For the past decade, social media has become ubiquitous in marketing conversations in all industries. And the educational space is not exempt from these conversations.
Canada’s universities and schools are using social media to both communicate and market to students and alumni. Yet the overarching goal for these institutions is attracting students and funds.
Up until now, educational institutions have been able to use these tools for free. Communicating with their constituents was aided through cross promoting with email. And their audience are some of the heaviest users of social media.
Today the game has changed. Facebook and Twitter have long ceased to be free marketing tools for brands, companies and schools. With their heavy user bases, the two giants in North American social media are now media platforms that cost money to succeed in. Today, it’s pay to play.
On Facebook, if a school wants their audience to see their message in their personal newsfeed they now have to pay for this privilege. And that’s just for anyone to see their post! And if a brand wants their campaign to cut through the water hose of Twitter they will almost be forced to pay for various media products.
Understanding this, we will go through how universities and schools can best use Facebook and Twitter to better reach and communicate with students, alumni and potential students.