Date of Graduation

12-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Adult and Lifelong Learning (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders

Advisor/Mentor

Kenda Grover

Committee Member

Kevin Roessger

Second Committee Member

Kit Kacirek

Keywords

Facebook Marketing, Graduate Education, Graduate Enrollment Rates, Self-Presentation, Social Media Marketing

Abstract

As the technological world continues to grow and expand, the use of social media marketing continues to increase. Graduate programs looking to increase the number of applications received can turn to Facebook to market their programs. This study looks at the use of self-presentation, from a graduate program level of Facebook use, to create content that reaches their target audience. Self-presentation allows graduate programs to control the types of marketing, posts, and content displayed regarding their program in an effort to be seen in a certain light. This study explores six types of Facebook content perceived as favorable in the literature. Favorable content creates connectedness, community and networks, high-quality relationship perceptions, shared entertaining and interactive content, includes student-written blogs, and posts with a high content agility. There are seven research questions guiding this study that address the favorable content listed above after controlling for the effect of the reputation of faculty, faculty to student ratio, the historical impact of the Facebook account, and the number of years of the program’s existence. This pre-registered study offers the framework for this study to be carried out at the University of Arkansas. There are 151 graduate degree programs to consider. The participants of the study are graduate programs at the University of Arkansas with active Facebook pages during the Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Summer 2022 semesters. A coding system has been developed to identify what content is considered favorable. Findings from this study will contribute to the body of research focused on addressing the use of Facebook content as a marketing tool to increase application rates in higher education.

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