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Digital Marketing Practices at the State University of Bangladesh

Thesis · April 2019

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28565.88806

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 Internship Report on
Digital Marketing Practices at the State University of Bangladesh

Submitted By
Md. Abdullah Al Masum
ID: 61633-26-017
MBA (Evening) Program
Department of Management Information Systems
Faculty of Business Studies
University of Dhaka

Supervised By
Dr. Mohammad Anisur Rahman
Associate Professor
Department of Management Information Systems
Faculty of Business Studies
University of Dhaka

Date of Submission: April 11, 2019

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 Abstract:

Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly
on the Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital
medium. The marketing techniques and strategies for different organizations have been
changed dramatically due to the blessings of information technology. Now a days, for any
organization to survive in the marketplace, digital marketing is essential. There are different
tools and techniques of digital marketing. Such as Social Media, Website, E-mail, SEO,
Display Ads, Video Ads, YouTube etc. This report is prepared based on the digital marketing
activities of State University of Bangladesh. Since it is a service oriented organization and the
concept of digital marketing is new here, so this report is prepared focusing mainly on the
social media marketing. There are a few popular social media such as Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc. As in the context of Bangladesh, Facebook is the most
powerful platform, so this paper refers the effectiveness of Facebook marketing compared to
other orthodox marketing techniques.

The objective of this report is to identify the digital marketing practices with the use of different
tools and techniques at the State University of Bangladesh and to measure its effectiveness.
Methodologies contain study design, sample size and data collection method. 335 students who
admitted in the Fall 2018 semester answered a specific question how they came to know about
State University.

There are two important findings. One of which shows that 1 person from every 2778 person
got admitted in SUB who viewed the promotional posts in Facebook. Another finding is that
comparing among four marketing techniques; digital marketing is the most effective technique.
Few recommendations were made on the basis of these findings. We have to use all types of
digital marketing tools like SEO, video ad, Email marketing, Mobile marketing etc. and
emphasis on social media marketing in Facebook with more manpower.

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 Table of Contents
Abstract: .......................................................................................................................................... ii
1. Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction of the study: ............................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Rationale of the Study:.................................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Objectives of the Study: ................................................................................................................ 2
1.4 Methodology:................................................................................................................................ 2
1.5 Limitations: ................................................................................................................................... 2
1.6 Facebook Marketing Metrics: ....................................................................................................... 3
2. Chapter Two: Findings & Analysis.......................................................................................... 4
2.1 Finding One: .................................................................................................................................. 4
2.1.1 Interpretation: ....................................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Finding Two: .................................................................................................................................. 7
2.2.1 Fees Structure of SUB: ........................................................................................................... 8
2.2.2 Revenue Calculation: ............................................................................................................. 9
2.2.3 Cost Calculation: .................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.4 ROAS (Return on Ad Spent): ................................................................................................ 10
3. Chapter Three: Recommendations & Conclusion ................................................................. 12
3.1 Recommendations: ..................................................................................................................... 12
3.2 Conclusion: .................................................................................................................................. 12
References................................................................................................................................. 13

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 1. Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Introduction of the study:

In General, Marketing means creating value for customers and build strong customer
relationships to capture value from customers in return. But there have been a major
development in the new marketing landscape. Digital age is one of the most crucial trends as
technology continues to influence the evolution of many different fields. As marketing industry
transforms, internet marketing or digital marketing is taking control over the business
industries.

Digital marketing is also referred to as 'online marketing', 'internet marketing' or 'web

marketing'. Digital Marketing is defined as “Marketing that makes use of electronic devices
such as personal computer, smart phones, tablets and cell phones to engage with customers.
Digital marketing applies technologies or platforms such as website, email, apps and social
networks.

According to Dave Chaffey, Internet Marketing is simply defined as “Achieving marketing

objectives through applying digital technologies.”, (Dave Chaffey, 2006, p. 8)

The application of the internet and related digital technologies in conjunction with traditional
communications to achieve marketing objectives is called Internet Marketing.

Digital marketing is yet another term similar to Internet marketing. This has a similar meaning
to ‘electronic marketing’ – both describe the management and execution of marketing using
electronic media such as the web, e-mail, interactive TV and wireless media in conjunction
with digital data about customers’ characteristics and behavior.

“Because of the digital technology and the measurable quality, the marketing ideology is
shifting towards digital marketing. The main advantages of digital marketing over traditional
marketing are: digital marketing can be more personalized, participatory, peer-to-peer and
communal.”, (Laudon, 2014, p. 339)

Through digital media, consumers can access information any time and any place where they
want. With the presence of digital media, consumers do not just rely on what the company says
about their brand but also they can follow what the media, friends, associations, peers, etc., are
saying as well.

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1.2 Rationale of the Study:
The rationale of the study may be stated as follows:

1) The study would help top management in planning digital marketing strategy.
2) The study would help identifying the key areas of weakness and strength.
3) The study would aware the top management to take corrective and appropriate
measures timely to improve the company’s digital marketing strategy and other
performance.

1.3 Objectives of the Study:

The objectives of this study are as follows:

1) To identify the digital marketing practices at SUB.

