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Factors Influencing Customers’ Attention and Decision on Instagram of Education Agencies in Istanbul: A Qualitative In-Depth Interview Study

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This study aimed to identify the factors that influence customers’ attention and decision-making on Instagram for education agencies in Istanbul. In these days, social media is one of the strongest approaches to promoting or selling services. People are browsing social media daily on public transportation and during their leisure time. This is a great opportunity for those agencies to reach the potential customers they are looking for through ads. The researchers gathered primary qualitative data using in-depth interviews. Ten students from Africa and the Middle East who currently live and study in Istanbul were the study’s target sample. The findings show that the interviewees open social media platforms from 1 to 2 times daily, and the average usage duration is between 2 and 3 hours. The main factors that encourage the interviewees to follow business pages on Instagram are content, the brand’s quality, word-of-mouth, price, and the most important one is the page’s content, including the content in Arabic. Also, including a contact number will increase the chances of the ad being opened. Other factors include the number of offered services, the year of establishment, the number of followers, website availability, contact information availability, the number of users or customers, content, price, face-to-face services, and achievements by these companies (success stories, content in English and Arabic, physical address, information about the company’s team, design, and creativity). Regarding the trust factor in terms of education agencies, word-of-mouth and the number of followers are considered the main keys. A possible improvement for education agencies from a customer perspective is increasing the number of ads targeting international students, including videos and pictures. Also, these agencies need to list their team members’ details to increase trust, and professional customer service is required to improve the performance of these agencies, including clarity and honesty.