1. Introduction
Trinity College Dublin has been ranked as the best university in Ireland (Timeshighereducation.com, 2018). The 17000+ students currently enrolled in Trinity hail from over 122 countries making a pool of diverse cultural and academic ideas (TCD, 2018). In the 400 year history of the college, Trinity has continued to strive for continuous improvement to ensure that it is in line with the 21st century trends while maintaining its historical roots. Social Media has become a major tool that allows a company to reach a large number of people while not being present in the same location. With over 2.1 billion people having social media accounts, social media is a platform that can allow a company to reach 29% of the global population (Infinitdatum, 2015). Trinity College serves on all the major social media platforms as an institution, while its various departments, societies etc. also have their individual presence on social media (TCD, 2019). Social Media has become an important platform for Trinity in terms of communication, innovation, achievements and scouting students (TCD, 2019). An important benefit of Social media for Trinity as listed is “Student Recruitment & Brand Awareness” (TCD, 2019). It signifies how social media can assist Trinity in not just achieving these 2 objectives but also making sure that they are achieved in best possible way and delivery.
The inspiration and idea for the research was derived in a conversation between students of Trinity and the reason why they choose Trinity. In these reasons, none of them cited social media to have a direct impact on their decision. In majority cases, they started following Trinity social media accounts after joining Trinity. The research is based on the idea to identify the role Social Media plays in an international students decision to select Trinity. This will include identifying the touch points, factors affecting an international students decision and probable reasons to justify whether spending a large amount on social media has measurable returns or not.
2. Research Question & Research Objectives
2.1. Research Question
“Role of Social Media Marketing by Trinity in an international student’s decision to select the institution”
2.2. Research Question
1. To determine the level of awareness and interaction by existing students with Trinity social media portals on various platforms
2. Mapping the customer journey and identifying the role of social media marketing by Trinity in the process
3. To determine whether the current strategy by Trinity for selected countries is working well or not (Countries will be selected based on the number of students in Trinity from those countries)
3. Research Design
The research and data collection will be conducted using primary methods of In-depth interviews and surveys. This will be conducted using people that qualify the following criteria
- Student of Trinity College Dublin
- International Student (Non- Irish)
- Undergraduate, Postgraduate or PhD students (No Post-Doctoral Fellows)
- Active on the either or all of the 4 social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn)*
- Follow Trinity College Dublin on either of the 4 sites*
*NOTE – The highlighted requirements are specifically for In-depth interviews as they would require respondents who are following and interacting or interacted with Trinity on theses social media sites before. This is useful for the customer journey mapping.
The above students will be selected using convenience sampling where the availability and willingness of the candidates to be part of the research will be the priority. After the conducting the interviews and analysis of the results, additional information will be derived through the use of questionnaires. The questionnaire will be congruent to the interview theme and questions and will allow me to gather information that will be useful for a consensus or generalization.
3.1. Research Methodology
While each of the objective is trying to explore data about existing practices, the research will be an explanatory research. The primary methods & strategy adopted for conducting this will be Survey and In-depth Interviews. Since methods of collecting both qualitative and quantitative data are involved, a mixed method research will be conducted.
The research will be restricted to International students of Trinity College Dublin studying in Undergraduate, Postgraduate or PhD courses.
