Campuses are closed, visits are cancelled, and your prospective students are bummed about the indefinite pause on their high school careers. As enrollment management leaders, you’re scrambling to find the best next steps. This is as tough as it gets. But there’s a few simple ways to engage with students now while you continue to develop your long-term game plan.
In the coming weeks, teenagers will be surfing their Instagram feeds eager for any and all consumable content. Now is the time to take advantage and push out as much content through your Instagram accounts as possible. Looking for inspiration? We’ve put together some quick things your school’s admissions and marketing teams can do now to engage with your prospective students.
1. Go live on your Instagram account to host a Q&A session or campus tour. Your Q&A can be general or have a specific focus like financial aid, life at University X, or even information about the surrounding area. Students can ask you questions in real time and get a sense of familiarity with staff they would have met while visiting campus. Market your Instagram Live video as you would an in-person admissions event, with a few traditional posts and mentions in your story in the days leading up to your scheduled live. Students and parents have dozens of questions during this time and will show up to hear what you have to say. Not to mention, Instagram algorithms favor accounts that get strong engagement during live videos.
2. Repurpose any campus tour videos or highlights from recent admissions events on your Instagram story and IGTV. This is a quick and simple way to engage with those students who have missed visits to your campus due to COVID-19. Pro Tip: If you don’t have one already, set up an IGTV Channel where you can post longer videos for students to consume. Unlike stories and traditional videos on your Instagram page, IGTV videos can be longer than 60 seconds and do not expire after 24 hours. IGTV operates as a platform within Instagram that helps to increase your engagement with users that have consumed similar content but may not have already engaged with your brand. Videos should include text and captions, as many viewers don’t use sound.
3. If you have videos that are shorter— we recommend 15 seconds or less— you can use these videos for advertising within the platform. If you can’t cut the video time, be sure to post the videos within any accepted student groups on Instagram or Facebook and boost your posts! Your audiences for boosted posts should include users that like your page, those users’ friends, as well as custom lists that include your inquiry and admitted student pools. It would also be beneficial to boost any posts regarding changes to your (altered) deposit deadlines or cancelled events and repost these to your story. Be sure you have updated your settings so users can reply with any questions they may have.
4. If you don’t already have one, create a highlight section on your Instagram account for campus videos and pictures. This allows for you to save Instagram stories and posts that would typically expire or move down your page to the top of your profile where users can access them instantly. Some other great highlight categories our clients are using on their Instagram accounts include student takeovers, move-in day highlights, admissions events, dorm tours, and university announcements.
5. Post to your Instagram story and ask current students to share what they’re doing while off campus. Create a fun hashtag and get your student leaders involved to get the ball rolling. Then, repost some of the best responses to your story. Yes, we know this might not directly engage your prospective students, but they want to know what your students are doing during this time, too! This is a perfect opportunity to give them an authentic look at their future campus community. If you really want to amp this up, make it a contest with the winner receiving something relevant in these times – like a Door Dash or Uber Eats gift card.
Keep in mind, these are uncharted waters for enrollment management professionals, students, and parents alike! Be sure your admissions staff, marketing department, and any agencies you work with are presenting a united front on social media. Get creative in your social outreach with students in the coming weeks and keep them engaged.
Students may not be visiting your campus this spring, but if you put the right content out there, they’ll certainly be visiting your Instagram page.
[1] https://help.instagram.com/292478487812558
[2] https://embedsocial.com/blog/instagram-igtv/
[3] https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/boost-social-media-posts