requirements and or expectations from the University pages. In addition, by carrying out
market research the report aims to establish how the Business School marketing department
can improve its strategy in engaging with students from the metric results taken from
examining the appropriate pages. The report will have limitations through the market
research conducted, due to constraints such as time, budgetary, reliability and legalities.
WC: 155
5

6. Introduction/background
Assessing the effectiveness of the Business School’s use of Facebook to engage with
students is dependent upon a number of different variables. The Oxford definition of effective
is ‘Powerful in effect; producing a notable effect; effectual.’ (Oxford English Dictionary,
2012). Understanding what the Business School intends to achieve from the page is
fundamental in assessing its effectiveness. The strategy for the Business School’s use of the
Facebook page is to connect with students through providing: ‘news, events, articles, videos
and links about education, business, entrepreneurship and anything that would fuel your
thinking and provide you with actionable information for your personal and professional
development’ (Facebook: OBU Business School, 2012). In this report, the effectiveness of
the page was measured through studying the number of Facebook ‘Likes’, regularity of
posts, displayed content, student awareness of the page, comparison to other University
Business Schools and whether this influences university choices among applicants. A flow
chart survey, online survey and competitor analysis was used as part of our primary
research as this provided sufficient generalisability and triangulation, in order to provide valid
and reliable results.
6

7. Literature Review
The growth of technology over the past decade has encouraged businesses to consider their
marketing strategies in accordance to consumer behaviour. The development of the internet
and communications has ‘pushed’ marketers into the world of social media to promote their
brand and products or services portfolio to customers. Developments in social technologies,
under the heading Web 2.0, has directly impacted the ways in which consumers respond to
communication delivered from organisations. Social media can be defined as to ‘employ
mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms via which
individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content.’
(Kietzmann et al., 2011). One element of social media is social networking, which Ellison el
al. (2007) describes as being an area where individuals can present themselves, articulate
their social networks/interests, and establish or maintain connections with others. The
relevance and impact of this strategy is the difficulty in engaging with the audience
(students) for marketers such as the Brookes Business School and differentiating against
other pages (competition).
Facebook is the largest multilingual social networking site on the Internet.
See (below) reference from Facebook, (2012a),
Fact Sheet – Facebook, (2012).
About Facebook
Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay
connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to
them.
Statistics
We had 845 million monthly active users at the end of December 2011.
Approximately 80% of our monthly active users are outside the U.S. and Canada.
We had 483 million daily active users on average in December 2011.
We had more than 425 million monthly active users who used Facebook mobile products in December 2011.
Facebook is available in more than 70 languages.
Grosseck et al. (2011) suggests that 1 in every 13 people on earth use Facebook. In fact,
72% of online 18 to 29 year olds use social networking websites (Lenhart et al. 2010). From
this secondary research this emphasizes the potential for modern marketers within business.
Facebook prides itself on its worldwide audience and can be presented as making marketers
jobs easy but limitations and problems occur through the management of the social
networking site. Verbal word-of-mouth isn’t the only method of positive/negative
communication anymore. The advancements in technology provide a platform whereby the
reputation of a business can become jeopardised if marketed without thorough market
research and analysis. Jalilvand et al. (2011) summarises that electronic word-of-mouth
(eWOM) communications is a positive or negative comment made by future, current and
existing customers about a brand. Many multinational co-operations are increasing their
investments in recruitment, to constantly monitor for any negative online posts. Palmer
(2010) suggests that Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have become enemies of brands, due
to the lack of features available to marketers to build unique pages, compared to websites
for example. The relevance of this to the report is that social media needs continuous
management to sustain consumer engagement. What Palmer (2010) found is a fundamental
element in this report; what can the Business School do to create a point of difference and
really ‘target’ students? Overall marketers struggle to differentiate their Facebook pages and
create that exposure.
Universities are adopting the same approach towards the development of social media and
Facebook to segment, target and position (STP) to students (Kotler & Armstrong, 2001).
Roblyer (2010) explains that Faculties which see teaching as establishing a relationship with
students may view social media as an efficient and engaging way to communicate. In
7

