Three Successful Ways For Universities To Promote Themselves Online

Most universities understand by now that having an online presence is a must.

Which approach to take with their online marketing is a whole other matter.

The online universe has redefined the way every entity promotes itself, but as a college or university looking to appeal to a wide group of individuals, you have a unique challenge on your hands when it comes to showcasing who you are and what you have to offer. You have to consider investors, the community, and even parents in your communication efforts. And while prospective students are typically your focus, there is a finite amount of them each year and lots of competition, so you need to connect with them early and keep them engaged throughout.

But how do you do that?

More people are using the web than ever before. More students are relying on social media to make decisions about which school they attend. Bottom line: The very crowded internet space might make it harder for you to stand out, but it also allows you to get closer to the audience you’re trying to reach.

In this blog post, we’re going to share three successful ways for universities to tell their story online and engage current students, attract new students and keep all other stakeholders happy along the way.

#1 Create Amazing Content

Every college and university has its own unique brand, but like every other brand, you’re looking to sell something. Higher education is an investment—you’re looking to sell an education and you’re looking to sell an experience.

One of the best ways to sell an education or an experience is by connecting with students on an emotional level. In an article for the Content Marketing Institute, Jonah Deaver of Vertical Measures put it nicely:

Prospective students are trying to level out emotions that range from fear, doubt, excitement, overwhelmed, motivated, and inspired. They are navigating a lot. Marketers should provide them with good information so that along the journey the students will think, “That X University is really helpful, I like them, and will listen to them going forward.” This sets the stage for making a more impactful brand impression at the consideration/decision stages.

This quote highlights the importance of giving your target audience the information they need to make a decision. In marketing, this information is called content.

Today there are plenty of ways to create and distribute content online. Here are three straightforward ideas that universities can embrace:

• Share the latest research: What recent breakthroughs have your faculty made? Report on the latest findings from the archeology department or a cool experiment going down in the bio lab. Educate your readers!

• Highlight standout students: Report on case competitions and student volunteer efforts in the community. Showcase your school’s diversity and share success stories from senior students and graduates.

• Showcase Campus Life: Encourage students to get involved—invite them to take over your university Instagram account for a week to show people what it’s like to attend your school. Take photos regularly at university events, like orientation week or a varsity game, and share them on your social media channels.

You can compile this information into a blog post or post individually across your social media channels.

Another way to bring your content together is with Custom Codex. We give you templates to craft amazing digital stories that you can share on your own website. Through Codex, you can also grant viewing, editing and publishing access across departments to make collaboration that much easier.

This page from the Codex of the Department of Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s University demonstrates what a college Codex page can look like. The department page itself branches off the SMU Faculty of Arts Codex, and each professor owns a branch of the department, making it easier to keep their work organized:

Keep in mind that prospective students aren’t the only stakeholders to consider when promoting your school. Whether you have a recruitment focus, an engagement focus, or a fundraising focus, your goal at the time will dictate what kind of content you post. No matter your end objective, content creation is key.

#2 Engage With Your Audience On Social Media

Today’s young people eat, breathe and sleep social media. They really don’t know a life without it. As marketers trying to reach them, we need to invest time and energy into learning what drives their engagement online. We need to speak their language.

Students today are part of Generation Z—those aged roughly 5–19. At the 2016 SXSW Interactive Conference, a segment on Gen Zers explained that they can be distinguished from millennials by their shorter attention spans, their choice of YouTube over Facebook, and the extent to which they interact on their mobile phones.

A study released last year by Kantar Millward Brown reinforced these findings and went into further analysis, polling teens around the world aged 16–19 (prime university target age). They determined this group to be adverse to invasive ads, more likely to skip through online video ads, and attentive to the music and design elements in advertising. They like being able to customize or interact with online messaging, and they turn to influencers when making purchasing decisions.

So where should you be marketing to these teens and how do you catch their attention?

While Hootsuite’s 2017 Social Campus Report shows that Facebook and Twitter are still the top channels used by university marketers, you’ll see more success by listening to what students are asking for and shifting your efforts to meet those demands.

Consider these stats released by SCG Advertising & Public Relations. In a survey of 333 high school and college students:

• 88% use Instagram and SnapChat, while 81% use Facebook and 66% use Twitter
• 78% use Snapchat daily, 76% use Instagram and 66% use Facebook
• 71% use SnapChat more than six times per day and 51% said they use it more than 11 times per day

Gen Zers rely on SnapChat to stay connected to their friends, but the app is also a handy tool brands can use to stay connected to their target audience.

One way to get students to interact with your school is through Geofilters. A Geofilter is an overlay (typically text with a graphic) that users can place on a photo to show where they are or what they’re doing. Nearly 90% of SCG’s survey respondents said they enjoy the feature.

How can your university take advantage? Create custom Geofilters for people to use when they interact with your school. While touring your facilities or attending a sporting event, students can share a photo of your newly redesigned library or fans cheering in bleachers, driving organic reach and awareness of your school.

Here are a few examples of university Geofilters being used today:

Instagram is a another favourite for Gen Zers and a great platform to use for broader reach. In a Times Higher Education article about the importance of Instagram for universities, Kellie McMullin, manager of international learning at Nova Scotia Community College, recommends doing these four things to maximize your Instagram presence:

Keep these points in mind when brainstorming for new content to share on your campus profile.

#3 Produce and Share Online Video

Video marketing is one of the biggest rising trends in the industry. With shorter attention spans and so many disruptors taking away from traditional advertising, a good video can capture your audience’s attention and leave them wanting more.

Wistia, a platform for business videos, ran an experiment to test the influence of video. They looked at their top 100 most-visited pages over a 3-year period and analyzed the time visitors spent on those pages. The results: People spent far more time on pages with video than on those without—by an average of 2.6 times.

And Hootsuite’s study shows that video content is your best chance of capturing a reader’s attention, with 55% of respondents saying that, when they view video, they consume it thoroughly versus skimming it.

Remember those tiny Gen Z attention spans we mentioned? The opportunity to stretch their attention spans as far as possible shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Something else to consider: Not all prospective students can visit your campus before making the decision whether to attend. Where do you think they will turn to learn more? One likely stop is your website. Reel them in with a virtual tour, a tool that’s gaining great popularity among post-secondary institutions.

Acadia University uses 360-degree views on their website, giving potential and future students an interactive way to see campus before they arrive. Video testimonials from current students are also included throughout the virtual tour.

Gen Zers are also receptive to BTS (behind-the-scenes) videos and how-to videos—and livestreaming is huge! Why not livestream a campus tour for those who cannot make it? Livestream a basketball game or a lecture! The possibilities are endless.

Remember, a university’s marketing efforts shouldn’t rest on the shoulders of one marketing coordinator. Have a centralized plan, but make it a campus-wide effort. Let students tell the story. Give them a chance to let their creative juices flow by writing for your blog, taking over your SnapChat account for the day, and filming the activities of their club or society. Show your campus through their eyes, because if anyone knows what an authentic experience at your school looks like, they do. Get staff and faculty involved. Host monthly AMAs (ask me anything—a kind of live Q&A) and give them their own login access.

The truth is, the online world makes our marketing efforts a lot more complex. The infinite, ever-changing possibilities make it crucial to stay on your toes.

Our hope with this article is that you will be encouraged to seriously think about your school’s digital marketing strategy. No matter what approach you take to online marketing, the important thing is that you take one. EVERY university should embrace consistent content creation, targeted social media messaging, and engaging and interactive video if they wish to grow and stay relevant in 2018 and beyond.