Category: Blog 2020

The definition of Education is no longer limited to the usual classroom learning. The advent of technology and adaptation of new, innovative learning-teaching patterns has changed how we perceive education.

In our previous blogs we discussed how to leverage various digital marketing platforms for higher education marketing. In this article we identify the content type that works most for these platforms.

Videos are the most favored source of information the world over. This can be attested with the fact that 72% of people would rather learn about a service or brand through a video. By the year 2022, videos are predicted to dominate 82% of internet traffic.

The target audience of the education industry mostly comprises of Gen-Z and millennial, age groups that are most familiar with the internet. To successfully reach them, the marketing strategists need to continuously come up with ideas that resonate with the constantly evolving trends.

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.

Videos make up almost 1/3^rdof all current online activity, suggesting their massive popularity, and this figure is only set to increase. Not only are they a great way to convey your message but create a strong emotional connect among the audience.

Here we will be taking a look at the type of videos that can work best for your university/college. Moreover, we will also be sharing with you platforms that work best when it comes to social media promotion of said videos.

TYPES OF VIDEOS

 

1. Culture Videos:

These types of videos are all about creating an emotional connect. This can be managed through evoking long-standing traditions, beliefs, values as well as social behavior.

These videos are apt when it comes to communicating what the university stands for. They make for a high energy, and highly aspirational content. Most importantly, they help a prospective student connect better with the university and present their offerings in the most unique fashion.

Culture Videos aim at presenting the very essence and soul of a university.

Take a look at this video by Mississippi State University, a short 1 minute promotional video depicting their very essence, We Ring True.

 

2. Tutorial:

Let’s face it, international students have a lot of questions, be it on the admission process, or be it on the course offerings available. Tutorial videos are a great way to help students find the answers to even the smallest queries that they might have.

Even Google prefers videos in the snippets its algorithm chooses to feature. Making videos to answer user queries could be hugely beneficial to your Google rankings.

Here is one such video by the University of Alberta that guides its students on how to choose subjects and register for their desired course.

 

3. Testimonial:

The purpose of these videos, in one word, is credibility. Imagine trying to promote your university in far flung international student recruitment markets like Vietnam, and having a bank of testimonials from Vietnamese students in order to do so. Testimonials may not just be limited to alumni, grads or achievers, even professors, visiting faculties or corporate partners too could be sharing testimonials.

The aim of such videos is to show an institute’s quality by attesting experiences of already studying students and teachers. The idea is to add credibility to the services provided by the university.

Take a look at this video by RMIT Australia that comprises of multiple testimonials by the students on how their experience at RMIT has been satisfactory.

 

4. Interviews:

Videos that are created from the perspective of an interview are best used when dealing with a long string of questions. Videos created in this format are a great way to leverage the popularity of a visiting speaker or even help prospective students interact with your admissions department.

By making this type of video, a university can produce higher engagement by leveraging the interviewee’s reputation.

An interview conducted by Richmond University with Princeton Professor Peter Singer who talks about bioethics, is an excellent example for this category.

 

5. VLOG:

VLOG is a portmanteau of the words video and blog. It aims at documenting an individual’s experience or general thoughts in the form of videos. Look at this VLOG that showcases ‘A Day in a Life” of an Edinburgh University student.

While VLOGS are most used by students, leveraging them to promote your brand is a crucial way to ensure greater engagement and penetration in your target markets. Generally VLOGS are facilitated by students, but imbibing these into marketing can turn out to be a fair deal of choice as they attract a lot of traffic.

 

6. Animation:

Always a wonderful way to showcase information; animated videos, when made well, always tend to be engaging. They are especially useful when depicting hard-to-grasp subjects. It is important to note that there are a variety of ways in which we could be creating animated videos. Right from ready-made illustrations, to creating them from scratch, the means are endless.

University of Lincoln’s promo video is a story based CTA that is a visual treat for the viewers.

 

7. Live Streaming:

Going live, once the domain of broadcasters, is now available to everyone with an internet connection and a social media account. Having live stream videos are a wonderful way of engaging an existing audience, or even to reach out to an altogether new one.

A major benefit of conducting such videos is that they can be re-purposed while promoting your brand name. This possible that live videos are saved on platforms like Facebook as videos to be viewed at a later date. Live stream are also largely used during events.

Here is one such example of a live streamed video by University of Adelaide.

 

8. Ads:

Video ads have been shown to get a lot more engagement than static images. Moreover, they impact the favourite domain of marketers everywhere – the ROI.  It is important to note, however, that depending upon your platform the duration of your video ad would also change. For example, Facebook video ads work best when they are in the range of 5-10 seconds. YouTube on the other hand offers different duration options for ads to be run on their platform.

