Digital Recruitment Solutions II – Google Marketing

What is Google?

A synonym for search all over the world. Except for China of course, but that is a subject for a different blog altogether.

On one hand Google remains an ever evolving indexing device that provides the users with websites and pages depending on their desired search queries. On the other hand, it has evolved into one of the most focused means of reaching out to your target audience, analyzing their interests and using search data to fine-tune your targeting strategy.

And this is barely even scratching the surface.

Research shows that 18-25 year olds prefer Google search over any other kind of search medium. The faith that internet users exhibit for Google is further reinforced by the fact that 63% of them show willingness to click on an ad on Google. The corresponding figures for Amazon stand at 15%, 9% for YouTube and 6% for Bing. A massive difference, to say the least.

No wonder Google’s advertising revenue has seen such a steep jump over the years!

Google’s Advertising Revenue over the years

It was inevitable that higher education comes on board the Google marketing train. Over the years universities, colleges and schools have understood one thing – being right on top of the front page of the world’s biggest search engine is a sound marketing plan. How to leverage that position into gaining more leads and a stronger brand presence, now that is the real question.

Having discussed the importance of brand awareness and social media promotion, in this article we will focus on how to use Google and its extensive reach for higher education marketing.

So, without further ado let’s look into the importance of Google for higher education marketing.

 

GOOGLE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION MARKETING

 

The benefit of leveraging Google for promotion and marketing is not an alien concept for higher education marketers by any stretch of the imagination. There is, however, the evolution of Google that has to be taken into consideration. With changing algorithms, Google has fine-tuned how content is chosen to be ranked on top of the search engine ranking pages, or SERPs.

This makes it crucial for higher education institutions and marketers to constantly be on top of the many ways that you could be targeting a Google user, or ranking your content higher. The point of interest here, as is often the case, is how to implement strategies that would amplify the existing results.

Let’s take a look at how we can strengthen the foundations of your university’s Google marketing strategy and some new strategies you could adopt for the same.

 

KEYWORD OPTIMIZATION:

Keywords continue to rule the roost when it comes to Google marketing. The first step to online marketing be it paid or organic, is largely dependent upon keywords. It forms the cornerstone of your content strategy and plays a massive role in ensuring your website’s SERP rankings.

Keywords are crucial to search engine optimization and now, even to your lead generation efforts. The age of stuffing keywords into every piece of content created are long gone. It is now the age of creating value driven content that incorporates these keywords in the most natural fashion possible.

Identifying the right keywords is also just as important when running Ads on Google. We will be touching upon that shortly. For now, let’s focus on the importance of identifying and optimizing the right keywords for your content strategy.

Strategically constructed content makes your university website or landing page easily readable to the crawlers – Googlebots that ensure your visibility in SERPs.

Googlebots

 

TIPS FOR SELECTING KEYWORDS

 

Keyword research – Choosing the right keyword can be a tricky process. Start with identifying what you want to market at a given point of time. It is important to note that the more popular a keyword is, the more it is being searched. Consequently, it can also mean that advertising on that keyword would be proportionately that much more expensive. Google Keyword Planner is a great resource for selecting keywords that can help your university’s ad be displayed to the right audience.  Here are some factors you should consider when selecting keywords:

    1. Popularity: While more popular keywords are often searched for, the sheer density of the keyword on the internet would make ranking on such words difficult. If you already have primary course based or brand based keywords where you rank highly, brilliant, if not, you could go for longer phrases. These phrases would not be as popular, but with the right modifier they can make for great long-tail keywords.
    2. Relevance: Finding the most relevant keyword to your course or brand is crucial to the efficacy of your campaign. Look at it from this perspective, the more relevant your keyword is to your target audience’s search, the more quality traffic you are attracting on your website. Identify keywords that are most relevant to your audience, and don’t limit yourself to the popular short-tail keywords. Diversify in order to achieve relevance across all audience demographics.
    3. Identify Intent: What stage are the searchers at when they look for your brand? Are they merely browsing information sources or are they ready to apply to a university/college? These questions will inform you about the kind of keyword that you should be focusing on. The focus should be on high-intent keywords. Identify and segment the keywords depending upon the actions they have received. This will inform you of the intent behind the use of these keywords and help you eliminate low-intent keywords.

