How Can Social Media Enrich Higher Education?

Social media - the multifaceted inferno that is shaping the world as we speak. An indispensable resource for students, social media becomes instrumental in encouraging people to know about the world better, while increasing brand awareness and social currency. It is important how schools and other educational institutions are perceived on social media - and that is dependent on the kind of content that you put out into the world. The first step which you can take towards this is approaching a top SEO agency who can help your site rank on the pages of Google, thereby increasing your relevance and overall value.

What are the advantages of social media in terms of higher education?

Social media is definitely more than memes and raging controversies - social media helps promote art, political opinions, brand values, and much more. Hence, you can leverage this opportunity to engage and interact with current students and alumni. Apart from this, social media can also be used for:

Student Recruitment

More students are turning to social media in order to decide upon the college or university they would eventually attend. Platforms such as Instagram provide prospective students with the opportunity to peer into the lifestyles prevalent in schools they’re interested in - ranging from the curriculum, to classroom environ, and majestic libraries.

A prime example that can be highlighted is the Instagram account for Harvard. Sporting 1.3 million followers, this Ivy League school’s insta feed is something worth checking out. They allow their followers to dive into the fabled Harvard life, with an in-depth look into the nuances of academia. Another prime example can be the University of New South Wales, who use social media as a recruitment tool during an event named ‘O-Week’.

Student Engagement

Social media offers a platform to keep students and alumni engaged with the school/university, even post-graduation. This imparts the sense of a close-knit community, wherein individuals develop genuine and life-long connections with one another. A seminal example is the Colorado State University - they marketed this aspect via Snapchat in the form of Takeover Tuesday. This allowed people to garner a glimpse into the multifarious activities that the school organized. It also allowed CSU to engage directly with their followers while allowing some of them to contribute directly to the page. This highlights the deft implementation of social media marketing services that ultimately contribute to brand proliferation and recall.

Effective Promotion

Schools are also brands, hence, they need to display their strongest suits. This is where social media comes in - it becomes majorly instrumental in showcasing wonderful facets about schools. For instance, Stanford tweeted out the following:

This tweet not only shares this wonderful news with the world but also showcases their artistic and research capabilities. Research schools, especially the likes of Stanford and Yale, need to attract minds that are ready to foray into the unknown and bring about transformations that speak for themselves. Social media is wonderful arena for connecting with innovative minds who dare to explore.

Apart from these pointers, one needs to keep the following in mind while using social media for higher education:

• Develop a social media style guide

In the realm of writing and editing, brands and publications often have something called a style guide, which is basically a set of guidelines that allows a brand’s voice to resonate across all social channels. Choose a uniform style of communication, set a consistent tone, and develop a compelling and reliable brand persona. Keep in mind:

1. 1. Goals.

2. 2. Audience.

3. 3. Voice.

4. 4. Grammar.

5. 5. Vocabulary.

6. 6. Engagement.

• Forge a social media policy

A social media policy can be primarily understood as a document of guidelines for a school’s social media use - this will help you maintain brand identity across multiple platforms. This documents should include:

1. 1. Security breaches

2. 2. Legal and compliance issues

3. 3. Employee conduct

4. 4. Employee roles

5. 5. PR crises

Most importantly, remember to highlight social media holidays and crucial event dates, as this will allow you to create content that creates impact. Also, create consistency while avoiding cross-promotional errors. Don’t forget to have fun in the process!

I am a digital marketing professional. I have 5 years of experience in digital marketing filed. I am working on Seo, Social Media & Google Ad Words. I do Write & read blogs in free time.