Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter—these are just a few of the tools EducationUSA advisers are using around the world to help international students learn about and connect with educational opportunities at U.S. universities and colleges. Even in the more remote and less populated areas, social media is playing a stronger role each day in making those connections. EducationUSA is a U.S. Department of State-supported network of more than four hundred advising centers in 170 countries around the world. Each year, EducationUSA advisers provide millions of international students with accurate, comprehensive, and current information about how to apply to U.S. colleges and universities. EducationUSA staff also work with U.S. higher education professionals to promote international student recruitment. Virtual outreach is a vital component to this endeavor. This report focuses on the successes of the EducationUSA network’s global virtual outreach in 2013, including a review of the most commonly used social media, video channels, and micro/ traditional blogs.

1. 2013 Virtual & Social Media Report

2. Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter—these are just
a few of the tools EducationUSA advisers are using
around the world to help international students learn
about and connect with educational opportunities
at U.S. universities and colleges. Even in the more
remote and less populated areas, social media is
playing a stronger role each day in making those
connections.
EducationUSA is a U.S. Department of Statesupported network of more than four hundred
advising centers in 170 countries around the world.
Each year, EducationUSA advisers provide millions of
international students with accurate, comprehensive,
and current information about how to apply to U.S.
colleges and universities. EducationUSA staff also
work with U.S. higher education professionals to
promote international student recruitment. Virtual
outreach is a vital component to this endeavor.
This report focuses on the successes of the
EducationUSA network’s global virtual outreach in
2013, including a review of the most commonly used
social media, video channels, and micro/ traditional
blogs.
Website:
Visitors
www.educationusa.state.gov
More than 107,000 unique visitors on average visited
the EducationUSA website each month in 2013.
With a cumulative total for 2013 of 1,291,507
unique visitors, website visits increased 60 percent
from 2012. Over two-thirds of the visitors were new
to the site, while about 30 percent were returning
visitors. Approximately 80 percent of total visits to
the EducationUSA site come from 227 countries
and territories. The additional 20 percent is from
U.S. traffic. More than half the website visitors came
through referrals from
other sites, primarily
New Visitor
Returning Visitor
Facebook. A quarter
of all visitors found
EducationUSA through
1,291,507
organic search terms via
Visitors
online search engines,
namely Google. Over
20 percent of visitors
came through direct
traffic.
Facebook:
Facebook.com/EducationUSA
In addition to being the largest single referral
source of traffic to the EducationUSA site, the global
EducationUSA Facebook page represents the most
active channel of the EducationUSA social media
platforms. In 2013, the EducationUSA page grew
over 60 percent, garnering 95,000 likes. Early in
2014, the EducationUSA Facebook page broke the
100,000 barrier
Likes:
end CY12
59,299
end CY13
95,019
Up
60.24%
Highlights/Most popular posts:
1. Keep Calm & Study in the USA: Playing off the
recent internet memes related to the “Keep Calm
and Carry On” phrase, this photo received the
highest number of individual “likes” this year (526),
the second largest number of shares (116), and
the most impressions (80,468).
2. What Do You Want to Study?: This post
received the most individual comments (243)
of any post this year. This post simply asked
a question regarding what the audience was
interested in studying. Posts similar to this that
ask questions on topics related to U.S. study,
particularly when accompanied by attractive
images or photos, engage users and in turn reach
a larger audience.
3. 3 Simple Rules: This post was shared more than
any other this past year (212 times). The post
provided simple advice on studying in the U.S.
Similar to questions posed in posts, guidance in
the form of tips or inspirational quotes also trend
higher as they engage the audience.
4. Happy Friday- Study in the United States!:
Recognizable American icons resonate with
the target audience, as demonstrated with
this message which generated 229 likes, 24
comments, and 27 shares.

3. YouTube:
Youtube.com/EducationUSATV
Video continues to be an important outlet to engage
EducationUSA students and U.S. higher education
audiences. Over the past year, video content was
viewed on the EducationUSA YouTube channel
nearly 64,000 times. Testimonies from students
currently studying in the U.S. and "how-to" advice
from advisers continue to resonate well with the
student audience.
end CY13
244,396
@EdUSAtips and @EdUSAupdates
EducationUSA has separate global Twitter feeds for
U.S. higher education and international student
audiences. The number of followers for both grew
over 50 percent in 2013, further expanding the
reach of posted content. Twitter also served as the
#10 referral source of traffic to the EducationUSA
website.
For U.S. Higher Education @EdUSATips
Total Video Views
end CY12
180,524
Twitter:
Up
35.28%
Highlights:
1. International Students
Choose the U.S.: Received
nearly 9,000 views in
2013, this compilation of
current international student
interviews received the most views in 2013.
2. Mobile app video release: In May, EducationUSA
released its first global app for potential students.
The accompanying video has driven significant
traffic to the mobile app itself with over 5,800
views.
EdUSAtips
CY12
CY13
% up
Followers
2,840
4,404
55.1%
4,037,580
6,135,349
52%
907
1,700
87.4
Total Impressions
Retweets/Mentions
Highlights:
1. Twitter postings from @EdUSAtips during the
EducationUSA Forum in Washington DC
(June 26-28, 2013), the showpiece event for
the U.S. higher education community and the
EducationUSA network, produced over 342,000
possible impressions, 81 retweets, and 49
mentions.
342,075
Potential
Impressions
71
Tweets
81
Retweets
5
Replies
44
+28
Favorites
Followers
49
Mentions
2. @EdUSAtips activity for International Education
Week (November 11-15, 2013) and the release
of the IIE Annual Open Doors Report elicited
61 retweets, 35 mentions, and 285,000 potential
impressions.
285,726
Potential
Impressions
43
Tweets
61
Retweets
6
Replies
14
+ 46
Favorites
Followers
35
Mentions
For Students @EdUSAupdates
3. Interview series: Early
in 2013, an adviser from
Mauritius and a consular
office from the U.S.
Embassy in Port Louis spoke
in a three-part interview
series accumulating over 1,500 views.
EdUSAupdates
CY12
CY13
% up
Followers
6,189
9,326
50.7%
5,784,898
10,464,231
81%
2,404
3,818
59%
Total Impressions
Retweets/Mentions