Number of Monthly Searches with respect to the Types of Keywords

Content – One of the best ways of incorporating keywords on your website, it is long-form content. One can no longer just create the content for the website and expect it to work without any tweaks. Regular updates in the form of blogs or updating of the content already on the website becomes crucial.

Here, once again, identifying the type of keywords you require becomes very important. Think with the mind-set of prospective students and analyze what is it that they would Google while looking for their dream college?

What college is best for fashion designing?

Which college has the best literature course?

How is so and so college different?

And the list goes on.

Look at content from the perspective of creating value for prospective students. Try and answer questions that students are trying to find answers to – questions like how, which, what and where are the most commonly searched by students.

The rise of non-brand focused education searches have led to a sharp increase in the popularity of long-tail keywords. Long tail keywords are incredibly popular among students as they hash out the specifics. Consequently these keywords when used on your website increase the chances of your university/institution to achieve right up there among the searches.

Always make sure that your content is driven by results. This would entail that you keep a keen eye on the kind of content expected by students in your target markets. When you identify content that gets you the most amount of traction, all you need to do is identify variations of the same and different angles to add more value to that information.

 

FEATURED SNIPPETS:

Remember that special box that appears right on top of the search list whenever you look something up on Google? That is nothing but a featured snippet. The ever-evolving changes in Google search algorithms have brought a zero-click-environment in vogue, where most of the user queries are answered on the very first click.

This environment is facilitated with the use of featured snippets, a recent development which puts you right at the top of search results.

These snippets are designed to give the best user experience possible, instead of putting you through clicking on multiple links, Google chooses the best information options for your query and shows it to you. Research states that Google solved nearly 49% of all search queries in Q1 2019 with just one click and the trend has continued to 2020.

 

TIPS TO GET FEATURED ON GOOGLE

 

Students start their international education journey through a simple Google search. Ensuring that you are featured on the search string they have entered becomes key, and that is where featured snippets come into the picture.

The strenuous part is to identify the keywords which will help your university to acquire this position.

 

Rank Higher Than Your Competition – Do you want to ensure that students see your brand when they begin their search for an international education destination? Identify the questions they would be posing. If you are offering MBA programs, keep your content prepped for questions like ‘how much does it cost to do an MBA from X’. This type of content is often likely to be featured in snippets.

Example of a Featured Snippet

Lists are more likely to appear while searching for higher education options.

Organizing website content in a manner where all the categories and courses are clearly stated with detailed description might do the trick.

 

Formatting for Snippets – Snippets can appear in either paragraph, list or table formats. This means that the content you have uploaded on your website should also be following these formats.

    1. Paragraph Snippet: These snippets do not really need structured data markup. A concise answer making up the well-formatted content would work just fine. Keep your paragraphs in the range of 40-60 words. Ensure that your content is to the point. 2 headers and sub-headers are required.
    2. List Snippets: Having a bulleted or a numbered HTML list helps getting your content featured. This Item List structured content has a highly coherent format and works best when showcasing rates, duration, or other numerical data. Use longer lists of at least 8 items to ensure that Google has data to truncate.
    3. Table Snippets: Using snippets of at least 5 rows or 7 columns items have a higher possibility of being featured in snippets. These tables are highly useful when showcasing impactful data for your universities like intake dates, course and program duration etc.
    4. Video Snippets: It is always great when Google features a video from your website. To encourage Google to pick up your video embed your video on a page along with the transcript of the same and add ‘video’ to the structured data.

Types of Features Snippets

Optimize Long-tail Keywords – Since long-tail keywords are the overarching search trend, optimizing your website around them will help Google to easily recognize your website from the masses, thus bumping you up in this chase.

Long Tail Keywords with respect to the Average Monthly Searches

Identify FAQs – Specific Q&A boxes and landing pages can increase the chances of your university for getting featured. Such additions to your website created a user friendly environment, and hey that’s what we’re aiming for! Isn’t it?

 

Organize Your Content – Organized content is what attracts Google the most. Adding headers, bifurcating the content into sub-heads and use of lists or tables will increase the readability ultimately driving visitors your way.

Considering that 99% of these snippets are taken from websites already in the top-10 category, it is important to focus on securing a place on the first page of SERPs to land a snippet.

 

GOOGLE ADS:

We have two types of Google Ads to work with.