Watch this advertisement by University of Canterbury highlighting their motto “Be prepared to Change.”

 

KEY ELEMENTS OF VIDEO MARKETING

Choosing a specific type of video you wish to create is the first step in this process. But a good video not promoted is akin to not having a video at all. One of the most, if not the most, important factors of video marketing is the second word in the term, marketing. Creating a successful video marketing campaign begins with a great video and ends in the execution of a flawless promotional strategy.

Here are some ways that you could be making sure your video promotions are on point.

1. Organized Planning:

The first and foremost requirement for making a video is to have an organized structure which would determine the entire course of action for this journey. To trigger a long-term impact among your audience through the video, the plan must have everything laid out in detail, right from timelines, to platforms, to the budgets allocated for each.

So the flow goes like this –

• Deciding upload dates for each piece
• Choosing the type of video
• Assigning tasks to script writers, videographers, actors and editors
• Shoot
• Upload
• On to the next project

 

2. Emotional Connect:

The biggest impact that a video has on its target audience is emotional. It could bring a smile to their face or a tear in their eyes, either way, if it has managed to elicit a reaction, your video has done its job. Creating a video with a strong emotional connect becomes prima facie for your entire strategy.

This emotional connect could very well be your university’s tagline, much the same way Auburn University have done it here.

 

3. Call-To-Action:

Having a CTA that not only encapsulates the conclusion of the video but also manages to encourage engagement is idea. A call to action usually appears at the end of the video, and is cushioned on the back of the video’s primary tagline.

To identify that, first you need to identify the target audience. For universities and other educational institutes it is the student class aging from 18-30.

‘A Doubled Magic’ highlights the glamorous life of New York City, which appeals to the said target audience.

Where this is a subtle CTA, there are other ways you can induce CTAs which are more direct in nature.

A page at the starting or ending of the video telling the viewers what to do next, say for example suggesting them to watch other videos by your university is one option.

The second being auditory requests, like click the link in bio or visit our website.

 

4. On-Point Intros:

The first impression of the video is created within the first couple of seconds itself. This makes the introduction of your video crucial in retaining interest of your target audience. It is the intro that will determine whether the viewer will watch it till the end. The aim of an intro is to tell your audience upfront what it is about.

However, the size of an intro depends on the total length of the video.

Customizing them in a crisp and attractive way is what you should be looking at while working on the script.

Having on-point intros like the one in ‘Where Legends Are Made’ by University of Alabama, will produce greater engagement resulting in greater ROI.

 

5. Visual Branding:

A video for the sake of a video definitely does not cut it in an age when people have become familiar with high quality videos and story lines. It is the way the text is juxtaposed with the visuals that conveys the branding of the university in the video. It is important that the brand presence is conveyed adequately in the video.

This can be managed by featuring the brand at the beginning, the end or throughout the video, depending upon the type of video. Moreover, there can be on-ground options utilized in order to give the video adequate branding of the university sharing it. This could be done in the form of backdrops, strategically placed products or a number of other options.

 

VIDEO MARKETING PLATFORMS

YouTube itself reports over a billion hours of video being viewed every day. With such a massive proliferation of video content, it becomes very important to not only have video content on your social but also to have highly clutter breaking content at the same time.

At the same time, it is important to understand that relying on just one platform to promote your video may not give you the kind of results you are hoping for. On the other hand, a marketing strategy that makes room for multiple platforms including conventional social media always tends to work better.

Mentioned below are some of the most popular video marketing platforms which can be used by the universities –

 

1. YouTube

YouTube has 2 Billion logged-in monthly users.

81% of 15-25 year-olds in the U.S. use YouTube.

Almost 15% of YouTube’s site traffic comes from the U.S.

People upload 500 hours of video every minute.

Each visitor spends 11m 24s per day on YouTube, on average.

70% of what people watch on YouTube is determined by its recommendation algorithm.

Each visit to YouTube involves 6.5 page views, on average.

Over 70% of YouTube views are on mobile.

In the U.S. alone, YouTube will make $5.5 Billion in advertising revenue in 2020.

YouTube is the biggest online platform for videos. The influence of the same on higher education industry is undeniable as 86% of universities have a YouTube presence. And that is just one platform!

According to a recent study, 59% of Gen-Zers prefer to learn by watching YouTube videos as they have been an integral part of their learning journey as well as overall development.

The rise of Vlogs is also a major factor contributing to the overall popularity of YouTube. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is believed to have one of the most organized YouTube accounts. This makes navigating through a bunch of videos easier for the viewers.

