The role of an educational institution is not confined to imparting education and granting a degree, rather, it largely contributes to the overall growth of the students as individuals. Therefore, it leads to the formation of an everlasting bond between the student and institution, mentors and fellow students.
In this era, it is impossible for people to stay personally connected to each other and Social Media Optimization bridges the gaps irrespective of the physical distance between people. This medium is being extensively used by businesses, celebrities, NGOs and establishments from all walks of life to stay connected with the masses. Despite all the criticism and doubts surrounding this medium, it has been seen igniting several causes to high levels.
When it comes to educational institutions, social media campaigns are not just a necessity but are also convenient. The major chunk of the social hub is occupied by the youth and every educational institution is associated with a huge number of youngsters which may be current, prospective or former students. Therefore, finding people to initiate conversations would not be a challenge which in other cases is a tough stage.
Moreover, Social Media is not merely a platform for fun, it is fast progressing towards becoming a parameter for judging brands and establishments. Be it selection of a mobile phone or recruitment in a new organization, people tend to visit the Facebook page to figure out the nature of the entity. Similarly, students have also started to explore the Facebook pages of Universities, Colleges before taking admissions and the nature of content on your page is bound to affect the decision. Social Media marketing is also gaming prominence across the globe.
Why your institution should be on Social Media? The reasons are as following:
- Reputation: Even if you are not on social media, as a topic, you still are and it is better to be available for responding that to let conversations build on their own.
- The Buzz: Your social presence will act as an active community for updates, discussions, queries etc.
- Leverage Users: All the students at your institution are using Social Media and posts related to their University, College, Institute will help in generating conversations about your institution.
- Observing Trends: The response you get on an event, any sort of achievement or even on a guest lecture video will reveal to you what are the interest areas of students. This analysis can be used for framing activities, workshops etc.
- Word of Mouth: Any person belonging to the marketing realm would know the importance of word of mouth. Your active social presence will keep your institution’s name on top of minds which may result in recommendation and testimonials more often.
- Information Broadcast: The medium can be used for making announcements without much effort.
- Internal Boost: The institution can organize competitions between different departments as to who may get more social engagement ratio which will enhance performance and bring more enthusiasm.
- Brand Building: The criteria for selection of an educational institution includes the quality of education, exposure provided, mentors and several mother factors. All these aspects can reflect through the institution’s social presence and it will be a more credible form of information in terms of transparency.
E.g. an album with pictures of Indian students abroad and foreign students in India which has several likes and comments from those students will leave a stronger impact that simply writing on your website that you offer “International Exchange Programs”.
This might bring you down to a question.. “Being present on Social Media is fine but who will manage it? Well, to answer that, it is understandable that in case of a University or a College, the amount of information is going to be massive. The queries and responses would also be massive. The best way to deal with this is to hire a professional agency providing social media management services.”