Soft Selling Strategy Expands University Market Reach via Social Media

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-589-8_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Soft Selling; Social Media Marketing; Higher Education Marketing

Abstract

General Background: The digital transformation has shifted higher education marketing toward social media–based communication strategies to reach prospective students more effectively. Specific Background: Muhammadiyah University of Sidoarjo (UMSIDA) utilizes its official social media account to implement soft selling techniques aimed at attracting Generation Z audiences. Knowledge Gap: Limited studies explicitly examine how universities apply soft selling strategies in social media–based educational marketing contexts. Aims: This study investigates how UMSIDA applies soft selling on social media to expand market reach and attract prospective students. Results: Using a qualitative descriptive approach with observation, interviews, and documentation, the findings show that UMSIDA employs testimonials, educational content, narratives, and visual storytelling to represent authentic campus life, fostering emotional connections, strengthening institutional reputation, and increasing digital engagement. Novelty: This study provides an empirical description of structured content production and storytelling integration within soft selling practices in higher education marketing. Implications: The findings suggest that coordinated collaboration between student admissions and digital content teams is essential to maintain message consistency and optimize marketing communication strategies in digital environments.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Denny Ade Candra
AU  - Hadiah Fitriyah
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/18
TI  - Soft Selling Strategy Expands University Market Reach via Social Media
BT  - Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Communication and Digital Multimedia 2025 (ICCDM 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 154
EP  - 164
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-589-8_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-589-8_13
ID  - Candra2026
ER  -