When creating a YouTube channel there are some things that should always be kept in mind:

Content and audience targeting – This will inform your content creation strategy to a great extent.

Google Analytics – Analytics are the best way to identify where your videos are working and are a great means of identifying specific audience sets that you could be targeting.

SEO – Setting up the search engine optimization of your YouTube pages is considerably simple. And this ensures that even the videos you create and even your channel are ranking right up there.

 

2. TikTok

A fairly recent addition to the social media universe, it has rapidly become popular among students. One of the fastest growing social media platforms in the world, it’s mobile friendliness is a big reason for its wildfire like spread. In fact, 60% of TikTok users are Gen-Zers.

The platforms comes loaded with creative features that allow users to make short videos with music and filters. It is this that makes TikTok as addictive as it is.

The aim of this application is to encourage user creativity via videos that bring it at par with the already famous platforms like YouTube and Instagram. And with over 800 million monthly active users, it is well on its way to become just that. The only limitation of this platform is that the videos can only be up to 60 seconds long. On the flipside, a TikTok user spends 52 minutes on an average on the platform.

Various colleges and universities have already begun using TikTok as a recruitment tool.

Rochester Institute of Technology is one such example, their posts are mainly about highlighting the student life on campus and in doing so they give their prospective students a glimpse of what it will be like for them if they choose Rochester.

 

3. IGTV:

Instagram is a medium largely dependent on images, and with the addition of IGTV a couple of years ago, its popularity has only soared. This recently launched feature of Instagram has become the go-to option for videos for the massive Instagram community.

Take a look at this IGTV video by Maastricht University which covered their alumni day.

 

4. Snapchat:

90% of Snapchat users are 13-24 years old! And with over 200 million daily active users, the platform continues to be relevant. However, you might want to look at the countries it is most popular in before you dive into Snapchat promotion. India is a huge market for Snapchat which makes it great for international student recruitment. On the other hand, US too is the top market for this video platform, giving it relevance even as a community outreach.

The biggest highlight of Snapchat is that it provides ‘in the moment insights’. This feature can be used by universities to showcase their campus as well as events.

Snapchat’s geofilter is the most used and most loved.

The University of Michigan was one of the first universities to launch a Snapchat account in 2014.

 

5. Vimeo:

Launched around the same time as YouTube, Vimeo branded itself as a destination for the more serious video creators around. Today it is home to over 50 million creators, with more being added every day. Perceived as the destination for more serious video consumers, Vimeo could be an interesting platform to utilize for your video marketing strategy.

This is one of the few video platforms around that allow for generating index videos with an outlined markup. Moreover it offers the opportunity for designed data required to rank onSERPs a crucial component of your video marketing strategy.

Check out University of Essex’s Vimeo page.

 

Video marketing can no longer be ignored by anyone, especially by international education players around the world. Having strong video content could be the difference between a successful marketing strategy and an average one. With the world and its cats in isolation, the only means of reaching the outside world has become the internet. And what do you suppose would be the content most consumed at a time like this? Rhetorical questions notwithstanding, video creation and marketing are crucial at a time like this for universities to reach out to students looking to be assuaged about the situation.

Hue’s film-making and editing team have been working with the international education sector for some time now. With this experience comes the understanding of the industry. This coupled with our expertise in social media and digital promotion ensures that you will have a robust strategy to promote the videos we create for you.

The past decade saw a hike in technological advancements that have deeply affected the education industry. From learning patterns to teaching practices, this transition is evident all around the world. Consider this, the E-learning industry is believed to expand up to $325 billion by 2025, justifying the need of new alternatives to keep up with the world trends.

Seminars have always been a great way for universities to reach out to prospective students. With the digital age, we were introduced to the idea of conducting remote seminars, or online seminars, also known as Webinars!

41% of marketers have been a part of a webinar, be it through hosting or participating. 83% of these marketers found them to be a highly effective marketing strategy. Webinars allow higher education brands to get in touch with prospective students and parents without having to spend the money to travel to their target markets. The sheer ease of information dissemination, if leveraged well can be a great promotional and lead generation tool.

The average length of a Webinar in the education industry is one hour. The big challenge with webinars, however, is identifying the type of information your target market’s requires. Let’s jump into the types of webinars around that you could use for your university, college’s or education institute’s promotion.

 

TYPES OF WEBINARS

 

Educational Webinar:

Often resembling a lecture, these webinars involve the presenter addressing the audience on a particular topic. It is usually an expert elaborating on a subject, generally followed by question and answer sessions.

A popular format of conducting webinars, this format allows the organizers freedom to structure the webinar the way they want. This format is best leveraged to elaborate upon subjects prospective students are curious to learn more about.

