The Relations between the Characteristics of SNS Marketing Activities, Brand Image, and Willingness to Participate in Lifelong Education of Korean Local Governments: For Residents Joined the SNS Channel of the Local Governments

As the use of SNS increased significantly, marketing activities using SNS also increased in the field of lifelong education. However, it was difficult to find empirical research on the results of SNS marketing activities in the field of lifelong education. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to empirically verify the impact of the characteristics of social media marketing activities(informativeness, interaction, reliability, Easy to access and playfulness) on brand image of lifelong education and willingness to participate in lifelong education of local governments. The survey data obtained from 612 SNS channel subscribers of three local governments to achieve the research objectives were analyzed. The analysis results are as follows. First, even in the field of lifelong education, SNS marketing activities strengthened willingness of prospective or existing learners to participate in lifelong learning. Second, in the field of lifelong education, SNS marketing activities strengthened brand image of lifelong education in local governments, thereby strengthening willingness of residents to participate in lifelong learning. Discussions and implications were provided based on the above quantitative analysis results.