The utilization of Social Media in marketing the Lebanese Higher Education institutions

In today’s competitive environment, it is significant to develop a strong community that retains existing customers and attracts new ones. Higher education institutions in Lebanon, given the pandemic, are shifting to online platforms to market their services. The article explains how HEIs in Lebanon use social media as a way of engaging and communicating with stakeholders. Using a questionnaire targeting the marketing department of the Lebanese HEIs, managerial and marketing implications will be presented to explain the promotional implications of using social media and its challenges. The findings showed that most Lebanese higher educational institutions are utilizing social media strategies when planning their marketing efforts, due to the fear of losing control of its reputation and the limited budget allocated for these efforts. Moreover, they have a limited understanding of its value and its implications and, thus, use it solely for communication purposes with their current and potential students, rather than showing what they do as research centers