Search Ads – Appearing on top of the search page when you look for your query on Google.

Display Ads – Ads placed on YouTube videos and websites fall in this category.

Do not be lured into thinking that getting away with doing just one of these types of ads is enough. It really isn’t.

A prospective student begins searching for a particular university/ college on Google. This is where they will see your Search Ads. When they scroll down and visit a website on that page, provided you have a smart enough marketing team, they will once again, see your display ads.

Search ads are keyword focused. This means that you need to bid on those keywords you want to rank on. Identifying the right keywords here becomes very important, because this model is cost-per-click, every time someone clicks on the ad you are charged for the same. It is commonly observed that shorter and more generic keywords are way more expensive to rank on as opposed to longer keywords, or long-tail keywords.

Where Search Ads are confined to the Google search results page, Display Ads are scattered throughout websites. This is the reason why bidding on Search Ads is preferred by higher education marketing industry as it ensures greater visibility. What’s forgotten however, is that international students also refer to a number of websites, generic websites, in their search for a university or college.

 

THREE BASIC PRICING MODELS FOR GOOGLE ADS

 

Cost-per-click: Generally this model is preferred to generate traffic to the main website.

Calculating your Cost-per-click

Cost-per-action: This model is strictly controlled as one has to pay only when they receive the desired lead.

Cost-per-thousand impressions: This model is used to create brand awareness.

 

QUALITY SCORE

 

Search ads also depend on something called the Quality score and it is very important to the effectiveness of your Google ad.

Quality Score is calculated by Google depending upon the relevance of your ad, how user friendly it is, click through rate, keywords used, landing page and past ad performances as well.

Cost Through Rate = Total clicks on ad / Total Impressions.

High CTR results in high Quality Score which ultimately reduces your PPC.

What makes a Quality Score

TIPS FOR CREATING GOOGLE ADS

 

Follow an applicant’s life cycle: Research | Preparation | Application | Admission

While bidding on Ads it is important to focus on the point at which an applicant stands in his or her search for higher education. The probability of converting leads into enrollments is higher if they come across your university’s ad at a mature point.

Keywords like ‘best university in the USA’ are used by students at the research stage of their higher ed life-cycle. Bidding on these type of keywords is not only expensive but also won’t get you any actionable leads. Instead, bidding on more specific keywords focusing on the Application stage would be advisable.

Highlight Offers: Offers are a great way to be noticed, many universities offer application fee waivers during short periods of their recruitment seasons. Ads for these often see a lot more traffic than generic ads. These offers may not just be monetary in nature, even scholarship ads work quite well.

Specifics Sell: Adding a great deal of information in a single advertisement can be devastating. Simple and creative ads gain a lot more attention instead of the conventional designs that can very easily be replicated.

Saint Louis University has by far one of the best admission campaigns. Providing prospective students liberty to customize their landing page according to their needs was a brilliant idea.

An example of a Customized Landing Page

Get Creative: This ad created by Ryerson University where they leveraged their alumni to attract prospective students. Their online campaign NOT AN OLD BOY got a lot of traction online.

Visuals from the “Not An Old Boy” Campaign

Mobile friendly: 52% of the market share in mobile in the worldwide marketplace. A majority of students are inclined towards using mobile phones. This suggests that your ads should be designed in such a way that appeals these prolific mobile device users. This has also given a massive boost to voice search optimization.

Mobile Friendly Ads

GEO-TARGETED MARKETING:

Do you want to get a leg-up on location based recruitment? Google’s geo-targeted marketing is the way forward!

Consider this, you are visiting a Bombay, India, for a fair. Footfalls are always an issue when it comes to fairs, variable as they are. Imagine if you could have everyone in high student density areas in the city like Dadar and Andheri view your university’s ad. Not only does it ensure focused brand awareness opportunity, it also works to give you a better opportunity for a conversion when done in concert with on-ground activities.

Geo-fencing, or geo-targeting works on the information received by GPS and IP addresses. This technology helps target your ads to be viewed by people in pre-defined destination of your choosing.

Consider a situation like we are in today, when the fear of a Coronavirus outbreak has put a halt on a lot of recruitment fairs in Southeast Asia. In a situation like this it is a great idea to have a concerted digital marketing lead generation campaign comprising of geo-targeted ads.

