LAUSR

ABSTRACT The growing competitive environment in which Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are immersed has caused them to be constantly focused on implementing new strategies that allow them to consolidate student loyalty. Among the strategies are those related to the use of social media, virtual brand communities and Brand Fan Pages (BFPs). This research aims to show the HEIs some new ways to increase brand loyalty through their BFP. Both qualitative techniques, 2 focus group sessions with students from public and private universities, and quantitative techniques, 200 interviews with young university students aged 18–23, were used to develop this research. Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis was utilized to determine the relationship between variables. The main findings of the analysis indicate that it is possible for a higher education institution to increase student loyalty by generating positive experiences on their Brand Fan Page and generating greater platform use intensity.