The utilisation of Facebook as a marketing communication tool within university faculties

M.Com. (Business Management)Abstract: Businesses globally are using social media to engage with their customers on social media platforms, because that is where their customers are. The largest social media platform in the world, Facebook, is home to over a billion users. Prospective university students, current university students as well as alumni of universities have a presence on Facebook. Therefore, it is pivotal for all higher education institutions to use this platform for marketing and communication purposes. Considering this, it is imperative for the University of Johannesburg to determine how faculties within the University are using Facebook as a marketing communication tool. The primary research objective of this study was to determine how faculties within the University of Johannesburg use Facebook as a marketing communication tool. The primary research objective was addressed by a literature review and the empirical study that followed. The empirical study sample was the University of Johannesburg's nine marketers that manage their faculties’ Facebook pages. Thereafter, a content analysis was conducted of the nine faculties Facebook pages. This study used two qualitative research methods, namely in-depth interviews and content analysis. The method used to analyse the empirical research results was the Morse and Field approach, which indicated that faculties were using Facebook as a marketing communication tool; however, there are many risks and challenges encountered when doing so. The results also highlighted the lack of cohesiveness among the faculties at the University of Johannesburg and depicted that faculties were working in isolation of one another. Furthermore, results also established that there was a lack of branding and association to the University of Johannesburg on faculty Facebook pages. Lastly the results postulated that faculty Facebook pages received a substantial amount of administrative queries, some of which Faculty marketers were not equipped to respond to because they did not have the administrative knowledge to do so. By exploring the usage of Facebook by faculties within the University of Johannesburg, the researcher was able to provide guidelines on how faculties within the University of Johannesburg could effectively use Facebook as a marketing communication tool