Communication Research

Study in Holland: The Opportunity to Enhance the Use of

Social Media to Communicate with Indonesian Students
Nathania Limanto
Master of International Communication Management – The Hague University

The Emerging of Social Media in Indonesia

Internet is becoming an important part of people in Indonesia; so is social media. People, young
and old, have at least one account in social media. Social media is the modern communication
tool that offer two-way communication, between corporate and the customer.
Social media have several characteristics, such as dynamic, two-way communication, and sense
of community. Corporate that wants to take part in this online realm has to realise that social
media is not merely being available, but also being visible. Appearance in hundreds of social
media is a waste, unless it is controlled and maintained. Because of various social media that
also serve various need, corporate needs to be smart to choose the right social media.
Students in Social Media
According to the questionnaire, 91.3% of Indonesian students know and have access to social
media; of which there are 96% that have accounts on social media. Because of the nature of
Indonesian people, who are mostly collective, they have a strong sense of community on social
media. Most of the students access social media to correspond with their friends, meet old
friends. However, they access social media also to search for latest information or news; they
search for information about study, education, scholarship, as well as about celebrity gossips.
Top 5 Social Media sites:
1. Facebook
2. Friendster
3. Wikipedia
4. Blogspot
5. Wordpress
Top 3 Activities on Social Media:
1. Chatting or sending message with friends or new people
2. Searching for news, gossip, latest information about education, etc.
3. Updating personal blog(s), social networking sites’ profile (share photo or video).
Top 3 Activities on Social Networking Sites
1. Browsing to their friends’ sites,
2. Leaving comments on their notes, photos, or videos, a
3. Changing their own profile (uploading photos or videos).
Besides social networking sites, Indonesian students are also keen to visit celebrities’ weblogs,
celebrity bloggers’ weblogs, and other weblogs, just to get up-to-date, reliable information.
Study in Holland in Indonesia
Neso Indonesia is a well-known organisation in Indonesia, especially among the scholarship
seekers, because of StuNed and NFP scholarship offered by Nuffic. However, Holland was not
very popular among Indonesian students, because of the myth that studying in Holland required
ability to speak Dutch.
Study in Holland campaign that was launched in the end of 2007 was to sustain the promotion
of higher education among international students, also Indonesian. Study in Holland with its
tagline “in English for sure” was promoted using various printed media, education fair and also
online media.
Most students (31.6%) that filled in the questionnaires heard about this campaign from Holland
Education Fair that is regularly organised every year in some big cities in Indonesia. This figure
is followed by 22.4% of the respondents that heard from Neso Indonesiawebsite (including
studyinholland.nl). Others (19.3%) heard about it from their friends, family or experts.
Although Neso Indonesia realises the emerging of online media, it has not yet done its best to
meet the students online. Neso Indonesia has studyinholland.nl (a website that is part of Study
in Holland campaign); it is also available on several social media, such as Facebook, Friendster,
and Youtube. However, to be successful on social media, Nuffic has to go beyond being
available; it has to be visible.
Study in Holland: What’s Next?
Being visible means being proactive: getting involved in online conversation, answering need of
the students. The majority of the respondents need a better, more user-friendly
studyinholland.nl website. Moreover, students want (objective) reviews about university or
courses they were about to enrol (or to take). Students want to see comments or opinions from
other students, alumni or, maybe experts. Not only about the university, or study in general, but
they also want information about life in Holland: life as a student.

Finally, Study in Holland weblog is definitely on the top list. Students want a weblog, in which
they can search for more objective information, sharing from other students or alumni, casual
information, and fun applications, such as video, photo sharing, or chat room.