The research will involve a variety of methods to collect information that will be different for each research question
1) In-depth Interviews – The focus of these interviews will ensure me to understand the following objectives
- To determine the level of interaction by existing students with Trinity social media portals on various platforms
- Mapping the customer journey and identifying the role of social media marketing by Trinity in the process
Data – Data required will be to know about the knowledge of respondents about Trinity social media presence on selected platforms
Sample Size – 9 Interviews
Research Method – Qualitative Primary Data Collection
Sampling Method – Convenience Sampling
A rough structure of the interview questions can be found in the appendix
2) Questionnaire – After the In depth interviews a survey questionnaire will be used to understand the following objectives
- To determine the level of awareness and interaction by existing students with Trinity social media portals on various platforms
- Mapping the customer journey and identifying the role of social media marketing by Trinity in the process
Data – Data will be collected primarily from In-depth interviews to map the journey and the same will be combined and validated with the help of survey as well
Sample Size – 120 Respondents
Research Method – Quantitative Primary Data Collection
Sampling Method – Convenience Sampling
3) Secondary Data Analysis
The secondary data will be retrieved from Trinity College Dublin regarding its Social Media platforms to achieve the following objective
To determine whether the current strategy by Trinity for selected countries is working well or not (Countries will be selected based on the number of students in Trinity from those countries)
Data – Data regarding the social media marketing figures such as cost, reach, likes for a particular country for a year and the number of students from that country for the same year
Research Method – Secondary Data Analysis (Subject to availability and permissions from Trinity)
4. Proposed Data Analytics Techniques
Since the research involves qualitative, quantitative and secondary data, various data analytics techniques will be used in order to derive at the desired result. The following are the proposed techniques to be used
4.1. Quantitative Primary Data Collection
For the purpose of analysing quantitative data, the software used will be either MS Excel or Knime. The above 2 software’s are easy to understand and my expertise in them is better than SPSS
- Descriptive Analysis – This will be done by using the data from the survey. The following analysis will define the respondents based on various characteristics such as degree level, gender, nationality, platforms they are active on etc.
- Regression Analysis – Logistic regression will be used in cases when a relationship would want to be established between factors such as Selecting Trinity & Following Trinity social media before getting an offer or Selecting Trinity & Following Trinity social media after getting an offer. This will help establish whether the X(Independent Variable) was anyway influencing the Y(Independent Variable).
- Correlation – Correlation can be used for establishing a relationship between some variable to identify the presence of a positive, negative or no relationship.
4.2. Qualitative Primary Data Collection
I would be using the thematic analysis method that is briefly based on the method explained in class and the approach compiled by School of Phycology, University of Auckland (University of Auckland, u.d.).
- Read and re-read the data to know the data thoroughly
- Develop codes that will be combined together to form themes that will be used to answer the questions
- Developing themes allows the analyst to find patterns in the responses which creates commonality in the responses
- Naming themes based on their common points and writing up
This process will not be followed exactly but in bits and parts to ensure a proper method of qualitative data analysis is adopted
4.3. Secondary Data Analysis
The secondary data will be analysed subject to availability of data. This will involve developing averages, Cost per acquisition, comparisons between cost data from previous years etc. A major analysis will be done comparing the cost per acquisition to the conversion rates that I will derive using my survey questionnaire. This will be followed by recommendations.
5. Potential Contributions
The research is being conducted from a Trinity centric approach. It will be an analysis of the impact of Trinity social media profiles on a student’s decision to select trinity. It would have the following benefits for trinity
- Measure the current capability, benefits, awareness of Trinities social media pages. This will be useful in doing a SWOT analysis to identify the internal strengths and weaknesses in order to correct them.
- Justification for social media budget. The research has the capability to identify if social media interactions, following or campaigns have an impact in a student’s decision to select Trinity. The results (if positive) have the capability to prove why using high budgets for Trinity for its social media marketing is justified or vice versa.
- Assess the role of social media in modern day college/university selection. A research shows that 83% students now also used social media to make their final decisions about colleges or universities (Theconversation, 2018). The research will be able to provide some support or rejection to the statement based on the results of the study
6. Time Frame
Date / Task / Comments
March 29th 2019
1st meeting with Supervisor
March 30th 2019
Submission of Proposal
April 2019
Planning for the interviews and developing final question sheet
Mid-April, 2019
2nd Meeting with Supervisor for final approvals
Mid-April, 2019 – Mid May, 2019
Interviews
Minimum 8 and maximum 10
Mid-May, 2019
Transcription & Development of Survey Questionnaire
Early-June, 2019
Completion of Survey with at least 120 responses
Can be extended if 120 responses are not achieved
Mid-June, 2019 to End June, 2019
- Final Analysis of the survey data
- Comparison of the survey data with interviews for Customer Journey
- Analysis of Secondary data (Subject to availability)
End June, 2019
Final meeting with Supervisor & presentation of draft thesis
2019-3-26-1553620412