To succeed on Social Media you need to capture the attention of the masses. This fact will remain true in 2019. However, to capture attention will only become tougher as you are realizing day by day. Organic reach on all platforms specially Facebook has dropped considerably but this shouldn’t stop you from creating great content to attract as many as you can. So what are students looking for on a college’s social media? Well, they want to know everything, campus life, traditions, activities and surely about the quality of education. They do not have the time to sit and research or read the back story. They want all the information but they want to consume it quick! So you surely need to follow some basics:
The above are the words that should describe each of your posts. If they do not check the boxes, trash them. 2019 will be all about how you distribute your content online but most Indian Colleges are still struggling to come up with good content. So memorize the above 5 adjectives and if you find yourself not using them for a post dump it.
Most brands are trying hard to engage their customers to a point where they start developing their own content for the brand. The good news is that User generated Content should come naturally to educational institutions. It is the natural tendency of students, faculty and alumni to share pictures of various events and campus life with their friends and followers. User generated posts on Instagram and Facebook yield higher engagement than the regular college posts. Some of the most engaging post varieties include UGC led contests, polls and discussions on a topic on common interest. A great example of a brilliant integrated marketing campaign was when Coca Cola came up with “Share a Coke” campaign. Personalized bottles popped up everywhere. This was a stroke of genius but what made it even more exceptional is when they asked users to share pictures of themselves drinking from their personlized bottle. Was this campaign a fluke? No, it was a well thought of campaign which was executed beautifully. Have you ever thought about personalized T shits for your students? To read more about UCG in detail click here
who will not only drive awareness but ROI too Start the search for students/faculty who are naturally popular or have embraced social media over the years. Leverage their popularity. Marketers should develop strategies around these assets in order to generate awareness in the social media space. Robert Katai, a leading Content marketing Strategist in his recent article on AdWeek focused on Influencer Marketing by suggesting we are still on Day 1 in terms of the value Influencers can get Brands. Click here to read the full article.
When inviting students from across colleges for annual fests look to incorporate competitions which involve participants going online. It can be a quiz, debate or musical competition. Change the flavour of the game. Instead of having a western music show, you should be giving out awards for the best music video ( share it beforehand, garner engagement which holds 50% of points) Finally the participant performs the song during the fest. This integration of activities will turn your Brand Pages into a powerhouse.
Are you hosting a talk show on campus? Is an industry leader coming to the talk show? Is there is a topic which the professors of the college completely nail? Go live with the event. Let the World experience the college and start dreaming of becoming a part of a global community. Similarly live counselling sessions can be a great way to interact with potential students. “Live streaming helps marketers to not just give potential customers an intimate look at what’s going on, but to offer a natural call-to-action. For example, marketers who want to offer a one-time promotion can start a live stream and announce on social media that the promotion is starting right now while interacting directly with customers who may or may not have questions and comments.” — Reuben Yonatan, CEO GetVoIP
Include whatsapp as a Lead Management tool. For any college to be on my Whatsapp list it needs to feel like a real person and a friend. Whatsapp is personal and extremely intimate. We consciously make an effort to not make Whatsapp a public platform where we are bombarded with advertisement and promos. Many companies have successfully used Whatsapp as a platform for customer service and a substitute to transactional emails. However, even the best of them out there have not been able to reach out to new audience and work on increasing their database. So, asking or expecting a college to crack this seemingly difficult platform might seem absurd but it actually is not as difficult if done systematically. Put up your Whatsapp Business number on your website and other platforms. Let people know they can connect for any admission related query on this number and see your list grow! Whatsapp will soon be starting advertisements, so we may see it come up in a big way but remember in the digital World never be the first to jump on the wagon!
Social Media Marketing if done correctly will tremendously reduce the cost of purchasing qualified leads. It will also increase the number of quality admissions. IOS Ignite is the only Branding and Marketing Hybrid Agency that focus on College and Schools Admissions and Branding. Get in touch with us to schedule a free one-on-one session to discuss your current marketing strategy.
November - 26,2018 | Posted by: Iosignite
