A Guide To Digital Marketing For Universities & Colleges
By advertience | July 19, 2022 | Insights
Explore digital marketing strategies for universities & drive enrollment. Unlock secrets to success with our guide. Dive in now!
Digital advertising makes up a $20 billion industry today. It’s an investment that every business or organization has to make if they want to build a brand and attract interest and revenue. Digital marketing for universities and colleges is of the utmost importance. Colleges and universities have to regularly fill their campus and classrooms, pay salaries for staff and faculty, and constantly make improvements. Good marketing can help attract the students that you need. Keep reading to learn about the digital marketing steps that will make a difference.
01
Use Search Engines
Search engines offer a goldmine of opportunity when you’re marketing a financial institution. You can purchase ad space atop search engine results pages (SERP) that people come across while looking for what you offer. Search engine ads are an excellent marketing tool, since Google holds a nearly 92% market share, and is the most visited site in the world. Universities should become familiar with other search engines, especially if they’re attracting students from all over the world. For example, institutions recruiting international students from China will want to leverage paid search on Google, Baidu, or Bing. You can also gain traction through Search engine optimization (SEO), a more passive, but effective form of marketing. Improving your SEO will let you boost your Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA).
Consistently improving your SEO will help you:
- Get more traffic to your university’s website
- Bring in the right fit of students and faculty
- Compete with the other universities in your area with local SEO
- Drive more attention to your content
- Understand your potential students and their interests
- Establishes your university as an authority
- Heavy-duty marketing at reasonable prices
Learn SEO like the back of your hand or hire a firm that can assist you.
02
Release Video Content
Video content is part of today’s fundamental digital marketing, and is also one of the most effective. It’s one of the best forms of digital marketing for colleges because high schoolers spend so much time watching video content on different devices. People love video content and share it regularly. This is where you can use your alumni network to influence your marketing. YouTube is viewed daily by people all over the world from all demographics. Using video marketing to tap into the alumni network can help you drive donations and energize the next generation of students. Create a YouTube channel for your university, and upload several different types of content. This could include information about the athletics programs, vlogs from current students, and classroom sessions from the most prestigious degree programs.
03
Get Active On Social Media
Universities should create social media campaigns that get results. Nearly 4.5 billion people today actively use social media. There’s an entire population of people you can reach on these platforms, which is why it’s arguably the most important of the digital marketing tips for universities you can put to use.
Here are some of the social media outlets you should test out:
- Facebook (The original college-based social media network)
- TikTok
- Snapchat
Since social media is where the eyeballs are, leverage paid social media ads on the most important outlets. You can buy ads on Facebook to influence both future students and their parents. Instagram trends younger, so you can use this platform to reach the future generation of students. The work you put into these social media marketing campaigns can help you get results now and for the next several years.
04
Use Contests & Hashtags
Learn to effectively communicate online so that you draw as much attention as possible. Use the best strategies to increase engagement and channel your traffic in a way that makes sense. Contests provide people with excitement and hope. You can also use hashtags that are tied to a particular movement, topic, or way of life. Adding a mixture of these strategies into the mix will increase your traffic and brand awareness as few other strategies can.
05
Create Podcast Contest
When you’re exploring college marketing tips, don’t lose sight of how vital audio content can be for you. Podcasts provide an excellent opportunity to connect with people. Invest in some podcasting equipment, or make use of audio labs on the college’s campus. People are voracious for podcasts on all aspects of college life.
Some ideas for topical podcasts you can create include:
- How to find scholarships and grants
- Different degree programs and areas of study
- A what’s happening on campus podcast
- News and notes from the university’s Board of Visitors
- Podcasts that follow the athletic programs and other activities
The sky is the limit with the types of content that you can create, and you’ll find an audience that will keep people plugged in and engaged throughout the year.
06
Maintain A Blog Or Creating User Generated Content (UGC)
Blog content is also one of the best digital marketing tools that you can try out. Almost 80% of people online read blogs. People use them for all sorts of topics of information, both to be informed and entertained. When learning how to market your university, you should come up with blogging campaigns that you can use to build traffic. Companies that provide marketing for higher education can also help you get the most from your keywords, links, topic choices, and more.
What is UGC for Universities or Colleges?
Content created and shared by anybody including current or future students, staff, faculty, alumni, even volunteers or parents online! comScore reports that brand engagement rises by 28% when consumers are exposed to both professional and user-generated content. Because UGC comes from real people who use or experience your product (in this case your school, campus and online experiences like a virtual tour), it is more trusted. Research showed that millennials trust user-generated content 50% more than other media.
Current and upcoming college generations are intricately tied to social media and content. They are digital natives in every sense, and often can rapidly poll peers and get a feel for a product or school in a matter of minutes through texting, YouTube, Google, and social media search. Getting the content and expressions from online is not the real challenge for UGC. Building a system with a positive narrative is the key success factor for colleges and universities to win. Ask advertience about social sentiment to ensure you start the UGC component right.
07
Invest In Graphic Design
Always focus on multimedia whenever you’re marketing your university. Hire professional photographers to take equality photos all over campus. Publish the photos to your content in a way that is visually appealing, and that grabs the attention of your visitors.
08
Make Your Site Mobile Ready
Finally, make sure that your site is optimized for mobile devices. People need to be able to view your content seamlessly whether they’re on an iPhone or Android device. Make sure your content is scaled-down and simple enough to take in all of the information they need.
09
Win Big With Digital Marketing for Universities
Digital marketing for universities is a great equalizer. You can compete for the best students and keep both your current student base and alumni network active when you work out marketing strategies. advertience has the digital analytics, media, and creative tools you need to succeed. We’re happy to provide consulting services so that your university or company can achieve its digital marketing objectives.
