Digital amp Social Media Marketing Strategy Assignment
Executive SummaryIn the present era, digital amp social media marketing strategy plays significant role in promoting the services across the international market. It has been also assessed that UK universities offer different postgraduate courses with implementing effective digital marketing strategies to attract students from the different region. The present assignment has focused on the analyzing the different types of students personas on which university has focused on to attract the students for selecting the courses. On the other hand, it has been stated that most of the students start their search for university and secondary schools online probably with accessing the university website for the first time that support in contacting with the university.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOC o 1-3 h z u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc3225968 h 2Introduction PAGEREF _Toc3225969 h 4Main Body PAGEREF _Toc3225970 h 4Assignment 1 PAGEREF _Toc3225971 h 4Assignment 2- Report PAGEREF _Toc3225972 h 4Internal audit of existing digital marketing strategies of Oxford Brookes with determining its key strengths and weaknesses and comparing carefully with the selected competitors PAGEREF _Toc3225973 h 4Proposed digital marketing strategy for Oxford Brookes PAGEREF _Toc3225974 h 6Different types of resources needed to support this strategy and an overall estimate of the budget requirements PAGEREF _Toc3225975 h 7Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc3225976 h 8References PAGEREF _Toc3225977 h 10
IntroductionFrom past 10 years, UK education sector has seen growth by 45.2 especially Ph.D. research that has been strengthening by increasing the ratio of international students from the EU and other regions as the students are coming to study in the UK. It has been also assessed that UK universities offer different postgraduate courses with implementing effective digital marketing strategies to attract students from the different region (Rambe and Nel, 2015). Hence, an increase in the ratio of international students often seek opportunities towards studying in abroad with the help of searching (especially Google) as well as social media engagement.
For the present report, the digital marketing strategy of Oxford Brookes University has been taken into consideration. The present assignment focus on the presentation that will specifically engage in determining the different types of students personas on which university will focus to attract the students for selecting their courses. On the other hand, the report will also focus on proposing the digital marketing strategy for the university so that it provides a more comprehensive and integrated approach to the applicants and students to connect with the university and their courses.
Main BodyAssignment 1(Presentation)
Assignment 2- ReportInternal audit of existing digital marketing strategies of Oxford Brookes with determining its key strengths and weaknesses and comparing carefully with the selected competitorsIn the present scenario, UK universities and colleges are coming up with the innovative and exciting courses top attract the UK students as well as international students towards the courses (Canhoto et al. 2016). With the redefinition of courses by innovation in design and delivery pattern, the university engages in maintaining degree programs with the help of engaging in digital marketing strategies.
It has been further stated that the education experts have significant resources that support in crafting, testing and rollout the degree programs over the online platform to enhance the visibility of courses (Peruta and Shields, 2017). With this reason, higher education institutions, as well as universities, engage in implementing creative communication to keep their courses and educational programs visible and desirable.
With the help of conducting an internal audit of Oxford Brookes University on the postgraduate marketing portfolio it has been assessed that marketing manager engages in a range of strategies such as-
PPC strategies (Pay Per Click)
Pay per click is the most significant marketing method that is used for generating high-quality leads with engaging in broadcasting the brand (university) among the qualified individuals by turning their clicks into the prospective students. The Oxford Brookes University engages in using PPC strategy for targeting the students that result in fostering the growth in acquiring the students towards purchasing their postgraduate courses (Robertson and Komljenovic, 2016).
Strengths and weaknesses
The strength of Brookes existing strategy is that it is cost effective method as well as good for money because it supports in targeting mass of audiences, i.e. students towards their courses. Strength of using PPC advertisement is that it is customizable, i.e. universitys manager can easily make small adjustments as well as an amendment in the advertisement to ensure optimum outcome (Brabazon, 2016).
Despite of strengths, it has been also identified that there are some weaknesses associated with this strategy i.e. it engages in investing time to optimize and improve the practices to acquire the best results. It has been also assessed that using PPC tool allows the Oxford Brookes University to create the brand recognition for business with the help of increasing additional traffic on the website thus it results in increasing the online visibility of university website.
Furthermore, PPC advertising also enhances the testing capabilities of the Oxford University by enabling low-risk testing for keywords. Thus it provides authority to university to direct traffic to web page or sites of university. From where students easily gain the information regarding the postgraduate courses offered by them. Contrary to this, weakness of PPC digital marketing strategy for Oxford University is that they require highly skilled and expertise that engage in designing PPC advertisement for the university (Robertson and Komljenovic, 2016).