Imagine this:

Your fair in Bangalore has been cancelled.

However, you are still able to help prospective Bangalore students identify your college through Search ads.

Through Display ads on popular student websites in the region.

Through Social Media Advertising reaching your required demographic in that city.

And through a focused geo-targeted campaign in the high-student density areas of the city.

The question now arises how should you identify locations to target?

The answer lies in the enrollment statistics of not only your university but also that of your competitors.

These numbers can help you figure out which cities or regions sends the most applications your way and can help plan your digital marketing plan.

Geo-targeting helps the university marketers to modify their ads accordingly.

Visual Representation of how Geo-targeted Ads function

TIPS FOR GEO-TARGETING

 

Bid on high-value locations: High-value locations for higher education institutes are those where students often hang out. These places could be high-schools, popular cafes, parks or gaming zones. Bidding on these places will ensure that your ads are being displayed to the right audience and eventually increase your ROI.

 

Target your competition: Present an option to students seeing your competitor’s ad! By bidding on your competitor’s location you can highlight the services your university offers and what makes it a better choice.

 

Use regional language: Using phrases that exclusively resonate with the people of a specific region in geo-targeted campaigns is a strategy that will definitely grab attention of the viewers. Try and speak to your prospective students in a way that they understand best and the results will speak for themselves.

 

Be Time-specific: Regulating these ads during holidays and peak recruitment season will result in more leads and thus save your marketing budget. Ensure that you leverage these ads during your fairs and school visits. Recruitment travels are one of the biggest geo-targeting opportunity and should be capitalized with a digital marketing plan at least as detailed as your travel itinerary.

 

Call-to-action: Call-to-action landing pages on geo-targeted ads is a must. These landing pages will ensure that the people who are interested in learning more about your institute are directed to your website.

 

Google marketing is an ever evolving field and holds a number of incredible innovations that can help universities reach prospective students in a more targeted fashion. Consider how chatbots are revolutionizing the way universities interact with applicants. Voice search is changing the face of SEO every day. More and more students with access to smartphones are becoming proficient in identifying valuable content as opposed to promotional content.

With the landscape of Google, and internet usage for that matter, changing with such frequency, it is very important for universities to stay updated with the latest strategies that could improve their recruitment ROI.

In the next article we will be talking about yet another important means of digitally reaching out to prospective students – Webinars. Did you know that a majority of universities are now looking at webinars to aid their recruitment efforts? Stay tuned for more details on the same next week!

 

Video Marketing for Your Brand

The concept of video marketing is not entirely new for today’s generation. To say that video marketing has gained incredible popularity would definitely not be an understatement. This can be attested by the simple fact that 81% of businesses use videos in their marketing campaigns.

2016 saw the rise of videos as world’s primary choice of content, but it was 2018 which changed the face of marketing altogether. Today, 72% of customers would rather learn more about a product or service through a video. 81% of businesses are using Facebook for their video marketing. And here’s the kicker – Videos attract 300% more leads and are a great help in nurturing leads.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Let’s face it, we live in a world characterized by motion. However, it is important to note that people remember almost 70% of what they see, as well as what they hear. The subliminal power of a video to deliver a message in the most effective fashion is second to none in today’s day and age.

Listing the benefits of video marketing could probably fill a book. In this case, we have tried to keep at as concise as possible. Here are the top 4 benefits of investing in video marketing.

 

Videos can go viral easily:

Virality is all about how shareable a piece of content is. Invodo opines that 92% of people share videos via handheld devices. Makes sense, smartphones are everywhere. The question, however remains, what makes a video shareable?

How shareable a video is depends on the various aspects such as time duration, frame and quality. At the end of the day it is all about how memorable that video is.

Red Bull, the energy drink company, had the highest amount of videos shared across all platforms. Having over 10.5M shares on their sports and music videos, it still remains one of the most loved brands on YouTube. Instead of marketing their products, they incorporated a vivid marketing strategy that revolves around adventure sports content making them one of the most popular brands on the planet.

 

Mobile friendly:

According to YouTube, mobile video consumption increases every year by a whopping one hundred percent! In fact, eMarketer estimates that 75% of all video plays are on mobile devices. This makes having a highly responsive video player for your site a must, and one that can easily play videos for all screen sizes and dimensions without the quality deteriorating.

