This master’s thesis concentrates on observing digital marketing in the international field of higher education. The primary focus is to give a detailed analysis of certain key elements in digital marketing, as well as analyzing the effectiveness and penetration of different social media channels within specific target countries and audiences. The study was conducted for the benefit of Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) and the application campaign for the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs of TAMK. The chosen target countries for a closer inspection were Finland, the United States and Vietnam.

Digital marketing enables a huge amount of different possibilities to increase both results and brand awareness. It is possible to optimize the effectiveness and coverage of marketing procedures by raising awareness of, for example, cost policies of ads, newsfeed algorithms, analytics and different target segments. These topics are analyzed from the viewpoint of the social media channels that are of great significance to TAMK. The channels examined in this thesis are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat.

The primary research material consisted of a questionnaire on social media and its results. The results were processed via statistical analysis methods both verbally and by utilizing various infographics. Furthermore, individual interviews were held to elaborate on the questionnaire results; all three target countries were accounted for. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed on a country-by-country basis and closer comparison was made primarily by looking at age and gender, channel by channel.

The results showcased, especially amongst the younger generation, a critical attitude towards advertising, along with a deeper understanding of social media services and well performing content. Although differently emphasized, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube gained a prominent role in all three target countries, whereas Snapchat added value only in reaching under 26-year-olds and LinkedIn those over the age of 35. The apparent value of Twitter remained non-existent in all three target countries.

Even though it was possible to make some conclusions regarding each target country, there were significant differences in the generalization potential of the results. What comes to the United States, the biggest issues were related to the limited number of participants compared to the size of the country and the complexity of the target audience. However, the Finnish and the Vietnamese responses had striking consistencies, enabling concrete use of the results to benefit TAMK’s digital marketing.