FROM CLICKS TO CLASSROOMS: THE ROLE OF INNOVATIVE SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES IN SHAPING HIGHER EDUCATION CHOICES

Abstract

In an era where students engage with universities through screens before ever visiting campus, social media has become more than a marketing tool and it is a space where perceptions, trust, and decisions are formed. This research investigates how innovative social media strategies influence both student engagement and the process of selecting higher education institutions. The study is based on a selected sample of 164 students from diverse programs, where Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) was applied to test whether interactive content, immersive storytelling, and stakeholder feedback predict cognitive engagement and knowledge-sharing behaviours. The results of this research revealed a significant positive relationship, with interactive content emerging as the strongest predictor of student engagement. Then, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to explore a more comprehensive framework, examining how trust, transparency, and content credibility mediate the connection between social media strategies and institutional choice. The SEM results showed good model fit (CFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.058), confirming that these mediating factors play a crucial role in transforming social media interactions into concrete enrolment decisions. The findings emphasize the need for higher education institutions to communicate authentically, provide credible information, and create opportunities for students to contribute and see real feedback reflected online. The study contributes to the existing literature by integrating engagement theory with decision-making models, offering a dual-pathway approach that can guide universities in designing social media strategies that are not just visible but meaningful in shaping student perceptions, strengthening institutional trust, and thereby supporting informed educational choices.