The use of social media has evolved into an essential method for not only engaging with the people you are trying to reach but also producing high-quality leads. In general, the rate of conversions and engagement is greater on social media platforms because of the dynamic nature of these platforms.
Because user profiles include a wealth of information, it is much simpler to target qualified prospects in your marketing efforts directly. Rather than spending a significant portion of their time on organic marketing, enrollment marketers will find that it is far simpler to hunt for leads and sell their products to them.
Students may be approached directly by enrollment marketing teams so that they can promote their wares to them depending on their searches and interests. It’s important to have a higher education social media strategy these days. Let’s learn about the top examples of higher education institutions on social media.
Great Examples of Higher Education Institutions on Social Media
Building a social media presence is becoming more vital for educational institutions due to the increasing number of Generation Z students attending college.
- University of Iowa
For the last four years in a row, the Institution of Iowa has been named the best university in the United States for social involvement. Because of this, we had no choice but to put it on our list of the top social media examples for higher education.
Instagram and Twitter are two of the organisation’s most successful social media platforms; however, Facebook is where it really shines. Utilising prominent former students as spokespeople for the institution is a good marketing strategy. Teens are just as inclined to take advice from famous people, people they look up to, and personalities as they are to take advice from their family, friends, and news organisations.
Therefore, highlighting famous people who attended the institution in the past might be an extremely successful advertising method. The more you can do to encourage them to express to their followers how much they cherished their time spent in college, the better off you will be.
- James Madison University
According to RivalIQ, James Madison University in Virginia (also known as JMU) has the most followers on Instagram among universities and colleges.
The university specialises in artistic campus photos. However, the arrangement of the article is just as important as the photographs themselves in this regard.
In particular, JMU has a strong affinity for carousels on Instagram. After going through the 50 most recent Instagram posts made by the account, we found that 42 per cent of them were carousels. Comparatively, carousels were used in 34% of the 50 most recent posts from the University of Iowa, which RivalIQ ranked #1 overall and third for Instagram engagement. JMU is currently one of the best examples of higher education institutes on social media.
- University of South Carolina
TikTok still has a very low adoption rate among educational institutions in the United States, despite the fact that the app has approximately 85M users in the country.
The University of South Carolina is reportedly the seventh most popular institution in Higher Visibility, where it holds the position of number seven on the list of most popular universities. It is one of the schools that has established a significant presence on TikTok, making it one of the minority.
This is due to the fact that it takes some time to generate native content on TikTok that is relevant to its users. It follows one of the most trending higher education social media marketing strategies.
- Harvard University
As per BestColleges, Harvard University is the higher education school in the United States that has the most followers. The university has 6.5 million followers alone on Facebook.
The typical Facebook post made by the school receives close to 1,600 replies and 165 shares, indicating that it is succeeding at accomplishing something. The Institution publishes news and upcoming activities from all areas of the university on a regular basis.
A nice illustration of this can be seen in the post that they uploaded, which emphasises students from the class of 2026 when they were on their first day in university. At the time of writing, a simple collection of photographs had produced above 7,000 shares and 28,000 responses, proving the significance of having “boots on the ground” providing content whenever something significant occurs at your school.
- University of Nebraska
Figuring out the most effective method to present a particular region, state or city to potential students is a crucial part of the jigsaw that is the marketing of higher education.
Do you emphasise the wonderful opportunities to socialise? What are the past and the culture? The breathtaking natural beauty? The kind and welcoming demeanour showed to students? Or something entirely different?
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln decided to build an entire social content campaign rather than just mentioning this topic in a few throwaway pieces here and there.
In order to highlight the best that Nebraska has to offer, the Discover Nebraska series presents native Instagram videos with a crisp and eye-catching design, along with compelling images and appealing visuals.
Conclusion
This blog features a wide variety of social activities and initiatives undertaken by educational institutions of higher learning. Social media use is increasingly considered a common practice at educational institutions of higher learning. It is a strong communications tool that may be used by post-secondary schools of many types for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to student relations, recruiting fundraising, and crisis management.
Because of the diversity of these case studies, it is clear that there is no universal strategy for using social media in marketing for higher education. What works for you may not work for anybody else; it really relies on the audience and brand that you’re trying to connect with.
Because of this, it is beneficial to research what your audience wants and test out a variety of strategies to see which ones are effective.