Take the University of Alabama for example, their website is designed in such a way that the interface adjusts for any device with an easy navigation system.

 

Videos are not bound by demographics:

It doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re in, videos always grab attention. According to Google half of 18-34 year olds would stop what they’re doing to watch a new video by their favorite YouTube creator.

Adding links to landing pages along with videos is a great idea that would lead a prospective customer directly to the service they need by just looking at the video.

CrashCourse a 9 year old YouTube channel has over 10 Million subscribers. It is wildly popular among students from around the world as they provide videos on all subjects that are extremely helpful for studying. Founders John and Hank Green are now considered as the top influencers in the video marketing business.

 

Adds emotion to the content:

71% of people watch more video today than they did a year ago. The simple takeaway from this stat is that the quality of video content has only gotten better! Marketers have understood that until and unless the video touches a certain emotion in the viewer, it is not going to be a success.

Be it minimalist or quirky, videos have the ability to attract the audience by adding emotion to the concept a company is selling. It is, however, the ‘how’ of it that sets a good video apart from the rest.

Take a look at this video shared by Yale University – That’s why I toured Yale, which along with highlighting their campus, courses and wide range of services, depicts the student life and Yale culture. The video is highly rich in quality and connects with the audience making them want to study at Yale.

 

There has been an increase of 18% in brands using videos to market, promote and generate leads for their products or services.

At Hue, we understand the importance of ensuring quality video content for your brand. With a ready team of motion directors, editors and production professionals, Hue stands ready to help you create the most impactful content for your brand. Take a look at Hue’s Reel 1, a taster of the visual art the Hue team believes in.

 

Digital Recruitment Solutions I – Social Media Marketing

In a world full of uncertainties, we have come to believe in the consistency of one thing – the internet!

Recruitment seasons could be fraught with travel uncertainties. There could be regions that one may not even be able to reach simply because of political turmoil or because of an outbreak – case in point the nCoV 2019 outbreak in China.

The outbreak in the Hubei province in China has cast a massive shadow over the international education sector. With over 73 thousand infected and over 1800 deaths already recorded, international education has been widely affected. The most affected by this are the students, aspiring to study abroad but left with only questions because of factors completely out of their control.

With the internet, however, there are chances of blunting the impact that universities or colleges might feel. The sheer scope and targeting efficiency provided by the internet is unparalleled. While this has been explored by higher education in the past, suffice it to say we have only scratched the surface.

In this series we will be talking about how the tried and tested digital marketing, promotion and lead generation can be creatively employed for vastly better results.

So, without further ado, let’s begin!

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media platforms, in recent years, have seen a great deal of changes. It is these changes that have made marketing higher education institutions even easier and more targeted. Instead of the direct sledgehammer approach of indiscriminate promotion, social media platforms now afford a highly specific and targeted approach. It is this that has made higher education marketing easier and more ROI oriented than ever.

15-24 year olds make up 15.77% of the world today. India, however, has over 50% of its population under the age of 25. Nearly 40% of Vietnam’s population is under 25. The same holds true for a number of other Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

The common digital denominator between this huge youth population spread across the continent?

Social Media!

93% of Indian students use the internet every day.

73% use their phones to access internet.

42% of Facebook’s India user base is under the age of 24.

Nearly 40% of Facebook’s Vietnam user base is under the age of 24.

With this in mind, it is understandable that social media becomes a de facto primary source of promotion and marketing for universities around the world. Here, once again, the biggest focus for education institutions would be to get international leads. The process of leveraging social for lead generation however needs to go through brand awareness, if quality leads are desired.

 

Importance of Regional Social Media Brand Awareness for Education Institutions:

With increased access to internet, students have become even more careful about choosing a college or university. This makes it important to for higher education institutions to penetrate deeper into their targeted recruitment markets.

Increased brand awareness ensures that more and more of your target audience have your university or college top of mind. So, when the time to apply for international education comes around, they already have your brand as a front-runner on their list.

Lead generation is directly proportional to the brand thus creating a static awareness about your university would generate more leads. There are some very basic things that you can do to ensure that your brand awareness campaigns are working for you.

Here are some of the points to keep in mind while regulating brand-awareness campaigns:

Live up to the motto:

A university where its motto is diligently exercised within its students is appreciated by all. Giving prospective students an emotion rather than an option will significantly affect their final choice.

