Date of Award

11-2-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Heather Crandall

Second Advisor

Dr. Carolyn Cunningham

Abstract

This study analyzed how four, undergraduate liberal arts colleges utilize social media to engage prospective students in the recruitment process. The goal of the study was to understand which social media engagement methods work best to maximize recruitment and to understand how schools organizational structures can most efficiently support social media. Social Information Processing theory, Hyperpersonal Computer Moderated Communication theory and Electronic Propinquity theory guided the research. A social media representative from each of the four participating colleges was interviewed. A content analysis of each school’s Twitter presence was also completed. The results show that authentic, photo based content maximizes social media recruitment efforts. Organizational structures that are set up to utilize current students in social media efforts and collaborate cross-functionally across internal institutional departments are able to best to support social media recruitment efforts.

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