Hence, it has been assessed that for PPC strategy, marketing manager is required to engage in some skilled practice that would assist in setting up effective campaigns. Therefore, university often chooses to use a specialist agency that act as expenditure for Brookes University.
It has been assessed that the client (Oxford Brookes) should focus on developing an organic strategy on their website landing pages, i.e. engaging in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) to attract the international students.
SEM is an effective form of internet marketing activities that encompasses the activities that will engage in promotion of university (Oxford Brookes) website by growing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) principally with the paid advertising. The strength is that practice mainly aggregates the increase in quantity and quality of traffic to the university official website through organic search engine results. Building the SEO it will support the Oxford Brookes University in grabbing opportunity towards attracting the international students towards the cluster of courses.
Live streaming
It has been further identified that Oxford Brookes University also engages in using live streaming activities for marketing and promoting their postgraduate portfolio. It is defined as an emerging digital marketing strategy for the higher education institute (Brookes) in live stream their courses and programs among the audiences (Nevzat et al. 2016).
Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, Video Chat for Snapchat as well as Periscope for Twitter are considered as key activity in this arena that assists the client (Oxford Brookes University) in promoting their degree cluster. With this strategy, university engages in live streaming that mainly include a live stream of the Question amp Answer sessions as well as live streaming classes where professor convey significant information regarding the courses in Hospitality and Tourism domain.
Strengths and weaknesses
One of the key strength of live streaming strategy is that it positively supports the university in promoting its range of courses and programs (Chapleo, 2015). On the other hand, weakness of live streaming strategy is that streaming will only continue in the situation of high internet connection because with the disruption on internet it will result in rising the situation of buffering that somewhat lead to the pirated data.
It can be expressed that instant playback is the main and most important strength of live streaming as the strength is providing direct and competitive advantage over other digital channels. The concept or digital platform of live streaming is supporting the University students and other related parties in playing the files and content on immediate basis.
In addition to this, the university has also integrated special streaming media in its live streaming services which has further provided the students and other related parties to jump backward and forward while steaming the video or content (Patrutiu-Baltes, 2016). The result of this is that it has helped in creating high degree of satisfaction among the users and at the same time, has supported the users in viewing the video in the best possible manner.
On the other side of this, high bandwidth usage can be termed as the main and most important weaknesses associated with the concept of live streaming. The students or viewers are required to make sure that adequate bandwidth is available for carrying out the live streaming of content and videos. It can be expressed that users with low bandwidth or slow connection can face several issues and challenges in carrying out live streaming of content.
Apart from this, privacy protection has been identified as another critical strength of live streaming as it has the concept in becoming more and more popular among the viewers and audience (Peruta and Shields, 2017). The technology of streaming live videos is considered as very difficult in terms of copying and therefore, the users are getting directly benefited from the same. The university is not required to concern about areas such copying and editing of content or videos because the task of copying and editing is very complicated in live streaming.
However, it can be argued that live streaming is available online only and this can be termed as another potential disadvantage associated with the same. No internet connection means that the users will not be able to access live streaming in any given situation (Dao and Thorpe, 2015). Thus, it can be asserted that there are several strengths and weaknesses associated with the concept of live streaming and these weaknesses and strengths needs to be taken care of in the best and every possible manner.
Competitor analysis
The key competitor of Oxford Brookes University is Coventry University one of the leading public university of England that impart different course and degree among the students of different field. The Coventry University also engages in using digital marketing strategies for promoting and marketing their range of postgraduate courses and degree. The digital marketing strategies mainly include introducing personalized mobile friendly website (Dao and Thorpe, 2015).
It has been stated that most of the students start their search for university and secondary schools online probably with accessing the university website for the first time that support in contacting with the university. The key strength of this strategy is that content over the website allow the university to optimize the conversions for students those who have articulated an interest in particular programs by applying and enrolling for the program (Hall, 2016).
Comparison of digital marketing strategies of Oxford Brookes and Coventry University
After carrying out the comparison of digital marketing strategies of Oxford Brookes and Coventry University, it has been identified that at present the strategies employed by Oxford Brookes is more useful and effective in comparison with the strategies which are being used by Coventry University. The statement can be justified by the fact that at present, Oxford Brookes is using a diverse range of digital marketing tools and strategies to create awareness and demand among the target group of individuals.