8. addition, DeAndrea (2012) believes Facebook and social networking sites have the power to
guide students entering an unfamiliar social environment. This is extremely relevant in terms
of the brief - prospective students to the university. This suggests that if the Facebook page
provided the right information, communication channels and supported that transition for the
new students entering university, this would build more of an engaging page.
Alternatively, the ethics surrounding University involvement in social media activities is under
controversy within literature. Hewitt & Forte's (2006) investigation of student and faculty
relationships discovered that 1/3 of students did not believe faculties should be present on
Facebook at all. Hewitt et al. (2006) suggest that faculties and students should not network
and should remain separate. Clemmit (2006) found that students need private time/space
and so use social networking for this purpose.
Neil Selwyn (2007) studied 909 students and their Facebook profiles to discover 76% had
active Facebook profiles and of all the posts, comments, updates, 4% were academic
subjects surrounding the university experience. The relevance and impact of this is that it
suggests that students view social networking as fundamentally ‘social’ between friends and
any academic intrusion is needed if a piece of information was required about a module for
example . For the Brookes Business School Marketing Department this information needs to
be taken into account when trying to engage with students – something purposeful and
unique needs to be at the centre of the page for students to engage with it. Linking back to
the idea that marketers don’t market anymore, consumers control what should be marketed.
‘The events of the last decade have not been those that gave power to the marketer. Rather
they were those that empowered consumers’ (Deighton et al., 2009)
Current literature associated with the research brief explores the benefits and limitation of
what social media can provide for businesses, but can you measure the success of a
Facebook page by just a ‘like?’ Jim Sterne (2010) suggests social media success is not
found in how many people receive your message; it’s found in the responses, comments,
forwarding and discussions to friends and is made by the individuals who received the post.
Hanna et al. (2011) explains that existing metrics of a sales increase for a business or the
basic social media metrics such as Facebook ‘Likes’, only provide a fraction as part of
evidence for the justification of a pages success.
8

9. Methodology
Through addressing the brief and understanding what social media provides for
marketing departments and the concerns and limitations surrounding Facebook, two
primary and one secondary research method were produced. In order to guarantee
the generalisability of the research findings, this intended research would be using
survey method to collect primary quantitative data (Zakaria, 2009). From this, an
interactive flow chat survey was built, which enabled the group to ask current
business school students quantitative questions, surrounding the brief. Also Evans.J
(2005) suggested that online surveys can be time-efficient, accessing data more
efficiently. Knowing this we decided to produce an online survey to increase the
sample size. In addition the survey would provide primarily qualitative data to which
Nahid Golafshani, (2003) suggest to be where the subject to familiarise themselves
with the research, to generate suggestions to which can be assessed. Lastly
secondary triangulation (Saunders, 2008) research was conducted to compare and
contrast two independent sources of data; a competitor business school Facebook
page with Brookes. All research methods selected have a relative 20-60 person
sample size and validity was ensured due to only business school students being
studied.
9

10. Findings & Discussion
Number of students who use social
networking. – 40 participants.
50
Number of students
40
40
30
20 13
10 7
0
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Other
Social networking sites used
The flow-chart survey results (see fig. 1.2) support the literature review associated with
Lenhart et al. 2010 findings that 72% of online 18 to 29 year olds use social networking
websites. The evidence Facebook published (2012) combined with the primary research
analysis enforces the marketing potential for the Business School targeting students online.
The students who answered ‘during’, for when they accessed the
Business School Facebook page, provided these results:
9 Before.
14 During.
Both findings combined suggest that the Business School Facebook
page did not have any involvement determining prospective student’s
final university choices.
10

11. The small sample online survey provided quantitative data. This pie charts suggests that
Facebook is obviously the most popular social networking site among individuels, which links
with the bar-chart research results mentioned.
Social Networking Sites
- Popularity
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
6%
31%
63%
Have you ever visited the Brookes
Facebook Page?
YES NO
35%
65%
Even though Facebook has the largest captive audience of a sample, 65% of
students are unaware of Oxford Brookes Business school’s Facebook page.
These findings link back with literature produced by Kotler & Armstrong, (2001) with that the
Facebook page would definitely benefit from having a better segmentation, targeting and
positioning strategy towards student preferences.
11