“Alverno College, a women’s college, created their display ad to beautifully highlight their philosophy through a combination of words and images.”

Be omnipresent:

“The more you see it, the more you believe it.” While this may sound a tad pushy at first sight, isn’t that the cornerstone of marketing and promotion? You need to be everywhere, and that’s about it. Be it in the form of organically viral campaigns, or just targeted promotional activities.

Never forget that social media is all pay-to-play. In fact, organic reach of content on Facebook has been decreasing over the years, and has now reached its nadir. This makes it crucial to invest in brand awareness. Not for no reason are universities consistently increasing their social media marketing budgets year on year.

Facebook Page Organic Reach (Source: Neil Patel Blog)

Separate Alumni Pages:

Highlighting the excellence delivered by an institution is what can build the most credibility around an education institution. The impression one carries from seeing a successful alumni is that joining the institution could ensure their success as well. In this, it does not necessarily have to be a stuffy page just focusing on growth. Engage with your alumni using information that gives them value. In fact, leveraging alumni support is one of the best ways to raise funds for new projects at the universities.

Promote Scholarships and Financial Aid:

Consider this, going for higher education is as big an investment for a student as buying a house. This makes scholarships and financial aid one of the biggest factors to consider for a student looking to study abroad. This is especially true for student markets like India and Vietnam. It is important that your social media brand awareness campaigns incorporate this effectively for best reach.

 

Amplifying your Social Media

To have a solid social media approach, it is important to have a strong understanding of which platforms are popular in the target markets:

China | India | Vietnam | Bangladesh | Nepal | Indonesia | South Korea

Each of the above mentioned countries have their own most popular social media platforms. While the most common continue to remain Facebook and Instagram. Increasing the return on your investment in social media has now boiled down to how well you understand the particular student demographic that would want to study at your higher education institution. Here are some ways that you can amplify your social media marketing results:

Leverage Chinese Social Platforms:

Recruitment in China is a tricky process as the most popular social media platforms are blocked by the government. In their absence there are Chinese-grown social media platforms that are wildly popular in the country. WeChat has taken a strong hold in the Chinese market thus demanding the presence of higher education marketers.

(From left to right) L: University of Surrey was one of the first universities to have a WeChat account | M: Use of WeChat in China | R: RMIT University, Melbourne sends automatic greetings on WeChat to their recent followers

Identify Social Platforms According to Countries:

Facebook and Instagram are the most popular social media platforms in Vietnam, India and a large part of Southeast Asia. Moreover, there are a number of other social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, are just some of the others that are wildly popular among students around the world. Not surprisingly, this is something that has already begun to be leveraged by universities around the world. Here are a couple of examples.

Western University: westernu (Snapchat)

Arizona State University School of Art: asusoa (Tumblr)

Create Region-Centric Content:

The statistics below clearly suggest the fact that visual and aesthetic aid when adopted correctly in education marketing strategies would have a much greater impact.

Students spend a whopping 8-hours per day across different media!

(Source: GlobalWebIndex Q2 2018)

The big catch here is that the content popularity varies with region. This is what makes it important to have social media handles relevant to your target markets. If not region-centric social media handles, than the ads being run on social should in the very least be highly region-specific.

Something like showing images of students of the same nationality as the country in which the ad is being promoted becomes very important in such scenarios. Translations of the content into the primary language of the country in which the ad is being promoted too can be very important.

Country Specific Handles:

Having separate accounts dedicated to countries sending most students abroad to study a strategy that can immediately grab attention. It ensures that the messages are not getting confused and allows for a better opportunity to increase the brand awareness in these countries.

Content shared on these handles should be focusing on ensuring that it gives value to the students of that country. Be it providing them scholarship details, admission procedure or even hot courses, it is packaging them in a visual and textual language that is most relevant to that country that would make sure it gets the deepest penetration.

Creating content in this format can give students a sense of belonging and assurance as to the fact that the university understands their needs.

The University of New South Wales | @unswindia: India focused Facebook page

Columbia University | @ColumbiaCSC: Chinese students club on Facebook

The University of Alabama | @univofalabamaindia: India focused Facebook page

Regular updates:

Students deeply care about being informed about the latest news of their university, around 45% of them depend on social media for this. AI generated mails are often missed as they directly go to spam, this is where the importance of being active and responsive on social media handles comes in handy.