2) To find out the effectiveness of digital marketing compared to traditional marketing.
3) To identify the limitations of digital marketing at SUB.

1.4 Methodology:
A cross-sectional study design were used with a sample size of 335 students who got admitted
in the “Fall-2018” semester in different departments under different programs. There were total
18 programs. Data have been collected from both primary and secondary sources by using
structured interviewing to the students who came to the admission office for admission. The
question was how they came to know about the State University. The options were Facebook,
Referred by someone, Newspaper and SUB graduate students. The first 335 students those
answered the above question specifically, were selected in the sample. Then revenue and cost
were calculated from the fees structure and waiver policy. Finally, the Facebook marketing
metrics lexicons were used to examine the effectiveness of digital marketing tools and also to
compare the effectiveness of digital marketing with traditional marketing.

1.5 Limitations:
One of the major limitations of this study was limited time. If the time period was at least for
3 semesters, the result would have been more accurate. As the concept of digital marketing is
new at the SUB, other digital marketing tools like SEO, YouTube etc. were not used. Besides,
the lack of professional digital marketing personnel, digital marketing practice was very
limited. Also the budget for Digital Marketing was very low.

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1.6 Facebook Marketing Metrics:
There are many ways to measure the success of a Facebook Marketing campaign, but the
following are the very basic metrics to use when evaluating a social marketing campaign:

1) Fan Acquisition (Impressions): How many times the ad is shown or how many people
seen the ad.

2) Engagement (Post Liked): How many likes or other reactions generated?

3) Amplification (Post Shared): How many viewers shared the posts?

4) Click Through Rate (CTR): Number of times an ad is clicked.

5) Cost per Click (CPC): Cost for each click.

6) Conversation Rate (Comments): Number of Comments, responses or messages.

7) Return on Ad Spent (ROAS): ROAS is the ratio of total revenue by selling the product
or service to total cost for the Ad. This is calculated as:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑒
ROAS =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡

3
 2. Chapter Two: Findings & Analysis

2.1 Finding One:

We have posted 3 different promotional posts for the State University’s marketing campaign.
Screenshot for these posts are given below:

Picture 1: University History Facebook post

4
Picture 2: Business Dept. Facebook post

Picture 3: FET Dept. Facebook post

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The summary report on Facebook promotion is given below:

REPORT ON FACEBOOK PROMOTION

Conversion
Cost Rate
Fan Conver
Amplif Click Per [Total
Acquisit Engagem sation
S Name of the ication Throug Click Student
ion ent (Post Cost Rate
L promotion (Post h Rate (CPC) admitted
(Impres liked) (Comm
shared) (CTR) [Cost/C by
sion) ents)
TR] FB/Impress
ion]
বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে
1 র ইবিহাস ও 88205 17441 973 1897 5,000/= 2.63/= 84
অর্জন
বিপার্জ য়েন্ট
অি বির্য়নস 77
2 স্টাবির্ 68683 14568 805 1541 3,000/= 1.95/= 36
(BBA, MBA, 2,11,331
EMBA)
x 100%
ফুি
ইবিবনোবরিং
3 এন্ড 54443 11724 684 1239 3,000/= 2.42/= 43
টর্কয়নায়লাজর্
বিভাগ ( FET)

TOTAL 211331 43733 2462 4677 11,000/= 2.35/= 163 .036%

2.1.1 Interpretation:
Fan Acquisition (Impression): Total 211331 people viewed these 3 posts.

Engagement (Post Liked): Total 43733 people liked these 3 posts.

Amplification (Post Shared): Total 2462 people shared these 3 posts.

CTR: Total 4677 people clicked on these 3 posts to see in detail those posts.

Cost: Expense for boosting those 3 posts was 11,000/=

CPC: Each click worth 2.35/=

Conversation rate: Total 163 comments were there. Some of them were negative comments
too.

Conversion rate: 0.036% means 0.036 person in every 100 people who viewed those posts
were converted to SUB student. i.e. 1 person admitted in SUB from every 2778 person who
viewed those posts.

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2.2 Finding Two:
We have interviewed all the students who came to the admission office for admission query or
admission. The question was what influenced them to get admitted in SUB. There were 4
options. On the basis of their answers, we found the following result program wise:

Program Facebook Reference Newspaper SUB Hons. Total Student

Student

BBA 2 5 7

English 2 2 4

LLB 3 10 13

CSE 3 6 9

Architecture 1 6 7

FET 4 16 4 24

JCMS 2 5 7

MBA 1 3 4

MBA (BBA Students) 4 9 18 31

MPH (Regular) 1 1 2

MPH (Friday) 2 7 9

MS (Env) 1 5 2 8

MS (Food) 1 5 2 8

MA (ELT) 1 1 2

LLM 2 10 4 16

B.Pharm 9 38 4 51

M.Pharm (Gen) 17 90 9 10 126

M.Pharm (Thesis) 1 4 2 7

Total 57 223 17 38 335

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2.2.1 Fees Structure of SUB:

Program Tuition Fee Others Fee Total Fee

BBA 520,800 89,400 610,200

English 342,000 74,775 416,775

LLB 325,000 74,250 399,250

CSE 493,000 99,600 592,600

Architecture 741,000 95,700 836,700

FET 348,000 98,100 446,100

JCMS 330,000 94,500 424,500

MBA 224,000 42,000 266,000

MBA (BBA Students) 126,000 28,500 154,500

MPH (Regular) 137,700 28,500 166,200

MPH (Friday) 153,000 40,000 193,000

MS (Env) 120,000 33,000 153,000

MS (Food) 104,400 37,500 141,900

MA (ELT) 82,800 28,500 111,300

LLM 79,200 28,500 107,700

B.Pharm 590,400 112,900 703,300

M.Pharm (Gen) 118,800 46,500 165,300

M.Pharm (Thesis) 133,200 56,750 189,950

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Now we calculate revenue by using the above fees structure:

2.2.2 Revenue Calculation:

Program Facebook Reference Newspaper SUB Hons. Total
Student

BBA 1220000 3050000

English 833550 833550

LLB 1197750 3992500

CSE 1777800 3555600

Architecture 836700 5020200

FET 1784400 7137600 1784400

JCMS 849000 2122500

MBA 266000 798000

MBA (BBA Students) 618000 1390500 2781000

MPH (Regular) 166200 166200

MPH (Friday) 386000 1351000

MS (Env) 153000 765000 306000

MS (Food) 141900 709500 283800

MA (ELT) 111300 111300

LLM 215400 1077000 430800

B.Pharm 6329700 26725400 2813200

M.Pharm (Gen) 2810100 14877000 1487700 1653000

M.Pharm (Thesis) 189950 759800 379900

Total 1,98,86,750 7,44,42,650 60,85,300 58,34,500 10,62,49,200

2.2.3 Cost Calculation:

1. Cost for Facebook promotion for the Fall Semester was 20,000/=
2. Reference cost for each student was 5,000/=

There was 223 students from Reference. So, total cost = 223 X 5,000 = 11,15,000/=

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3. Newspaper + Leaflet cost was 12,00,000/=

4. SUB students who completed graduation and now getting admitted for post-graduation, are
getting 25% waiver on tuition fees. So, total cost for SUB students was 11,22,000/=

2.2.4 ROAS (Return on Ad Spent):

Return on Ad Spent is one of the most important metrics for finding the effectiveness of the
digital marketing technique. It is calculated as

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑒
ROAS =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡

Here,

For Facebook Marketing, Revenue = 1,98,86,750/=

Cost = 20,000/=

1,98,86,750/=
ROAS for Facebook = = 994.34
20,000/=

For Reference, Revenue = 7,44,42,650/=

Cost = 1,11,500/=

7,44,42,650/=
ROAS for Reference = = 66.76
11,15,000/=

For Newspaper, Revenue = 60,85,300/=

Cost = 12,00,000/=

60,85,300/=
ROAS for Newspaper = = 5.07
12,00,000/=

For SUB graduate students, Revenue = 58,34,500/=

Cost = 11,22,000/=

58,34,500/=
ROAS for SUB students = = 5.2
11,22,000/=

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 Facebook SUB Grad.
Reference Newspaper
Marketing students

Revenue 1,98,86,750/= 7,44,42,650/= 60,85,300/= 58,34,500/=

Cost 20,000/= 1,11,500/= 12,00,000/= 11,22,000/=

ROAS 994.34 66.76 5.07 5.2

From the above result, it is clearly visible that ROAS for:

Facebook=994.34 > Reference=66.76 > SUB graduate=5.2 > Newspaper=5.07

Hence we conclude that, Facebook marketing i.e. digital marketing is the most efficient
marketing practice compared to other traditional marketing techniques for State University.

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 3. Chapter Three: Recommendations &
Conclusion

3.1 Recommendations:
This report shows huge possibility in the future marketing trend. To achieve better result, the
following recommendations are made:

1. There should be more digital marketing activities rather than traditional marketing. As
we have seen in this study that digital marketing is very much cost effective and
comparatively cheaper.

2. More digital marketing professionals should be employed. As digital marketing is

cheaper we can offer 24/7 service, so we should hire more employees to continuously
support relationship building and answering all the queries of the prospective students.

3. All the digital marketing tools like SEO, video ad, Email marketing, Mobile marketing
etc. should be implemented. Though we know that Facebook marketing is more
effective, we should also use other tools to increase activities and improve performance.

4. Facebook Marketing should get the highest priority. As this study shows that ROAS
for Facebook marketing is too high, we should keep our focus on Facebook marketing.

3.2 Conclusion:
Digital marketing is the secret weapon to win the war of the competition if its potential is
understood and employed by the business. It is an innovative, influential contribution to the
field of marketing. Our key objective in this report was to get familiar with the tools and
techniques of Digital marketing and to find out the most effective one. So we have defined
Digital Marketing in a broader sense and described the tools and techniques in this report. This
report also indicates that the future marketing trend will completely follow the digital tools and
techniques. As it is more cost effective and can target the exact population, it has become the
best platform. Hence, we can conclude that, brands must pursue digital platform.

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