Recommendations
Communication Objective
To be able to understand the need of the students and be available and visible on social media in
order to maintain two-way communication with Indonesian students.
Six Steps to a Better Social Media Strategy
Social media is about understanding people, what they want, which information they need, and
which social media they participate. It is definitely worth investing on social media, because
social media is not temporary trend.
Therefore, the writer provides 6 steps to enhance the use of social media to communicate with
students in Indonesia:
• Continuous observation is needed.
 ○ Nuffic needs to monitor the rise and fall of social media sites. Go into the social
media and the blogosphere to understand the most influential places within the
social web. Neso Indonesia has to be alert with what is going on online: the trend,
new tools and applications.
○ Students’ online behaviour. Their behaviour is influenced by the trend, what
other people in another part of the world are doing, and existing trend in
Indonesia. Neso Indonesia has to be alert, too, to be able to develop strategy to
communicate with them.
• Jeroen van den Hoeve, from Kobalt Media Agency, suggested that Nuffic needs to
make its (web) content as portable as possible. This means Nuffic should not rely on
having information on the corporate website (studyinholland.nl or nesoindonesi.com)
only because the target group is simply not spending time on these websites, yet on other
platforms such as Google, Facebook, or MSN. Providing ‘share link’ button or RSS feed.
• Neso Indonesia needs to recruit:
○ A group of people, bloggers, online groups that want to talk about Neso and
Study in Holland, maybe alumni or current students, or celebrity bloggers or
famous local celebrity. This step has to base on the previous step (observation).
What Neso Indonesia did in the past with Raditya Dika, Indonesian writer, was a
good attempt; it could be repeated in the future. (Further recommendation from
Jeroen van den Hoeve related to this topic is available at Appendix 2)
○ A group of staffs who can control and monitor what happen online. Establishing
Study in Holland campaign online is not a one night effort; it happens
continuously.
• Linking Knowledge Worldwide – Nuffic’s motto should reflect in its communication
strategy for enhancing the use of social media. Linking prospective students, alumni,
experts, and universities in Holland, for instance, is a positive effort that should be
available soon.
• Neso Indonesia has to consider building relevant content that will get people coming,
talking, and responding. According to the questionnaire, there are some requests coming
from the students:
○ A better, more user-friendly website (studyinholland.nl)
○ Interactive content (with reviews and feature news) on the website (including
multimedia)
○ Scholarship search engine
○ Study in Holland weblog (which has just recently been published:
studidibelanda.com)
○ More appearances and active on social media
• Finally, improve! As the social media is dynamic, Neso Indonesia has to be even more
dynamic. Make it better. Make it more convenient, more useful, friendlier, and more
rewarding.
Appendix 1: Analysis of the result of the Survey
Sample:

1. Indonesian Students that currently study in the Netherlands

2. Prospective Indonesian students (prospective target group)

3. 81 Students

4. The questionnaire was spread in Indonesian Association Yahoo Group, Scholarship

Yahoo Group; and spread to some current Indonesian students, who are in the
Netherlands and some high school students that are planning to study abroad.

General Information

In total, there are 81 respondents, of which 43.2% are men and 56.79% are women.

56.3% says they always use internet to look for updated information. Read on newspaper is on
the second place (18.49%)

How many hours are people online?

31.4% online 3-5 hours

37% online 6 – 10 hours

24%online more than 10 hours

Top 3 answer why they use internet:

To read and follow latest news, gossip, latest trend (music/fashion) 19.62%

To correspond with friends or family using e-mails or chatting 26.15%

To blog (to create content, read other people’s blogs, comment on blogs, post pictures or videos)
14.41%

Social Media

91.36% do access social media

96.20% do have/open accounts at social media

Average respondents have 2 – 3 account at social media (52.63%). It shows that the respondents
who have more than 6 accounts (3.8%).

