From classic academic and research universities to private education institutions and online universities that have sprung up recently to offer alternative pathways to education, the higher education industry today has found itself in a highly competitive and crowded space. In this day and age, every organization (not just higher education) is fighting for attention. Every organization is fighting for eyeballs.
Over the years, we’ve worked with higher education institutions from community colleges to top tier universities. The way that universities communicate with potential applicants is changing. One of their major challenges is how to take the rich, in-classroom, on-campus, and now-increasingly-digital learning environment and make it accessible, meaningful, and relevant to these institutions’ broader constituents. This is where content marketing for higher ed comes into play.
“Content marketing” is a popular buzzword these days, but many organizations are unclear on its value. Simply put, content marketing for higher education is content (not just text-based articles but videos, podcasts, infographics, etc.) that educates and informs, and unlike content created by news media and traditional publishers, it is created primarily for marketing purposes.
Savvy content marketing for higher education can be used to demonstrate expertise and highlight what separates you from competitors. It is becoming increasingly important for universities and business school’s to develop an online presence, with a study conducted by Google and market analysts suggesting that nine in ten students use the internet to research their desired study destination.
Here are some effective ways through which we will generate attention online and, ultimately, boost enrollment numbers through content marketing for higher education:
- Before trying to deliver a consistent, compelling and relevant experience through content, we will make sure that your organization is set up for success with a unified content creation process.
- We never underestimate the value of infographics – they are three times more likely to be shared on social media than any other content type. We will create infographics and optimize it for SEO. An infographic that breaks information down in a more digestible way and is eye-catching. For those who don’t want to read a text article, an infographic does the job nicely.
- Although social media content is important, university websites are more important than social media posts. And online, attention spans are short – really short – so we will make sure every single page serves your organisation and your users. Your website has the potential to be your best recruitment tool. It’s key purpose is to help people navigate your institution and find information, so we will make this easy and give a great user experience.
- Blogs are often neglected in content marketing for higher education, but we will do it right and they will drive traffic to your site, boost your SEO and increase your online presence. We will figure out what students’ burning questions are and blog the answers.
Along with this, we can help you with content marketing for higher education in many other ways. So far we’ve helped hundreds of institutions who were producing content across multiple systems, with lots of stakeholders, to make their content operations more efficient and produce high-quality content, consistently.