Automated social messenger responses are a great way to ensure that you are always engaging students reaching out to you. Having a versatile social media calendar can ensure that you are not missing out the big days on campus while still ensuring that your focus continues to stay on recruitment and brand awareness.

“We live in a digital ecosystem, and it is vital that educational institutions adapt” – Carla Dawson (Digital Marketing Professor at the Catholic University of Cordoba)

Use of Images and Videos:

Visuals are the key to attract prospective students. Images and videos are some of the most trending content types on social media. Take this statistic for reference:

Which format do you leverage more in your Facebook Ads?

(Source: Databox)

It can always be a good idea to source images from students. User generated content is a great way for a college or a university can ensure greater reach and engagement on social media. Moreover, videos can give a chance for students to visit the university without having to leave home.

– Sydney University (@sydney_uni): Focuses on posting pictures that highlight their rich campus using panoramic shots, aerial photography and diversity in action clicks.

– University of Alberta, Canada (@ualbertastudents): Focuses on student profiles posting portraits of their students and their achievements.

Use of Hashtags:

Hashtags when introduced in 2007 by Twitter, and immediately gained popularity on rest of the social media platforms as well, especially Instagram. The fact that they create a community of their own is what makes this very special. It can help engage students interested in the college, or a particular aspect of it, and ensures qualification at the first step. Use of unique and memorable hashtags is the key to a successful campaign, be it upcoming events, convocation or informal meets.

Hashtags are a great way to initiate conversations and identify the preferences of your target audience. They help weave a culture where personal opinions coincide, paving a path for the recruiters to understand the psyche of prospective students- their expectations and ideologies regarding the university environment.

Hashtags can be categorized in a way similar to a pyramid –

  • Industry hashtag: #student
  • Course-specific hashtag: #psychologystudent
  • Brand hashtag: #princetonpsychology
  • Community hashtag: #clinicalpsychology
  • Location hashtag: #newyorkpsychologist
  • Event hashtag: #PsychDayUN2019

 

Social media is all about engaging your target audience and then getting them familiarized with what your brand offers. For universities, colleges and other education institutions this process becomes even simpler considering they are offering what most of the youth require.

Social media offers a number of ways to identify prospective leads and to increase your brand awareness in target markets. This, however, requires strategic paid promotion.

At Hue, we have identified multi-channel means of ensuring the optimal ROI on your social media marketing and lead generation efforts. Right from designing highly engaging campaigns to churning out smart creatives, to crafting on-point description, to segmenting leads, Hue can ensure your social media marketing and brand awareness gets the push it requires.

In the next article we will explore how Google Marketing, when done right, can be a great means of generating brand awareness and leads.


 

Coronavirus on Top of Mind Among Global Educators

The world is in the grip of yet another outbreak!

After the SARS scare in 2003, the global economy took a massive hit. It burned the US economy to the tune of a whopping $33 billion, East Asia took losses of over $20 billion while China and Hong Kong lost 1-3% of their GDP.

In comparison, the Coronavirus has, till date, affected twice the number of individuals infected by SARS.

First detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, the Novel Coronavirus has already claimed more than 130 lives. With 5974 confirmed cases, WHO has declared this a global health emergency. In fact, the Chinese Government has closed off Wuhan and many surrounding areas in the province, in an effort to contain this insidious virus. This lockdown has effectively encircled over 50 million people and is unprecedented in size and scale. The worry, however, is that millions had already left the city before the lockdown began. In a recent development it has also been reported that the doctor who first warned of this outbreak, Dr. Li Wenliang has also succumbed to the virus.

The death toll of the virus has already touched 638 at the time of writing this piece, and over 31 thousand confirmed cases have been identified so far.

Story So Far

With the outbreak being detected just before the end of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, Chinese students, home on a break, were worst affected. With over a 100,000 students aspiring to study in Australia still unable to leave from China, this outbreak has had a huge effect on Australian higher education.

Australia, New Zealand, US and Singapore were among the first countries to ban the entry of foreign travelers from China. Japan and South Korea have followed a similar practice for travelers arriving from the Hubei province.

