StudyQA — How to succeed on Instagram: 10 ideas for universities

Today it is important to be able to promote your brand. One of the tools of promotion is social networks. The leader in this area is Instagram. Using this social network, people show their life through photos, and even become popular. Social media marketing for higher education now is an important part of building a successful and attractive brand of the university.

The best universities of the world take full advantage of this opportunity of Instagram. This not only allows to tell about the life of the university, to highlight the activities of students and teachers, but also to attract new applicants. In this article we will figure out how to induce users of the application to subscribe to the page of your university and make them to enjoy following it from day to day. What do you need to “post” in order to collect a lot of likes and followers and attract international students?

1. Beautiful photos of the university inside and out

Instagram is a social network of beautiful photos. The application offers a large number of filters and a good interface for processing photos. The best universities in the world take all advantages of this network. On their pages, they upload photos of buildings, classrooms, the territory of the university, which immerse the user in the unique atmosphere of the university. For example, the premises of Manchester University resemble the fabulous world of Hogwarts.

If you look at the profiles of the best universities in the world, you can often see that many of the pictures that are published on their pages are made by professional photographers. Traces of professional processing are also noticeable on the photos. However, it does not matter if the main goal is to attract the audience. At the same time, universities also post on their pages photos taken by students, teachers and just random passers-by.

2. University video tours

In the instagram you can upload small videos lasting no more than 1 minute. It seems that this is not enough time. However, even in such a relatively short period of time, you can create a beautiful video. You can show the most beautiful places of the university, libraries, classrooms, the territory around the campus, a gym. Such video tours show much more than ordinary photos.

For example, on the page of Stanford University publishes videos from educational laboratories that allow you to look at the world of the university’s scientific life from the inside.

3. Photos of successful graduates

The list of famous graduates says a lot about the success of the university. You can post a photo in which an eminent graduate attends a university event. Another way to attract attention to the profile of the university is to congratulate eminent graduates on their birthdays on the profile. You can also post a motivating quote to an outstanding graduate of the university, providing it with a photograph of the author.

4. The daily life of students and university staff

Everyday moments make up the interesting life of the university. One example of such simple but attractive photographs is a card on which students at Yale University, sitting on the lawn, prepare for classes.

On the Stanford page, a lot of attention is paid to covering the lives of teachers. Also, Instagram profile of the university in general introduces subscribers to the research of teachers. Still here you can often see photos and videos from the university’s laboratories.

5. Extracurricular life of the university

In this paragraph we would like to talk about non-standard events that take place at the university or outside it. An interesting series of photos is presented on the Stanford University page. It shows how Stanford sophomores went to Alaska for 2 weeks to study the environment. Students like these informal events and bring them together, so why not share them?

6. The cultural life of the university

Many people, recalling their student life, reminisce its cultural component - all kinds of concerts and other entertainment events. Such activity helps to find friends and become a part of a team that is very important for modern students. Therefore, uploading photos from cultural events is a good thing. And tagging students on them is even better.

7. Sports life of the university

Today, sport is a very popular activity and being athletic is fashionable. So why not use this chip? What we post: photos of sporting events, training, and photos of the athletes themselves.

A good example of coverage of the university’s sports life is at Stanford University. Here much attention is paid to this aspect of student life. Photographers come across rugby, rhythmic gymnastics and other sports.

8. University Achievements

Sharing your achievements on the page on Instagram is useful for creating the image of a successful university. Has a university ranked in a prestigious ranking? Or did students win an international competition? All these facts enhances the prestige of the university and are worthy of appearing on the university’s website.

9. Funny photos and videos

Funny, funny and simply positive images will make the user involuntarily smile. For example, like these “hugs” at the University of Glasgow. 

Funny photos will also help to achieve success on Instagram!

10. Interesting angles and tricks

Another great idea for a university. If you want to somehow vary the page of your university, use unusual tricks. For example, on the official page of Harvard University you can see an unusual photo, which shows a glass ball in one of the shop windows, which reflects one of the university buildings.

And a few more useful tips for successful university marketing strategy on Instagram:

• Do not forget to put # hashtags so that students can find your photos on them.
• Tag people in the photo. If the photo card is beautiful, they will be pleased.
• Answer users in the comments, do not leave questions and comments unanswered.
• Place on your page photographs of students, teachers, random passers-by that they send you. Again, mark them. Do not take faceless photos from the Internet.
• Quality plays a big role. But this does not mean that photos from the phone will not work. Just pay attention if the picture is blurry or due to excessive zoom, the clarity of the frame is affected.

These are reliable and proven ways to maintain a university account on Instagram. But any rules have exceptions. Experiment and you will succeed!