As a higher ed marketer you face a unique challenge: transform an existing base of stakeholders into a group of raving fans. Your students, alumni, staff, and donors represent one of your greatest assets, but driving beneficial social engagement is not easy. Solving the engagement puzzle is core to your success.
Up&Up and Rival IQ have examined hundreds of thousands of social posts from hundreds of colleges and universities and identified the strategies most likely to deliver results.
16. More images & videos with posts
Don’t hide the content
More engagement with students
More humor and authenticity
Content is for them, not us
Take advantage of real world (or internet) events
Does your Monday morning conference room sound like this? More engagement…..
Or worst of all, let’s make our posts “go viral”- shudder.
Stats. Quality very similar,
Was it time of day? Single image vs. multiple?
Lower right image on a page that has 405K+ likes….
The answer? We talked to the head of social for the image with more engagement.
They paid for it. Promotion….
So there’s your answer. Want more engagement? Bust out your wallet. Good talk.
If only it was that easy!
Methodology
Opportunity- engagement in higher ed
“Back to school”
Small changes, big improvement- success story
Humor & authenticity
Small school, big engagement
Wrap-up
Brag on our client a bit
Background- CASE III Workshop- asked us to look at their social
Used Rival IQ, provided some high-level recommendations
Going through some reorganization and getting their strategies together
8 schools in their competitive landscape
Nearly last in engagement among big competitors
Looking through their Twitter feeds…
All the ow.ly….
Not many images.
Great image in the article, that they could have used….
Why do we not use humor and be authentic?
Because of fear….of ending up on a list of fails, or having to do damage control.
Humor is not a strategy.
It’s part of your authentic brand and content strategy.
Why be funny?
It works, it shows your personality.
Often, the most memorable campaigns & interactions are humorous.
For your target audience, it’s a golden opportunity.
Evangel- client, private Christian school
If they can get away with this humor, so can you :)
Always good to connect with students with a bit of humor
11 RTs, almost 80 favs
Baby steps….
Test the waters a bit with current students
Think lighthearted, not sarcastic…no sarcasm font on social media
Keep an eye on “Internet events” and what’s trending, and play off those events…makes it easier.
Dorm life, #collegeprobs…
Start with what’s familiar
Pay attention to your medium/platform when using humor.
Content is king but context is queen.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Tumblr- SURE!
LinkedIn? Press releases? Not so much.
Social all part of a smart content strategy
Example- Home page
Social all part of a smart content strategy
Example-#OMGSMC- from undergrad admissions page
Taking a bit of a risk, and it’s paid off. Imagine bringing that up in a board meeting….