StudyQA — Social Media Marketing for Universities

Wide access to the Internet and digital media has completely changed the education sector.  Social media platforms are becoming more popular day by day. Facebook today has more than 2.4 billion monthly active users, Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active accounts.young generation is the main target audience of universities and colleges. Consequently, as social networks are gaining in popularity, marketing strategies of higher schools also should change. The introduction of new marketing strategies helps to create additional online-communities and attract more international students. Certainly, social media marketing for universities has own specific features and a lot of potential. 

How to get started?

Social Media Marketing for Universities

Marketing campaign

One of the primary goals in online marketing for university is to attract prospective students to your institution, and social media is a tool being intensively used by universities to create interest in applicants. Educational marketing campaign on social networks is different from the usual content. It has a certain strategic approach and pursues one goal across all channels.

Platform - specific 

Every social network has its own specifics, and each of them can help to find the right audience. For example, different groups on Facebook or Telegram can be a good place to hold discussions, exchange ads and interact with community members. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter  are also great for building professional networks with both current students and alumni. Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat are perfect for photos and short video content. It is not necessary to be present on all platforms, but it is possible to take full advantage of the channels that your University uses. Social media is a key part of marketing strategies to increase student engagement, brand awareness, search engine rankings. The key is to create content that shows imagery that represent your university in the  best way. 

Live broadcast and webinars

Live broadcasts in real time play an important role in interacting with your audience and subscribers. Showing potential students life on the University campus, broadcasting open events, sharing information from webinars is very important in terms of raising awareness of applicants about university. Receiving feedback and establishing close communication with the student usually increases the chances that the entrant  will apply. 

Stories 

Create and share stories on social media. This feature is available on most major social media platforms. In order to increase the interest of the audience to your University, you can use various filters, tags to show the geolocation of the University, as well as to tell about the main events taking place on campus. Tags are also a great way to connect users and build conversations around specific topics and occasions. Many university social media managers are already using stories to great effect.

Consistent presence

Avoid any stagnation periods. In order to be in the top ranking, universities need a constant presence in the lives of students. Content planning allows you to maintain the frequency of publications and helps to create an overall picture of the University.

Social Analytics 

Of course, don’t forget about the analysis of the results obtained from Social Media Marketing. Analyze which channel works for you better, what kind of posts are shared the most, what kind of posts get the least likes. By choosing the right analytics tools, you can optimize your social media experience. In today's competitive environment, University social media managers experiment, analyze and try new ways to attract international students. To find which tactics work best for your university or college, you simply need to try them out.