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Social media engagement and Chinese international student recruitment: understanding how UK HEIs use Weibo and WeChat

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  • Yimei Zhu

Abstract

Using a novel longitudinal methodological design, this is the first study to investigate how and to what extent UK higher education institutions (HEIs) use Chinese social media platforms to engage with users. The data was gathered from examining 163 UK HEIs’ use of Weibo public accounts in 2012 and 2018 and WeChat in 2018, combined with student data and university ranking data from secondary sources. The analysis demonstrates a positive association between HEIs’ social media engagement and increase in Chinese student numbers studying at those institutions, after taking into account of university reputation. This study identifies effective social media strategies to gain popularity with Chinese users. Interaction and public replies to followers may generate trust and electronic word-of-mouth to attract more users to follow HEIs’ social media accounts. The findings contribute to the knowledge in the field of higher education research in relation to cross-cultural communication and social media marketing.

Suggested Citation

  • Yimei Zhu, 2019. "Social media engagement and Chinese international student recruitment: understanding how UK HEIs use Weibo and WeChat," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 173-190, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jmkthe:v:29:y:2019:i:2:p:173-190
    DOI: 10.1080/08841241.2019.1633003
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    Cited by:

    1. Novkovska, Blagica & Milenkovska, Violeta, 2020. "How To Build Robust On-Line Job Interview Resistant To Health-Risk Generated Crises," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 11(2), pages 243-250.
    2. Li, Lei & Zhang, Jiayang & An, Xun, 2023. "Using social media for efficient brand marketing: An evaluation of Chinese Universities using Bilibili," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Nguyen-Tan Hung & Kuo-Liang Yen, 2022. "Towards Sustainable Internationalization of Higher Education: Innovative Marketing Strategies for International Student Recruitment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Ying Qi Wu & Jiankun Gong, 2023. "Mobile social media as a vehicle of health communication: a multimodal discourse analysis of WeChat official account posts during the COVID-19 crisis," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.

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