Universities Australia, on their part, has assured that they would be extending the offers of flexibility to Chinese students. This includes online study options, and the option to defer the start of the program,

It is suspected that this outbreak may also affect the gao kao university entrance exam taken by nearly 10 million Chinese students every year. China has already cancelled all the February sessions for GRE, GMAT, IELTS, and TOEFL. In fact, it has been reported that, “All IELTS and IELTS for UKVI tests are currently suspended in China, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR.”

  • Mainland China: All tests suspended until 1 March 2020
  • Macau: All tests suspended until 11 February 2020
  • Hong Kong: All tests suspended until 17 February 2020

With China taking this step on the 28th January, US’s CDC also issued a travel advisory on the same date, which read: The CDC recommends that travelers avoid all non-essential travel to China. This is expected to have a big impact on the international recruitment season around the world.

British Council also issued an advisory explaining that education activities in China, for the month of February, stand cancelled. They have also adviced UK institutions against traveling to China. Cases of 2019 nCoV, have been identified in Hong Kong, US, Taiwan, Australia, Macau, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, France, Canada, Vietnam, Nepal, India, Cambodia, and even Germany. There have, however, not been any deaths reported outside of China.

Impact Assessment

Today, nearly one-third of international students in the US are from China. In fact, China is the number 1 resource for international student recruitment for universities around the world.

Chinese students account for over 20% of the international student population of some of the biggest Australian universities. Reports suggest that travel restrictions imposed on Chinese students could cost Australia up to A$8 billion.

International Education Association of Australia, Chief Executive, Paul Honeywood opines that more than universities it will be the schools that will be highly impacted. The Australian school sector, already dealing with a slowdown from the Chinese market in 2018-19, will need to brace for what is now a double whammy.

Universities in the US are busily issues health advisories to their students in order to ensure that all essential precautions are taken. Some universities like NYU and Duke University, have delayed the start of their Spring semester classes at their Shanghai campus.

Over and above this, universities having students returning from winter break have sent out email alerts to their student communities as well. While universities are taking all the precautions possible, they are also acutely aware of the psychosomatic effects of this virus. USC’s university health center has reported a spike in visits of students fearing they have contracted the virus.

This is another factor that most Australian, US and Canadian universities will need to be careful about. Having students shun each other out of fear of contracting the disease is also a major challenge education institutions would need to overcome. A fear-heavy environment is the last thing an education institution needs.

The best thing a higher education institution can do is to keep the students informed. And this is something universities, colleges and education institutions are doing with great frequency. It is heartening to see how the universities have been working in order to mitigate the fears of the student body.

Dealing With the Recruitment Impact

The American International Recruitment Council has issued an advisory for education institutions to hold off recruiting in February, and possibly later. The guidance suggests a ‘wait and see approach’ for March, April and May travel. They add that there are a number of event planners that are cancelling or postponing their March events as well. It would be best, they suggest, to wait for a week to get a better sense of finality about the events unfolding.

The AIRC also states that it would be best to try and get engagement through webcasts or digital media for the coming months. This is something that would be of great benefit to education institutions around the world.

Leveraging Digital

Leveraging digital channels, especially social media channels to share information as well as generating leads would become crucial now. In the absence of physical travel a concrete digital lead generation funnel would become crucial. Social media and digital channels can also be used in order to share travel advisories to existing students as well as prospective students.

Having a strong website landing page campaign, coupled with penetrative brand awareness campaigns on social, would be a great way to encourage digital recruitment. It is important, however, to note that this form of recruitment would require a strong email marketing and calling support to succeed.

Concluding Notes

While the outbreak is bound to have a long-standing impact on international education, the bigger challenge is to manage the fear psychosis of the situation. At no point should a situation develop that would lead to the shunning of Chinese students. And it is this understanding that needs to be reflected by education institutions around the world.

There are observations by experts stating that universities will be intensifying their recruitment from the Middle East, Africa as well as India to a great extent. This outbreak, much like SARS is expected to be brought under control soon. But in the meantime, the best we can do is ensure that we do not add to the climate of fear that is circling around this disease. More importantly, students and parents around the world need to be assured and informed that they are safe.

The education institutions relying on this season for recruitment numbers will have to begin exploring alternate routes. Digital channels, being the prima facie outreach resource, would play a big role in how the situation is handled from an institutional perspective.