4. Highlights:
iTunes Podcasts
Similar to posts popular on EducationUSA’s
Facebook page, tweets with inspirational quotes
and images generated the most interest. Tweets
announcing virtual events, such as the EducationUSA
webinar series, also garnered a positive reaction.
1. Quote/Pic: Education is a gift that one can
take away - American proverb #EducationUSA
https://twitter.com/EdUSAupdates/
status/387551326055325696/photo/1
P 10 Retweets
: 1 Reply
k 41,848 Potential Impressions
2. Step 2 Webinar Series released:
#EducationUSA Presents Step 2 of the Your 5
Steps to U.S. Study Webinar Series #Your5Steps
http://www.educationusa.info/financialaid?view=135449
P 7 Retweets
: 0 Reply
k 64,162 Potential Impressions
Weekly Update stories
Each Monday, EducationUSA sends out a Weekly
Update newsletter featuring 8-10 campus news and
financial aid updates primarily from U.S. colleges and
universities, in a variety of formats (PDF, html e-mail,
and pre-packaged social media posts) to over 500
EducationUSA advisers who then redistribute those
stories to their student audiences. Each story includes
a link for more information that redirects interested
students to a page on the EducationUSA website.
In 2013, there were over 274,000 clicks through to
those pages.
end CY13
274,471
Mobile App Analytics
In May 2013, EducationUSA launched its first global
app for students. In the first seven months, the
app was downloaded more than 7,100 times in
127 countries. The app provides students access
to EducationUSA global social media feeds,
financial aid posts from U.S. colleges, center contact
information by country, the multi-lingual Ask-anAdviser survey, and FAQ service.
Users By Country
# Users
Country
# Users
1. United States
836
11. Peru
132
2. India
780
12. Mexico
128
3. Iraq
309
13. Israel
118
4. Yemen
244
14. China
94
5. Paraguay
235
15. Indonesia
90
6. Pakistan
216
16. Mongolia
83
7. Bangladesh
191
17. Tunisia
81
8. United Kingdom 190
18. Ecuador
80
188
19. Argentina
79
10. Saudi Arabia
Up
16.00%
Country
9. Brazil
Clicks on Weekly Update content
end CY12
236,770
For the past three years, EducationUSA has
conducted webinars for students that engage U.S.
higher education community members to explain the
various steps to U.S. study. To broaden the reach of
the EdUSA Connects series of “Your 5 Steps to
U.S. Study” webinars, EducationUSA records these
events and makes the podcasts available on iTunes.
The 90+ podcasts available were downloaded more
than 25,000 times, and were viewed over 168,000
times in 2013.
162
20. Egypt
75
Users By Platform
# Users
Native
3558
Webapp
3,000
2281
Since January 2013, the PDFs of the EducationUSA
Weekly Updates have been archived and made
available for download on Slideshare. That has
led to more than 38,000 additional views of Weekly
Update articles, placing EducationUSA Weekly
Update content in the top 1 percent most viewed on
SlideShare in 2013.
2,000
1,000
1079
218
0
iPhone iPad Android iPhone iPad
Android

5. EducationUSA Network Social Media Presence
Beyond the global social media work managed centrally in Washington, D.C., the EducationUSA network of
400+ centers in 170 countries have significantly expanded its social media presence in the last 12 months.
EducationUSA advisers now add content to 174 Facebook, 99 Twitter, and 41 YouTube pages. In addition to these
assets, EducationUSA advising centers have also begun to embrace blogs as an effective tool in reaching their
audiences.
Network properties
# 2012
# 2013
Quantifiable Measure
Increase over CY12
169 social network pages/groups
573,081
988,628
likes/members
92%
96 Twitter/microblog feeds
250,865
420,343
followers
70%
41 video channels
666,041
1,797,335
video views
172%
18 blogs
527,731
806,213
blog page views
63%
2,017,718
4,012,519
Total social media contacts:
98.9%
For the complete set of EducationUSA network social media platforms, follow this link.

