Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-

Generated Content

Slide 1

Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With

Student-Generated Content

Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-

Generated Content

Slide 2

1) Student Generated Content

2) Encourage Social Media Engagement

3) Student-Generated Content Strategy

4) Keep It Real

5) Control and Measure

Overview

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-Generated Content

Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-

Generated Content

Slide 3

This generation has become wary of the carefully crafted

slogans and phrases that colleges attach to their brands,

which eventually begin to sound indistinguishable for

prospective students overwhelmed by an abundance of

options.

They want to hear from "authentic voices" they can trust.

Fortunately, you can probably hear some of these voices around you

right now - it's easier than ever for your students to serve as online

ambassadors for your school.

There are many avenues to improving content strategy and

development, as touched on in previous blogs, but who

better to sell your school online than those presently

experiencing it?

1. Student Generated Content

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-Generated Content

Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-

Generated Content

Slide 4

Leveraging social media marketing by providing easy access

to your various channels on your website, encourages

students and faculty to upload content that expands your

reach.

It isn't enough to simply have a Facebook page.

Regularly updated student or graduate success stories, trivia

questions, photos, videos and contests increase engagement while

enhancing SEO for schools.

Images are increasingly popular, and adding contextual text

encourages students to add their responses.

Example: Concordia University has a solid social media presence

and its website makes it easy for staff and students to contribute.

2. Encourage Social Media Engagement

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-Generated Content

Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-

Generated Content

Slide 5

Integrating photos, videos, podcasts, tweets, blog posts and

more into your communications takes some strategy.

Students have their own priorities and schedules, and require some

direction and management if they are to provide consistent, relevant,

valuable content.

You may already know some campus organization leaders, student

ambassadors and insightful bloggers to get started, or else you can

ask for samples and interview some candidates.

Set clear expectations regarding roles and responsibilities, and

establish a workflow that simplifies the process.

Provide school resources to get the job done, including perhaps

medium-level access to administrative tools, ensuring there are

some controls in place before making content "live" to the public.

3. Student-Generated Content Strategy

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-Generated Content

Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-

Generated Content

Slide 6

Leveraging peer-to-peer marketing to integrate your brand

into the college lifestyle can't be too heavy handed.

Students will want to contribute to promoting a positive

image of their school because it's fun and a great

opportunity to experiment with artistic and journalistic

ventures.

Graduate assistants, faculty members and alumni can also

be valuable sources of content.

Once you create the channels, there is unlimited potential for

weaving together a complete and authentic picture of

student life.

4. Keep It Real

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-Generated Content

Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-

Generated Content

Slide 7

Every piece of content created about your organization is

automatically indexed by search engines, increasing the

likelihood of being ranked first on Google and others.

Blogs directly posted to your website with links to videos or other

content can initiate dialogues, increasing link building, re-tweets and

other sharing.

Don't forget to share your fresh, keyword-rich content on your other

social media platforms for optimal exposure.

Social sharing can even make some content "go viral" and amass

millions of views within a short time.

Content is the fuel that drives engagement, keeping students and

prospects coming back while all the time helping your SEO.

You need to listen to what they want to hear!

5. Control and Measure

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-Generated Content

Leveraging Your Authentic Voice With Student-

Generated Content

Slide 8

Questions? 1.514.312.3968

info@higher-education-marketing.com

Visit our Website: Higher Education Marketing

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