Social media measurement of higher education marketing strategies reveals that social media is one of the essential aspects of conducting student recruitment. Throughout the world, universities and colleges are implementing social media strategies to connect with students, alumni, parents, prospects, staff, and even other educational facilities. Above all, taking advantage of social media is an effective way of reaching a large portion of your audience as a university.
As a higher education facility, your social media strategy must speak to current students, prospects, parents, researchers, fellow institutions, and alumni. People seek higher education for different reasons. Therefore, it is vital that individual needs are addressed. Marketing is necessary to increase enrollment numbers. However, it is also crucial for making sure a brand is visible, engaging, and credible. Certain higher education social media accounts are leading the pack with their marketing strategies. By analyzing higher education marketing strategies across social media, we looked into the top student recruitment strategies.
Creative Social Media Campaigns
Cut through the digital noise, and get to the point quickly. Come up with innovative social media campaigns that target your audience. Higher education institutions must get creative if they want to stand out to their prospects. Some institutions are getting creative by following trends on social media, such as augmented reality and live streaming. For instance, the University of Michigan and Harvard University have a section on their webpage devoted to live streams. Live streaming is a great way to get prospective students excited about campus events.
Online Tours for Prospective Students
A large number of institutions have fully implemented virtual tours that allow prospective students and their parents to explore campuses online. These tours enable the students to get a better idea of the institution and what it will feel like to attend. Additionally, online tours are an effective way of getting prospective students and parents excited about wanting to attend the institution. A virtual tour can’t replace the physical interaction with a college or university, but it is an increasingly important student recruitment tool. Virtual tours are particularly attractive to international students and parents who lack the time and resources to visit campus before admittance. Therefore, it is helpful to include online tours in higher education marketing strategies.
Authenticity for Meaningful Connections
What you share across social media should reflect what students can expect to experience in real life when they enroll at your college or university. Therefore, you need to define your authentic personality and communicate that information to your audience. This will build a connection with your audience from the very start of any marketing strategy and outreach. Being authentic and answering key questions that prospective students may have is a great starting point for shaping meaningful connections with your future community.
Stay Connected With the Audience
A higher education institution has to be associated with consistent quality education and alumni success. In order to stand out over time, showcase the quality of your university using statements backed with data and facts. Numbers that are showing a high number of applications, quality of professors, placement of graduates – all help to build a strong brand.
Harvard University has almost one million Twitter followers. It is evident that they remain connected with their followers through their content. The university continually updates on recent studies their students have conducted, outstanding alumni, and campus updates. Creating a healthy community is one of the most important strategies of higher education marketing. Essentially, a college’s social media presence is a crucial aspect of establishing its community and staying connected with them.
Social Media Measurement Tools for Higher Education Marketing Strategies
On the management end, higher education schools should have a social media measurement tool in place. This can help them understand their audience from across the world’s largest social networks. A Social Listening Platform and audience insights tool can help universities:
- Find prospective students and influencers at the right time in the evaluation process
- Monitor social media feedback from current students from a single location
- Listen to what alumni are talking about, turn them into advocates, and uncover student recruitment opportunities.
Analyze your followers and their characteristics to target them across social media better. Once you understand the demographics of your audience, you can tailor your content for your audience. The best way to come up with actionable insights in higher education marketing is through social listening and audience insights.
Higher education marketing shouldn’t just be executing the same strategy every year. Instead, it should actively coordinate with the rest of the school to plan and execute a higher education marketing strategy that fits the university’s goals as a whole. These methods allow institutions to conduct effective student recruitment strategies and meet their goals. They also enable the students to create deeper, more meaningful connections with institutions which builds up the bigger picture of what life on campus is like before they enroll.
Find effective solutions to your higher education marketing needs with the help of the Synthesio Social Listening Platform.
