Using Instragram for Student Recruitment
The 18 to 23 year olds have massively left Facebook and are now mostly active on Instagram. And with over 130 million users Instagram has become a social media platform that colleges and universities can no longer ignore when it comes to marketing and student recruitment. But, like with other social media platforms, universities often start with broadcasting and publishing without having determined the strategy. How will student engagement be triggered? Who will be responsible for managing the account? What are the goals for using the platform? How will you gauge success?
It goes without saying that it is always wise to think about the answers to these questions before starting to use Instagram as a recruitment tool. Also, it is wise to look at institutions similar to yours are doing on Instagram. You will then find that some universities just publish photographs of their campus. Others are more creative and publish photos that show the university in a different light. An example is a university that publishes pictures of what goes on at the desks of the alumni Admissions office during the preparation of a large recruitment event. Universities that understand the interactive and social nature of Instagram, however, don’t just publish pictures, but try and motivate others to publish pictures using their hashtag. A great example is a college that promised a price for the most original picture taken by parents and friends during a graduation event. Obviously, contests are always a great way to trigger people to engage and create content.
When using Instagram for education marketing, it is important to realize that its power lays in its interactive and social nature. Challenge people to engage. So, don’t just publish pictures of your campus, but challenge students to pinpoint where exactly these pictures were taken. And on your alumni site you should not just publish the few old photographs you might have found in the archives, but challenge people to post their pictures of their studentship.
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