6. EducationUSA Network By The Numbers
EducationUSA.state.gov Link Source
EducationUSA.state.gov Location of Visits
#
Source / Medium
6.58%
1
Google
Total Site
Visits in 2013:
1,586,104
306,344
5.52%
2
direct
338,024
21.31%
47,653
3.00%
3
facebook.com
78,440
4.95%
Russia
47,325
2.98%
4
travel.state.gov
45,646
2.88%
6
United Kingdom
46,053
2.90%
5
educationusa.org.br
29,670
1.87%
7
Pakistan
35,783
2.26%
6
educationusa.state.gov
17,732
1.12%
8
Colombia
32,307
2.04%
7
usnews.com
17,204
1.08%
9
Ukraine
31,676
2.00%
8
m.facebook.com
15,669
0.99%
10
Bangladesh
29,607
1.87%
9
ustraveldocs.com
15,641
0.99%
11
China
27,301
1.72%
13,976
0.88%
#
Total Visits
1,586,104
100%
1
United States
306,344
19.31%
2
India
104,356
3
Brazil
87,520
4
Mexico
5
10 studentaid.ed.gov
% of total
visits
25.38%
Top 10 EducationUSA-related Facebook pages in the network
Country
Host Organization
URL
# of fans, members
Global
EducationUSA
https://www.facebook.com/EducationUSA
95,890
Saudi Arabia
Embassy/Consulate
https://www.facebook.com/USEmbassyRiyadh
81,567
Egypt
EducationUSA
https://www.facebook.com/StudyUSAEgypt
73,782
India
EducationUSA
https://www.facebook.com/EducationUSADelhi
56,601
United Kingdom
Embassy/Consulate
https://www.facebook.com/uk.usembassy
31,562
Indonesia
EducationUSA
https://www.facebook.com/EducationUSAIndonesia
31,112
Pakistan
Fulbright
https://www.facebook.com/USEFP
29,715
Morocco
Embassy/Consulate
https://www.facebook.com/USEmbassyRabat
26,713
Turkey
Fulbright
https://www.facebook.com/FulbrightTurkiye
24,873
Nepal
EducationUSA
https://www.facebook.com/usef.nepal
19,729
Top 10 EducationUSA-related YouTube channels in the network
Country
Host Organization
URL
Video views
Belgium
Fulbright
http://www.youtube.com/fulbrightbe
462908
Japan
Embassy
http://www.youtube.com/user/usembassytokyo
409842
Global
EducationUSA
http://www.youtube.com/EducationUSATV
244396
Laos
Embassy
http://www.youtube.com/user/USEmbassyVientiane
214639
Iraq
Embassy
http://www.youtube.com/user/usembassybaghdad
87658
United Kingdom
Fulbright
https://www.youtube.com/USUKFulbright
73697
Japan
American Corner
http://www.youtube.com/user/FukuokaAmericaCenter
43509
France
Fulbright
http://www.youtube.com/user/ComFulbrightFR
38326
Brazil
IBEU
http://www.youtube.com/ibeurj
36907
Belarus
EducationUSA
http://www.youtube.com/advisingbelarus
33038

7. Top 10 EducationUSA-related Twitter feeds in the network
Country
Host Organization
URL
# followers
Indonesia
Embassy
https://twitter.com/usembassyjkt
127733
China
EducationUSA
http://weibo.com/educationusa
53188
South Africa
Embassy
https://twitter.com/USEmbassySA
32354
United Kingdom
Embassy
https://twitter.com/USAinUK
27210
Japan
Connect USA
https://twitter.com/USConnect
26382
Mexico
Embassy
https://twitter.com/USEmbassyMEX
23245
Uganda
Embassy
https://twitter.com/usmissionuganda
17667
Libya
Embassy
http://twitter.com/USAEmbassyLibya
13420
Global
EducationUSA
http://twitter.com/EdUSAupdates
9352
Madagascar
Embassy
https://twitter.com/USMadagascar
9136
Top 10 EducationUSA-related blogs in the network
Country
Host Organization
URL
# of blog page views
China
EducationUSA
http://blog.sina.com.cn/educationusachina
481,261
Japan
EducationUSA
http://blog.livedoor.jp/educationusa/
254,147
Mexico
EducationUSA
http://becaseducationusa.wordpress.com/
25,519
Macedonia
American Corner
http://americancornersmacedonia.blogspot.com/
12,431
Russia
EducationUSA
http://askanadviser.blogspot.ru/
11,471
Japan
Fulbright
http://fj-news.net
7,663
Australia
EducationUSA
http://educationusaperth.blogspot.com
6,601
Ukraine
EducationUSA
http://edusa-ukraine.livejournal.com/
3,356
Italy
Fulbright
http://fulbrightcommissionitaly.blogspot.com/
1,267
Japan
American Corner
http://irckansai.tumblr.com
1,267