Innovative Higher Education Marketing Trends

The higher education world is morphing into a completely new space. Universities have to market themselves differently in 2018 to an ever-increasing and diverse student base due to the ever-changing nature of modern technology.  Successful branding and marketing have become increasingly important activities for institutions. It can help with increasing enrolment, expanding fundraising capabilities, and other outcomes. Here are some innovative higher education marketing trends that are incredibly effective for universities that are trying to increase enrolment in 2018.

Video                                           

It’s a no-brainer that you want to place marketing materials where your target audience will see them. 45% of people watch more than an hour of video on Facebook or YouTube every single week. This makes video higher education marketing incredibly effective.  Videos need not cost lots to produce either, these days you can put together excellent footage using just a simple Smartphone. As a matter of fact, marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users. It’s also important that video is shot with a mobile screen size in mind as 90% of Twitter video views and 60% of YouTube views are from users on mobile devices.

Influencers

Influencer marketing is a huge deal at the moment. By finding their potential influencers, universities can leverage influencer marketing and recruit them to produce and promote relevant content. Influencer marketing is an amped up version of word of mouth marketing with already having access to a substantial number of viewers. But this doesn’t refer to getting household name celebrities to promote your product to their millions of adoring fans. According to a survey the consumers are 30% more likely to buy a product recommended by a non-celebrity blogger as they can relate to them and thus value their opinion more. Influencers marketing is said to generate 11 times the return on investment of traditional digital marketing.

Social media

It is estimated that a billion people use social media. Having a robust social media presence for higher education is going to be a priority in 2018. Many universities have implemented this strategy in recent years, and it’s expected that even more universities will begin using social media marketing in 2018. Potential college students - Gen Z and millennials alike - maintain an almost constant presence on more than one social platform. Multi-channel marketing campaigns are the way forward but, more than anything, higher education institutions need to get creative if they want to stand out. The marketing department will also need to stay on top of any new social trends that rise.

Mobile

The one thing that most students never forget is their smartphones.  You are most unlikely to find a student who isn’t glued to his/her smartphone.  25% of millennials look at their phone more than 100 times a day and 50% of them check it at least 50 times a day. This means that you need to be implementing your marketing strategies on mobile before desktop if you want to reach prospects where they’re most comfortable. So, instead of simply rolling out a multi-channel campaign, you need to carefully consider how it will look on mobile and tweak to optimise. This could translate to simpler designs that are tap and swipe-friendly. Research has also shown that three-quarters of millennials reported making purchases from their handheld devices, while 49% of average smartphone users on campus have acted on an ad they’d come across on their mobile.