Enrollment Managers: 3 Recommendations for Building an Influencer Marketing Campaign

According to the Digital Marketing Institute, half of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, and 40 percent have made a purchase after seeing a product on social media. 

Students, like consumers, are looking for authentic reviews of what it’s like to attend a particular institution, and they're searching for current student accounts to learn more. In response, more higher education institutions are enlisting their students to be social media ambassadors. As a graduate student completing Northwestern University's Master of Science in Higher Education Administration and Policy and an admissions and financial aid professional, I have found two pieces of content that provide great insight into influencer marketing campaigns in higher education.  

In her Chronicle of Higher Education article “Colleges Find a Low-Cost Marketing Tool: Social-Media Influencers” author Grace Elletson highlights how influencer marketing campaigns are being used by a few dozen institutions around the country. She highlights an influencer-produced video series from the University of Central Florida, as one example, with student ambassadors providing advice to prospective students on the campus' best study spots and how to best transition to college. Elletson discusses how some campuses are leveraging their students' current social media following - a key player behind the "Campus Knights" video series is Sonali Prabhu, a student who entered UCF with 10,000 YouTube subscribers to her channel.

Photo by Rowen Smith on unsplash.com

Megan Rolfs recently launched the second iteration of #YourRedbirdLife, a social media influencer campaign, at Illinois State University. She discusses the challenges of launching the program, how students are compensated and the results of her program in Episode #100 of HelixEducation’s “Enrollment Growth University: Higher Education” podcast. As the director of marketing and communications for the student affairs division at Illinois State, Megan leverages influencers to spread the news of her division on campus. While some colleges offer swag or special perks as compensation for student influencers, Illinois State pays students for five hours a week. The school also requires students to produce a report on their social media activity and to sign an agreement outlining their expected social media conduct.

For higher education institutions considering launching their own influencer marketing campaigns, I would suggest three recommendations.

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•       Address Your Gaps - When choosing a diverse group of influencers, consider which audiences you’re not currently reaching, and strategically choose students who help you address those gaps.
•           Set Expectations - Now that you have your influencing team in place, clearly communicate what you expect of them, and compensate them to maintain their buy-in.
•           Let Authenticity Reign - Give your influencers guidelines, but lean into your students’ authentic voices.

If you’re thinking of taking the plunge and starting your own influencer marketing campaign, keep these three recommendations in mind to better structure your program.

Melissa Sersland is the associate director of graduate admissions and financial aid at Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. She holds a bachelor's and master's degree in journalism from Northwestern. She is also completing a master's in Higher Education Administration and Policy from Northwestern. Melissa enjoys leveraging her journalism background to help higher education institutions more effectively communicate and engage their audiences.   

Higher Ed Marketers: Simmering Social Media Content Keeps Students Returning for Seconds

As a higher ed marketer, you’re constantly searching for better ways to reach and engage prospective students. No doubt that search has you redirecting more and more of your marketing efforts online, where the “digital natives” spend most of their time, and toward social media campaigns. As a graduate student of marketing at Northwestern University’s Medill School, I came across two articles that can help strengthen your social media content marketing strategy.

In Marketing Profs’ “A Seven-Item Checklist for Measurable Marketing in the Digital Age,” writer Grant A. Johnson argues that most of our digital marketing efforts are measurable. Among my favorites on his checklist: establish trust from the start (without trust, students won't take action and you won't have a lot to measure); harness the power of segmentation (all students are not the same; don't reach out to them as one mass audience); and test, adjust in real time and test again (copy tests, A/B split testing, landing page tests, etc.)

Johnson's remarks about establishing trust resonated with me most. Trust sets the stage for measurable marketing, and he points out that consumer skepticism online is a growing challenge for marketers. In the student recruitment world, we certainly know that's true. Prospective students won't click, view, open or share our content just because they can, or because our universities ask them to. The initial allure of a student flashmob video on YouTube or an artfully filtered Instagram of the campus Quad isn't going to be enough to sustain an ongoing conversation, because it does nothing to build trust. As Johnson notes, “clickthroughs rarely matter; it’s the conversions that count.” That's where compelling content comes in, focused around your audience’s needs and motivations. What is the most pressing problem your prospective students are facing, and how can you serve as a resource in helping them solve it? 
 

Image courtesy of intead.com

In “How to Strengthen Your Social Media Content Marketing Strategy,” Small Business Trends’ writer William Johnson suggests a successful social media campaign is “not just about increasing fans, friends or follower counts. Instead, he says, you should be focused on finding mutual benefits for you and your social media followers to stimulate an ongoing conversation instead of a one-off response. Johnson suggests embracing your audience as active participants in your content creation process. When your social media followers become co-creators in the conversation, they naturally becomes invested in the conversation, and in the long-term, your brand.

Based on my own experience in higher education marketing and my review of these two articles, here are three recommendations you can use to jumpstart your own social media content strategy:

1. Show students this is about them, not you. Elevate the conversation beyond your university as their “perfect fit.” Zone in on their pain points, and show how your campus can help fix them. Build trust by connecting students to the resources they are seeking, including those not offered by your university, such as relevant content that you curate from third-party experts. Delivering a broader level of value goes a long way in demonstrating your credibility and inspiring students to take the next step in the enrollment funnel.

2. Focus on the student journey, and be the guide. The college admission process can be confusing, frustrating and incredibly stressful. Your university has the inside track to help students navigate through it. Why not use your position to develop high-quality, emotionally compelling content that empowers students? Host a weekly webinar on Twitter or Google Hangouts that give students practical, straight-forward tips for approaching the next stage in their college search, whether it’s explaining how financial aid works or how to make the most out of a college tour. Your students are your best ambassadors, but pairing them with an authoritative figure on the subject is another way to build trust (especially with counselors or parents or prospective students).

3. Give the admission process a note of levity on occasion. Humor, when used appropriately, can show that your university has a “top-ranked” personality to match its prestige and world-renowned academics. That could take the form of a BuzzFeed-type quiz that students can take to identify which college environment best matches their personality, or a countdown series of Instagram images showing the most unusual places on your college campus.

It’s important to think beyond capturing immediate buzz to how your ongoing social media content tells your university’s story and supports its business objective of nurturing prospective relationships and generating new leads. What is your social media strategy doing to drive prospective students beyond the click-through to the next step in your enrollment funnel?


Kristin Burns is a marketing communications professional with 16 years of experience, primarily in higher education marketing. She specializes in strategic communications, content marketing and youth marketing. Kristin is a pursuing a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University’s Medill School. Connect with her on Twitter (@aggiefan) and LinkedIn.