On the other side of this, Coventry University which is termed as the key and main competitor of Oxford Brookes is relying heavily on strategy such as personalized mobile friendly website (Crittenden and Crittenden, 2015). The result of this is that Oxford Brookes has been able to create higher level of awareness in comparison with Coventry University.
It has been identified that at present, Oxford Brookes is using digital marketing strategy such as pay per click with an objective to generate high quality leads whereas Coventry University is not emphasizing more on areas or strategy such as pay per click. The use of pay per click as a digital marketing strategy is also supporting Oxford Brookes in creating the demand of its courses and programs among people or students in a cost effective manner.
However, Coventry University has neglected the use of pay per click as a digital strategy and this has helped the university in saving its considerable amount of time and resources (Eid and Al-Jabri, 2016).
The comparison between digital marketing strategies of the two selected universities has also highlighted the fact that Coventry University strategies of marketing and promotion are less aggressive in comparison with the marketing strategies which has been adopted and implemented by Oxford Brookes.
Furthermore, Oxford Brookes is also investing more efforts and resources in carrying out marketing and promotion of its courses as compared to the cost and resources which are invested by Coventry University (Lesley, 2018). The result of all efforts and strategies implemented by Oxford Brookes is that the university has been able to gain competitive advantage over other business schools and universities operating in the marketplace.
After carrying out the comparison between the digital marketing strategies of both the universities, it can also be expressed that Coventry University is now required to emphasize a lot on areas such as marketing and promotion. The university also needs to understand the fact that strong dependency over official website will not result in attracting more and more students and getting them enrolled in the courses or programs (Patrutiu-Baltes, 2016).
The overall digital marketing strategies developed and employed by Coventry University needs to be revised and at the same time, the university is now required to use multiple strategies for marketing and promotion. After carrying out the comparison, it has also been identified that Oxford Brookes is also carrying out effective monitoring of its digital marketing strategies and plans whereas no such activities or practices are conducted by Coventry University.
Proposed digital marketing strategy for Oxford BrookesFrom the above internal audit of digital marketing strategies of Oxford Brookes University, it has been proposed by the marketing consultant that Brookes University will focus on opting the comprehensive and integrated approach over the digital platform so that it readily engage applicants and students among the university (Rutter et al. 2016).
The proposed digital marketing strategy for Oxford Brookes mainly focuses on implementing the organic social media marketing strategies associated with chatbots over social media. Implementation of the Chatbots has significantly changed the way of communication.
It provides a contemporary way for students to get questions answered instantaneously so that they may easily select the required course for their development (Lesley, 2018). It has been proposed that implementation of chatbots into the recruitment strategy will support the professional in speeding up the admissions by weeding out untrained and incompetent candidates.
In addition to this, chatbots will also follow up with the potential students to make sure that they finish their application earlier than the enrollment deadline. Therefore, it has been proposed that Chatbots digital marketing strategy will convincingly simulate the students to take the test so that university may select the competent students towards the courses (Patrutiu-Baltes, 2016).
On the other hand, another proposed digital marketing strategy for Brookes University is integrating mobile application to enhance the overall experience of UK as well as international students at the time of applying and enrolling for the course. In the present era where students are brought up on the technology and the Smartphone are regarded as generation X. Thus, to attract such students it has been proposed integrating the mobile application will enhance the digital strategy of the university.
With the help of reviewing secondary sources as well as statistics, it has been reviewed that majority of students visits the site via mobile devices(Baltes, 2015). Therefore, integrating mobile approaches result in delivering a personalized experience to the students regarding the range of educational courses offered by the university. On the other hand, this proposed strategy will be also regarded as an automated and personalized approach takes the work out of the registration process but enables tracking and keeps communication open from point zero (Eid and Al-Jabri, 2016).
Therefore, both the proposed digital marketing strategies will benefit secondary school and universities in promoting their range of degrees and courses among the mass of the audience (Crittenden and Crittenden, 2015).
Through analyzing the UK education system it has been assessed that higher education prospers the healthier community and ensure presence of college and university at the social media platform. Along with this, throughout the world, universities, as well as colleges, are focused on implementing the social media strategies to attach and bond with the students, parents, prospects, staff, and even other educational facilities so that it ensures delivery of higher education among the students.
