The role of social media marketing activities in converting existing students into university advocates

This paper focuses on university social media marketing (SMM) activities and their role in converting following students into university advocates on social media. The study, which has a relationship-oriented approach, first categorizes university SMM activities into four groups: entertainment, interaction, trendiness, and customization. Then it provides the theoretical background for the research model and unveils the role of university SMM on university image, student satisfaction, student loyalty, and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WoM). Data was gathered from 1072 university students in an undergraduate program at 55 universities in Istanbul, Turkey. Structural equation modeling was used to test the model. Results indicate that a university’s SMM activities have a significant role in spreading favorable attributes of universities on social media, and university image, student satisfaction, and student loyalty foster this relationship.