12. After qualitative research results had been analysed from the online survey (see fig. 1) to
support the validity of the results.
Analysing the data provides information to which states that the 35% of people who had
never seen the page, 50% of these students did not know it existed. These findings could
be supported by Hewitt & Forte's (2006) investigation of student and faculty relationships
showing that 1/3 of students did not believe faculties should be present on Facebook at all.
This research analysis suggests that even though the Facebook page is a form of promotion
for the Business School, the promotion of the page itself needs attention.
‘Did you explore Oxford Brookes Universities Facebook
page OR any other universities page before going?
What was your reason for doing this? & which
University?’
Promotion Competitions Course Info Meetings Ads Group
Learning?
From the brief, qualitative research had to be conducted to find out what recommendations
could be made in order to improve the Facebook page. The online survey results found
these categories below were common responses and so were transferred into a chart for
analysis. Following directly on from 50% of students who hadn’t used the page whatsoever,
quite clearly better promotion of the page was a major area for improvement. This links
directly with the relevant literature regarding Facebook’s vast audience, promotion of
12

13. Facebook pages and how targeting to specific students can be difficult. In addition more
available individual course information seemed to be a key element from the results, as
respondents commented: ‘nothing personal, the business department is
broad; I want individual purpose to go on the Facebook page’.
Groups within the Facebook page was another aspect, which led to believe students
potentially preferred personal university websites than that of Facebook; again linking with
the literature surrounding keeping faculty separate to social. The problem with students
desiring groups on Facebook is the limitations this gives to marketing departments.
Facebook only provides a framework for users to present their pages, which links to the
literature from Palmer (2010) surrounding the lack of features for marketers.
Competitions were mentioned from the result analysis. This would attract students to the
page more often through incentive schemes, creating more awareness through word of
mouth – linking back to the literature regarding electronic word of mouth online (eWOM).
With regards advertisements on the Facebook page wall the respondents commented
regularily: ‘the advertisements displaying jobs, events, schemes and
links are very useful’. This suggests again with better promotion this can attract more
students – this would benefit the business school and students. These comments came from
the individuals who viewed the page as part of the online survey. This is linked with the Neil
Selwyn (2007) study surrounding the lack of engagement by students towards academic
information on social networking sites. But with more consumer awareness of the page and
a closer relationship with business students these posts can become more noticeable.
The quantitative results below highlight the importance of having Facebook for marketing the
university. This piece of information is relevant to the third bullet point on the research brief
determining the extent to which Business School students used Facebook in making their
final university choices. Even though 42% of students said ‘yes’ with ‘better
promotion’ on what new and current students require with regards information, this
shows the potential the Facebook page has.
Facebook used for pre-UNI research
42% YES
NO
58%
Analysis of competetor Business Schools was required in order to understand how other
universities are engaging with their students, the methods they use to do this and if any
Facebook limitations are occuring. The university size is a limitation for this research
method, but displaying a comparison of equal ranking business school universities to Oxford
Brookes, highlighted differences to build reccomendations for this report.
13

14. Further comparative secondary source analysis was developed. Edinburgh selected in this
research method to compare with Brookes University. (Facebook, 2012b)
1
2
3
14

15. The findings revealed that Edinburgh Business provides: (screenshot indicated above)
A whole page on university website dedicated to social media by the Business School.
Large amount of ‘Connect Here’ links – 1 &3
A Menu tab facility available for the purposes of social networking within the Business School - 2
The aim and objective to having the social networking facilities.– 1
Compared Brookes Business School only shows this small link on the right hand column of the
University website (Link enlarged on screenshot) - linking with the question & answer lecture – brookes
don’t seem to advertise the their Facebook particularly well:
(Facebook 2012c) (see figures 1.3 and 1.4)
Finally both the Edinburgh Business School and an overview of the Oxford Brookes
Facebook page was analysed and differences were recorded for the second point in the
research brief.
The number of Facebook likes was just under three times that of Brookes, although the
limitation of university size was taken into account. The number of photograph albums
available on Edinburgh’s Facebook page was also significantly more than Oxford Brookes’.
The three major finding which were found on Edinburgh’s compared to that of Brookes:
 Quite clearly more social networking sites and university web links displayed
 Ordering a prospectus
 Exam details
Overall the three headings highlighted above, link back to the primary research comments
made by students surrounding the page: ‘Lack of individual purpose for the
15