Different types of resources needed to support this strategy and an overall estimate of the budget requirementsDevelopment and implementation of a strategy for the online market are quite hard for Oxford Brookes University as it mainly focuses on implementing different types of resources for supporting the strategy. It has been further identified that a strategy requires setting up an effective plan that mainly comprises of useful marketing tactics so that it enhances their services among the mass of audiences(Todor, 2016). The marketing manager of the university will start with defining every goal that the university wants to achieve along with determining the key resources that are available to reach these goals. The different types of resources needed to support the proposed strategy are as follows-
Human resource- The foremost resource that is required to support the proposed digital marketing strategy is associated with human resources. The human resource will significantly assist in designing and managing the strategies along with monitoring activities so that in case of any deviation or error they might easily overcome the gap and indulge in implementing the social media strategy. On the other hand, human resource within the university will also properly review the conversion rate of users to the enrolment in university (Ryan, 2016).
Technological resource- In addition to this, another required resource for supporting the digital marketing strategy is associated with technological resources. With the technological resources, marketing manager of the university would focus on developing cost-effective strategies for the social media platform so that they might easily target the mass of audiences.
In addition to this, technological resources would also assist the manager in having proper knowledge regarding the new strategies that online platform developed for enhancing the overall experience of students. Therefore, technological resource supports the university to get aligned with the updated technology so that they may easily support in implementing the effective strategy (Baker and Saren, 2016).
Financial resource- The last required resources for supporting the digital marketing strategy is associated with financial resources. With the allocation of proper finance, it will allow the marketing manager to engage in updating the site as well as digital marketing strategies. It has been also assessed that with the sufficient financial resources university will be able to advertise and promote their courses efficiently and sufficiently among the mass of audiences that further result in promoting the success.
Estimated budget
Marketing activities Budget
PPC strategies (Pay Per Click) 50
Live streaming 70
Search Engine Optimization 40
Mobile application 80
Overall budget 240
ConclusionFrom the above report it has been concluded that in order to enhance the marketing portfolio of Brookes University the marketing manager will focuses on addressing the customer journey map along with including searching keywords in Google trends so that university may easily promote the program and courses among the international students. It has been also recommended to the university that they must engage in implementing the organic strategy that is associated with SEO it is a practice that mainly aggregates the increase in quantity and quality of traffic to the university official website through organic search engine results.
ReferencesBaker, M.J. and Saren, M. eds., 2016.Marketing theory a student text. Sage.
Baltes, L.P., 2015. Content marketing-the fundamental tool of digital marketing.Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V,8(2), p.111.
Brabazon, T., 2016.The University of Google Education in the (post) information age. Routledge.
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Chapleo, C., 2015. An exploration of branding approaches in UK universities.International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing,20(1), pp.1-11.
Crittenden, V. and Crittenden, W., 2015. Digital and social media marketing in business education Implications for the marketing curriculum.
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Eid, M.I. and Al-Jabri, I.M., 2016. Social networking, knowledge sharing, and student learning The case of university students.Computers amp Education,99, pp.14-27.
Hall, G., 2016.The uberfication of the university. U of Minnesota Press.
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Nevzat, R., Amca, Y., Tanova, C. and Amca, H., 2016. Role of social media community in strengthening trust and loyalty for a university.Computers in Human Behavior,65, pp.550-559.
Patrutiu-Baltes, L., 2016. Inbound Marketing-the most important digital marketing strategy.Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V,9(2), p.61.
Peruta, A. and Shields, A.B., 2017. Social media in higher education understanding how colleges and universities use Facebook.Journal of Marketing for Higher Education,27(1), pp.131-143.
Rambe, P. and Nel, L., 2015. Technological utopia, dystopia and ambivalence Teaching with social media at a S outh A frican university.British Journal of Educational Technology,46(3), pp.629-648.
Robertson, S. and Komljenovic, J., 2016. 13 Unbundling the University and Making Higher Education Markets.World Yearbook of Education 2016 The Global Education Industry, p.211.
Rutter, R., Roper, S. and Lettice, F., 2016. Social media interaction, the university brand and recruitment performance.Journal of Business Research,69(8), pp.3096-3104.
Ryan, D., 2016.Understanding digital marketing marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. Kogan Page Publishers.
Todor, R.D., 2016. Blending traditional and digital marketing.Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V,9(1), p.51.
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