Defining Inbound Marketing Strategies for Business Development in Higher Education Institution Entrepreneurs Using Instagram Accounts: A Case Study of Silpakorn University Phetchaburi Campus

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to: (1) study the characteristics of products that were sold via Instagram channels of the young entrepreneurs studying in higher education institutions; (2) study guidelines for defining an inbound marketing strategy for running the business via the following Instagram channels; and (3) to study the limitations and obstacles in running businesses using the Instagram channels. This is a phenomenology study which employs a qualitative method. The data collection techniques are comprises of a non-participatory observation technique together with in-depth interviews, which were performed with 10 entrepreneurs who have 1,000 or more followers. The analysis showed that: 1) there are 2 types of products that are being sold: the ones that are self-manufactured or by selling other peoples’ products; 2) an inbound marketing strategy is consisted of 4 major components which are to ‘promise’ to deliver a clear product content, to produce an accurate ‘picture’ and product illustration, to provide ‘proofs’ of benefits, and to assign ‘pushes’ for product promotion; and 3) limitations to business advancement was found to be associated with an increasing number of competitors and low product confidence as well as other uncontrollable obstacles such as a delayed delivery.