As the content marketing landscape for 2022 becomes increasingly complex, it becomes more challenging for higher education marketing professionals to develop successful campaigns that attract current and prospective students through content.

With growing competition from local and foreign institutions, your school must prioritise quality content marketing to navigate this space and appeal to your audiences.

With that being said, here are 5 ways to improve the quality of your higher education content marketing to communicate a stronger brand for your institution in the competitive market.

1. Enhance your website experience

In today's digital age, owning a website is a necessity for institutions as the majority of prospective students will make a visit to your website before making a decision. Simply put, your website will be the center of your institution's online presence.

The quality of the website impacts results as it often forms the first impressions of your school and visitors will decide to initiate further contact or look somewhere else based on their website experience.

As an institute of higher education, your website should be a one-stop information centre that's easy to navigate and contains the information prospective students need to know about your campus. When visitors like what they see and are able to satisfy their curiosity, it leaves a good first impression for your institution.

To ensure a good website experience, your website should:

1. Be well organised

2. Be easy to use

3. Be content relevant

4. Be informative

5. Feature clear call to actions

Always keep in mind that your website is one of your best recruitment tools and a great website experience will reflect well upon your institution's image which leads to increasing  student enrolments.

2. Implement SEO strategy

A common mistake made by many higher education institutes is neglecting the importance of  Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in their content marketing initiatives. 

SEO is extremely important for all web content as it is the key factor to ensure your content can be found organically on the web. It is a powerful tool to increase the quantity and quality of traffic to your website which increases your school’s visibility online and gives you more opportunities to convert prospects into students.

Follow these 5 SEO best practices to be found by your audience:

1. Research and incorporate keywords into your content

2. Use effective titles and headings

3. Write strong and relevant meta descriptions

4. Design a user-friendly website

5. Improve site speed

When executed correctly, you can expect more traffic to your website and drive more prospects to engage with your school.

3. Set up a blog portal

Blogging is one of the most neglected content marketing strategies in higher education. When utilised properly, it can drive website traffic, boost your SEO, increase your institution’s online presence, and build trust with your prospects. 

Your blog should revolve around topics that resonate with prospective and current students in your institution.

Here are a few examples of blog titles to inspire you:

1. “What careers can I pursue with an MBA degree?”

2. “10 Career Paths You Can Pursue With an MBA.”

3. “10 Fun Facts about (School's Name)"

4. “7 Tips to prepare for starting university"

5. “10 Pieces of Career Advice From Alumni"

6.  “10 Reasons to Pursue Your MBA in (School's Name)"

Start to write compelling blog posts and you will be on your way to attract new students while engaging in useful conversations with the existing ones.

4. Use video contents to appeal

If you haven't already noticed, video plays a big part in your marketing strategy and it is now more important than ever with the rise of COVID-19 pandemic.

Video marketing strategies are one of the best ways to promote your institution's courses, services, and information among target audiences.

Video is undeniably a powerful way for you to spread your institution’s message in a way that is easily accessible to a large audience. Furthermore, implementing video content strategies has never been easier with the aid of current technology. So what is stopping you from planning your next video content? 

Here are some types of effective video categories for higher education:

1. Brand Advertisements

2. Testimonials - Student, Alumni, Faculty

3. Student/ Teacher Vlogs

4. Campus Tours

5. Event Coverage

Creating relevant and high quality videos is essential for marketers to reach out to prospects. If video is not yet part of your content strategy, you should consider experimenting with a couple of projects.

5. Showcase Student Testimonials

Ask yourself which school you are more likely to apply for, the one with almost 0 reviews or the one with hundreds and thousands of great reviews? The answer is obvious.

Student testimonials can help prospective students gain trust in your institution and add credibility to your school. In today's higher education landscape where reputation and credibility are everything, student testimonials can be really helpful in aiding prospective students in making the final decision to pursue their education in your institution.

Here are some tips on how to gather and showcase your compelling testimonials:

1. Engage current students and alumni to share their campus experience and study/career tips

2. Choose interviewees whom the audiences can relate to and aspire to emulate

3. Implement your testimonials in different media forms (Website, blog, social media, videos etc)

Start creating your content marketing strategy by following the suggestions above

Whether you are raising awareness for your institution, launching a new program, or attracting new students, content marketing can help.

By following the suggestions above and getting your basics right, you can be assured of better content marketing results.

Can’t wait to create an effective content marketing strategy but not sure how? Fret not, clickTRUE's team of marketing experts are here to guide you.

Schedule a 30 mins 1-1 consultation with us today!