16. page’. Edinburgh to a clearly takes into account more detailed student requirements.
16

17. Conclusion
From the developments in this report between establishing appropriate research methods to
the analysis of research data, arguably the answer ‘no’ is suggested to the research
question. This is very much dependant on the results taken from the research methods
chosen, taking into consideration the limitations of the report. Recommendations was
produced from the literature examined and the benefits of social media and Facebook for
marketers when targeting consumers. Measurement of any Facebook page is debated in
literature and the research and findings combined the number of likes, differences in
competitor universities usage and arguably the most importantly the comments from the
target market – students. Methods of research and the ethics were studied to ensure the
quantitative and qualitative strategies (flow-chart, online survey and competitor analysis)
used where appropriate, for students and provided validity in terms of results. Overall the
research findings and discussions presented an overview of the business schools Facebook
page and suggested how ‘ineffective’ this was. Further recommendations were made from
the quantitative information taken from the negative responses made within the findings.
Identified areas for improvement displayed the lack of individuality on the Facebook page
(needed to become more course specific –grouped?), the lack of promotion and uniqueness
of the page. Edinburgh’s (competitor) features implemented revealed the distinct differences
in advertising of the Business School’s Facebook page, to that of Brookes. Further research
would be taken from the recommendations examined, for better student engagement.
Word Count: 235
17

18. Recommendations
Further research would need to be investigated to see whether these recommendations
would be beneficial for the BS and students.
Recommendations to improve the promotion of Oxford Brookes Business Schools
Facebook page:
Promotional leaflets handed out to Oxford Brookes prospective students on the
university open days advertising the social networking
facilities used by the Business School.
Add QR coding to the promotional materials on
these visit days. QR coding is a modern piece of electronic
coding which would send students directly to the Facebook
page via their mobile phone camera device - with an APP
installed. This is a rapidly increasing marketing tool
adopted by businesses for promotion.
‘MORE’ Facebook links
Advertise on Facebook – invest capital within QR CODE (ABOVE) WORKS. – this
the marketing budget towards online ‘exposure’, would send you to the real OBBS
via social networking advertising facilities. FACEBOOK PAGE.
Improve individuality and student purpose of the page: Through either having or simply
installing the APP called: ‘SCAN’ on an
Should seriously consider Creating iPhone for example, students would be
separate Facebook Pages (Groups) for each able to hold up their camera and
quickly be directed to the Facebook
Oxford Brookes Business School course. page.
Create a UCAS link with students finishing
A LEVELS.
Add competitions:
Brookes Grab & Go vouchers or core text book to encourage students to go on the
Facebook page.
[Overall the Facebook page has to become more course specific to increase engagement.]
Once this has been developed then the introduction on a Brookes Business School
APP could be introduced.
18

19. References
Clemmitt, M. (2006), ‘Cyber Socializing’, CQ Researcher. 16(27), p.627–648.
DeAndrea, D. Ellison, N. LaRose, R. Steinfield, C. Fiore, A. (2012) Serious social
media: On the use of social media for improving students' adjustment to college.
Social Media in Higher Education. Vol. 15. No.1 pp.15–23
Evans, R. Mathur, A. (2005) The Value of Online Surveys. Emerald Group
Publishing Limited. Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 195-219
Deighton, J. Komfeld, L. (2009) Interactivity's Unanticipated Consequences for
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Ellison, N.B. Steinfield, C. and Lampe, C. (2007) The Benefits of Facebook
‘‘Friends:’’ Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites.
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rd
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20

21. Appendices
Fig. 1 – Online survey – www.surveymonkey.com, (2012).
21

22. Figure 1.1– Survey Experiment user requirements
The experiment involves the user (student):
1) Log onto Facebook & go on the OBBS page
MOVE THE MOUSE TO EVERYTHING YOU MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH AND
INTRACT WITH ON SCREEN.
2) Look over the page and explore without assistance
3) Write the best and worst features about the Facebook page.
Figure 1.2 - Flow Chart Survey
22

23. Figure 1.3 – Oxford Brookes Facebook page
Figure 1.4 – Edinburgh Facebook page
23