As the tendency of sourcing information online continues to rise with current aspiring college students, popular social media applications dominate their screen time. Realizing this as an opportunity, educational institutions have begun adapting. Rather than sticking to the status quo and offering information regarding curriculum, campus living and the like, these colleges have instead pivoted to creating content to be shared on these social media platforms. They have found success in creating informational themed bits to share on each of these platforms, which would otherwise have been shared by e-mail or some sort of physical form of literature. In creating targeted content for these students, colleges are able to prioritize video that details information that they know students will be enticed by. This is made even easier when colleges look to hire recent graduates of their school to come and create this content. Not only are these students more aligned with aspiring college students, but they also understand the information that they’re looking for: experiences throughout college, various educational information, social elements of campus, etc. Not only does this strengthen the authenticity of the content, but it also provides substance that a college recruiter or marketer might not have thought to include. While seemingly untraditional, adapting is necessary to continue creating connections between colleges and potential students. To learn more about the ways in which colleges are handling social media and thus influencing the college search process, please see the infographic included alongside this post.