The University of Amsterdam recently conducted a webinar that focused on media studies. Hosted in peak recruitment season, this webinar focuses on talks by faculties and students from different majors. They cover details about media studies, benefits of the course and sign off by highlighting the perks of pursuing a course at the University of Amsterdam.

Check out their webinar here: University of Amsterdam – What are media studies?

 

Audience Driven:

These webinars are largely student focused, and the motive is largely to answer the audience’s queries. They are a great way to pre-empt your prospective student’s queries and ease their application process. In many cases, such webinars are a great way to launch a new course among an already established target market.

These webinars can be used in constructive repute building by showcasing the qualities incorporated by the institution. Be it the infrastructure, classroom environment, course overview or student testimonials, such webinars aim at invoking a sense of knowledge sharing.

Take a look at this webinar by Macquarie University, where their student advisor Andrew Jackson talks about primary requirements after enrolling in their university. He covers a multitude of topics like travel arrangements, accommodation and what to expect from Australia.

 

Panelist Discussion:

While not very common, these type of webinars are a great way to create an audience for your university online. These type of panel discussions are a great way to increase engagement, where the host can share different perspectives on a subject with the audience.

This type consists of a group of experts sharing their opinions on a particular topic, usually facilitated by a moderator. A major advantage of hosting a panelist discussion is that you can leverage the reputation of panelists while promoting your brand.

Look at this webinar conducted by TransformEd where they talk about the importance of social-emotional development of students. Transforming Education a Boston based Non-Profit Organization that partners with school systems focusing on whole-child development. These kind of webinars are a great way to earn the goodwill of your audience and also work brilliantly when dealing with complex topics.

 

Workshops:

Introducing the traditional idea of a workshop where people as a group work on a project, sharing ideas and techniques. Well, workshop webinars are similar in that way, just taking place online. Skype, Team Viewer and Mikogo support screen sharing and are great platforms to use.

Workshop webinars can be used to help prospective students identify the best way they could be writing their essays. It could even be aimed at helping international students interact with current international students at the university.

 

IMPORTANT FACTORS AFFECTING A WEBINAR

There are a number of factors that make a webinar special. It all boils down to identifying the best audience set and working out a topic that truly sets the webinar apart. Here’s a look at some of the ways that you could be improving the quality of your webinars:

 

Target Audience:

First things first, everything hinges upon the audience you intend on reaching. Topics that work among students would not be the same as that work for parents.

If you want to target parents, a good way to start would be to identify the most common questions being asked to your admissions department. Parents, more often than not, are more bottom line oriented than their children. If the webinar wants to reach out to them it might as well be answering questions like scholarships, employment opportunities and real-world experience opportunities. Students, on the other hand, are more interested in finding out about life on campus, opportunities for extra-curricular activities and may even be interested in a deep dive into the course outline.

Creating webinars without a clear understanding of your audience would more often than not lead to a wasted effort. Moreover, such webinars are a great way to highlight lesser known courses.

 

Topic of Interest:

Once you have identified the audience, it is time to identify a subject that your audience will appreciate. It is important to note that at a time like this being specific is key. Nothing turns off a viewer than a meandering subject and/or speaker.

Identify the most trending questions being asked by students. If you want to promote admissions make sure you are informing students about free application weeks you are running, give them more information on the documents they need to submit. It is important to identifying the topics of interest carefully in order to ensure the success of the webinar.

For instance, why choose a wide-ranging topic like – Popular courses in 2020, as opposed to a specific and well-targeted topic like –Journalism in 2020, where the hosts can hash out all the aspects regarding the subject, giving an in-depth briefing to the attendees.

The more specific you are with your audience and subject the more targeted your marketing strategy will be. To make sure that your marketing strategy is a success it is imperative that you have a specific audience set and a strong topic.

 

Speakers:

The speaker of the webinar holds the power to enthrall or completely bore the audience. It is crucial to have a speaker host the webinar who has the strength of personality and credibility to hold the audience’s attention.

It is always a good idea to include professors and guest faculties specializing in a particular field of study.

You could have a unique topic, great content but what good does it do if it’s not presented in a systematic and engaging manner? Strictly following the script is a no-no! Having a natural demeanor is what will help the audience connect on a deeper level thus increasing the engagement ratio.

 

Compatible Tools:

Choose a platform for the webinar that provides a smooth sign-in and sign-out experience for the users. If this process is embedded with too many technicalities, there is a high chance that your prospective attendee will opt out of joining the webinar.

