Website content, blog posts, social media, emails; there are so many avenues that colleges and universities can use to create digital content and communicate with their prospective audiences. This variety can be a blessing and a curse, depending on how you slice it. But either way, it can be a challenge.
We asked some of the colleges and universities that we work with what some of their biggest challenges are when it comes to creating digital content and here is what they had to say:
1. Reaching the RIGHT Audience
Prospective students, current students, alumni, parents, and staff; all of these are groups your school has to reach with digital content. Unfortunately, content for these groups is not one size fits all; they are going to want and need different things from their content. Make sure you have something for everyone and deliver it to them in a way that they will be receptive to.
Here is a quick example, let’s say your school has created a checklist to help students apply and you want to promote it to prospective students and their parents. Parents, who often check their email periodically throughout the day, might be receptive receiving information about the checklist in an email. Whereas, prospective students might be reached more effectively using a social media post; younger generations aren’t as receptive to receiving information via email.
2. Generational Gaps
“What are the kids into these days?” It’s a sentence that you may or may not have heard uttered in meetings where you are trying to figure out the best ways to reach and relate to prospective and current students.
While your marketing team might have years of experience, it can still be challenging to get inside the heads of the younger generation. The solution to this is simple! Hire a few student interns (or recent college grads) to help write blog posts about campus events and culture or manage social media accounts. They can provide a fresh perspective and an understanding of “what the kids are into.”
3. Striking a Balance Between Fun and Professional
This one is tough because you want to create content that is fun and fresh and will appeal to an 18-year-old but is professional enough to give parents (or even others in the education space) the sense that your school takes education seriously.
Compromise is key in this case. Keep your website professional, but still approachable to younger audiences and save the fun, whimsical things (like pop culture references and some types of campus culture stories) for social media.
Does your school struggle with similar challenges? Are you looking to ramp up your digital marketing efforts, but not sure where to start? We can help! Contact us today to get the conversation started.