2 things that students love about social media:

1. Social networking sites

2. Multimedia sharing (flickr, deviantart, youtube)
Top 3 social media sites:

1. Facebook (24.7%)
2. Friendster (22.78%)
3. Wikipedia (15.44%)
4. Blogspot (10.81%)
Activities:

1. Browsed for information, news, etc

2. Commented on each other sites/blogs
3. Changed profile
Some facts:

1. Mostly believe information that they found on the social media (74%)
2. 64% purchase or decide something according to information they found on social media
Nuffic

1. 62.5% know or have heard about Nuffic

2. 56.25% have heard or know SiH campaign
3. 31.63% heard about SiH from Holland Education Fair, 19.39% from word of mouth, and
22.45% from the websites
4. Only 11.22% have heard about SiH from social media
Studying Abroad

1. Europe is the most favorite destination to study

2. University websites still appears to be the best way to derive information or get idea
about study (19.79%). However, searching on the internet, education fair, and other
people’s opinion also do matter a lot. Only 7.42% use social media to search for
information about study
3. The most useful source of information: Education Fair, University website, University or
education representative office
4. Yet, the most credible source of information: Uni websites, Education Fair, and Printed
publication (brochures, catalogue, flyers, etc.)
5. In terms of social media, people mostly use: University official weblogs/mini sites, if any,
and social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Friendster)
6. Despite only 6% of people use social media to literally search for information, 80% of the
respondents found that information about studying abroad that they found on the
internet are somewhat useful and informative
Students in NL

1. 33.33% of students heard about studying in Holland or about the institution from
Holland Education Fair. The others heard from Studyin.nl website and from their home
university or other institutions (like language study)
2. If they are interested and want to look for more info, they:
a. Go to the university websites
b. Ask friends, colleagues, teachers
c. Contact local representatives, if any, or embassy, or education office (NESO)
 d. Studyin.nl
3. In terms of social media, students mostly go to these following sites to search for info
about studying in the Netherlands
a. University weblogs/mini sites, if any
b. Social networking sites (Facebook, Friendster)
c. Internet forum
4. 64% of students are influenced by social media when they have to make decision to study
in the Netherlands
5. The information they get from social media either make them even more sure to study in
NL or have clear idea about which uni to choose
6. About SiH campaign:
a. More updated information on studyin.nl
i. Reviews about courses and university
ii.Study grant/scholarship search engine
b. Study In Holland weblog
c. More Appearances on social networking sites
d. Video Sharing
Appendix 2: Interview with Jeroen van den Hoeve – Kobalt
Media Agency, Amsterdam
1. What is the future of social media? Do you have any predictions about what
the future of social media would be?
I do have some ideas about this, the main one being about managing your personal profile. This
year some big companies like Facebook and Google will start to allow your profile to travel with
you online. Meaning you don't have to log in everywhere you go online again and again. Another
benefit of this travelling profile will be you can use the opinion, location and behavior of your
friends on other places. Imagine you looking for a book on Amazon and check your friend group
on Facebook to see their opinion, or walking in the city on Saturday night to see on Google Maps
where your Facebook friends are hanging out and if they're having fun. However, the big issue
will be who will be the 'owner' of your profile data and how to handle it (eg advertise to you). As
with all digital media the final answer will be with you; the Internet user. We will have to be able
to manage our own data and actively allow companies to use it for their marketing efforts.

2. What can a company, like Nuffic, do to be successful in social media?

3. Knowing the nature of Nuffic, what is your suggestion for Study In Holland
campaign in regard to the use of social media?
First of all, there's no magic formula to be successful in social media. However, what
companies should do if they don't have their own active user group or community is to make
their content as portable as possible. This means they should not rely on having information on
their own website only because their target group is simply not spending time on their website,
but on other platforms (ie Google, Facebook, MSN etc.). The first thing every single company
should do is optimise their website for search engines; be where people are actively looking for
you, your service/product or even your product category. Don't underestimate the power of
search - this is the most used tool online worldwide. As far as social media is concerned; start a
group on social networks so your network can connect to you. A company like Nuffic will
probably have a big alumni-like network, so start a group on Linkedin. Second they should
encourage people to become ambassador for Nuffic - write about their experiences on their own
weblogs/profiles and put testimonials on their Nuffic spaces on social networks, not (just) on
their own site. Any video content should be placed on Youtube or Vimeo so people will find it
easier, etc.etc. Main point is: don't rely on people to find you and come to your website - be
where they are.