Adobe Connect, WebEx, ClickMeeting, are some of the popular webinar services. It is important to understand that getting a student to sign up for the webinar is all about ensuring that it is easy for them. Make sure that the process of signing up and logging in are as intuitive as possible for the audience.

 

Date & Time:

It is important to identify a date and time that is most important for your target audience. According to Livestorm, average time duration of a webinar conducted in the higher education industry is 40-60 minutes. If you feel like there is a lot of content to be stuffed in this time period, splitting the content in two different webinar sessions will not only hook your audience but also build credibility.

This image just gives a rough idea as to which days are popular for hosting a webinar, but does not necessarily mean that your audience will fit into that category. Google Analytics can come in handy here for you to check which day your website receives the most traffic and host your event accordingly.

Considering that universities have an international audience, conduct webinars at a time that is convenient for students across all time zones. Webinars are a great way to ensure you are reaching out to both parents and students, and if you are giving value, they are bound to engage with you.

Additional Practices:

To increase the interactivity on your webinar you can add several small things like short video presentations, polls, group chats etc. These practices will increase the engagement of the overall webinar.

If you feel that the speaker will not be in a position to answer all the questions, you could also have another individual on chat. It is important to field as many questions as you can during the webinar. To make the video as interactive and value-oriented for the audience is what will ensure you get the best possible leads from the same.

(Graph presenting the % of engagement features used in webinars – 2019)

 

BENEFITS OF HOSTING A WEBINAR

Webinars create a symbiotic relationship between the universities and the attendees, where both parties gain equally. A cost-effective solution for the education and marketing industry.

 

For Higher Education Marketers:

• Webinars are a great way to reach out to prospective students with information that they value, and thus generate
• It allows you to take charge of how your university/college/education institution is represented
• It creates a subtle marketing strategy where higher education marketers can lure prospective students/clients while promoting the brand name
• It is important to identify the best marketing channels for your webinar, this would largely depend upon the demographics of your audience
• Putting a face to the brand always helps prospective students and parents of these students invest more trust in the university
• Webinars can be recorded, which can be repurposed for blog posts or reference links to viewers who could not attend
• With the right marketing, webinars are a great lead generation tool and can give you high quality leads
• It is important that the registration and sign-up process for the webinar is simple and intuitive to attract maximum participation

 

For Students & Parents:

• Webinars are popular among students as they generate a pool of knowledge at their disposal
• Parents are also highly interested in face to face interaction as opposed to email conversations. This makes webinars a great way to share information with parents of prospective students
• These learning platforms are easily accessible and come with the luxury of recording the entire session thus eradicating the task of making instant notes.
• Webinars can help students get a better understanding of the courses and admission process of the universities they are hoping to study in
• They are a great way to help students and parents visit the college without really having to visit

 

WEBINAR MARKETING

Before starting a marketing campaign for your upcoming webinar, it is important to ensure that you have all the bases covered. Make sure you have kept these points in mind before embarking on a webinar campaign:

• According to a detailed report by DECK7, 2/3rds of webinar registrations happen 15-20 days before the set date of the event
• This promotional campaign should focus on receiving a good amount of registrations as not all the people who register turn out to be attendees. The desired number of registrations should be at least 3 times of your expected attendees
• Organic registrations are not as high as you might anticipate and paid promotion is necessary to get the right turnout

 

A solid webinar marketing campaign can be done in the following ways:

1. Optimized landing page: This landing page should contain all the information about the upcoming webinar. Along with date and time of the webinar, mention the intent of the webinar and a brief bio of the host
2. Emails: Emails are still considered as one of the best ways of reaching out to your target audience. Send out emails at least thrice before the actual event date, first at the time of registration, thanking them for their interest. A reminder email just a week before which is most likely to be saved in their calendars and lastly a day before with a link to the webinar Log in page
3. Social Media: Social media is what will ensure your event’s reach to the masses. Post detailed, attractive images on Instagram, Facebook and other handles. You can read more about how to leverage the power of social media here
4. Exit-intent pop up: Customize your exit-intent pop up with the upcoming webinar details
   
5. Blogs: Share link to the registration form on your recent blogs, directing your loyal readers to yet another knowledge bank
6. Google ads: Leverage the power Google to generate more traffic, read all about how Google can be used in promotions here

 

Webinar marketing has seen a massive upswing in the last year. With new technologies breaking through, it continues to rule the roost as one of the most effective long-term marketing techniques out there.

It is important to note that for higher education, leveraging webinars has become almost inescapable. For the year 2020, 42% of marketers are planning to include webinars, evidently this number is going to increase at a faster pace in the upcoming years.

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. 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. 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!

 

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.

 

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.

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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 28^th 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.