Viral Marketing and Massive Open Online Courses: Low Cost Entry Point to Build Brand Recognition for Online Education
Abstract: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are designed by top ranked faculty, typically offered to learners at a reduced cost (or no cost) when compared to traditionally seated or online courses. Unlike traditionally seated or online courses, they do not require a long-term commitment, admissions paperwork, or application fees. Given evolving business models to sustain MOOCs campuses may be reluctant to invest in this form of open education resource (OER) when the value proposition for this innovation remains unclear. This paper explores and presents MOOCs as a distinct opportunity to attract new students to higher education, with the MOOCs potentially serving as “on-ramps” to traditional online or seated certificate and/or degree programs. We piloted utilizing a MOOC as a marketing tool. We found significant traffic increases to social media platforms, our credit bearing online degree program website, and to our school and university brand presence.