4 steps for using social to recruit college students

4 Steps for Using Social to Recruit College Students

A Guide for Higher Education Marketing

and Admissions Professionals

Structure your admissions team for social media success.

Build a steady following of eligible prospective students.

Create and share content that nurtures interest.

Facilitate a social media friendly application process.

4 STEPS FOR USING SOCIAL TO RECRUIT COLLEGE STUDENTS

01

Two-thirds of high school students say that social media

conversations influence their decision on where to enroll in

college.1 So if you’re not actively fostering communication and

joining the conversation, you’re missing out.

Whether your university is big or small, private or public, liberal

arts focused or research driven, it’s critical to attract the attention

of college-bound students, who will be doling out—on

average—more than $100,000 when all is said and done.2

The investment on your end is high as well. As a division of the

university that is beholden to some very clear targets, you

understand it pays to think like a business—one that needs new

customers every single semester. Like any smart business, a

clearly defined social media strategy is essential to your e�orts.

Introduction

This guide o�ers four steps to help you find the right students and

nurture them throughout the entire college admissions process:

1 http://www.uversity.com/downloads/presentations/2014-Social-Admissions-Report-Webinar.pdf

2 https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/misc/trends/

2014-trends-college-pricing-report-final.pdf

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Structure Your Admissions Team for Social Media Success

Is your university’s communications team doing the lion’s share of social

posting? That’s a good start for general awareness building and

continued engagement from a broad perspective, but you’ll likely

discover language that isn’t speaking directly to prospective students.

The solution: Build your admissions team a social presence of its own

across platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram; even Pinterest).

Bottom line

Segmenting school profiles by audiences

and planned social communication activities is key.

Don’t sell yourself short either by thinking that only the biggest

universities need a designated social media presence for their

admissions sta�. In fact, according to Sprout Social’s Discovery Smart

Search feature, more than 900 Twitter handles around the US are geared

toward “college admissions.”

Once you’ve picked the right platforms and created accounts for the

admissions team, make sure everyone understands the objectives. Get

your sta� set up with access to your pages and social management tool,

and train them thoroughly. Sprout o�ers front-end training and ongoing

webinars to make things easier. Then, encourage active participation.

Many universities build social metrics into their admissions sta�’s

performance evaluations. Sprout’s Reports tool provides neatly

consolidated data to help.


http://sproutsocial.com/features/social-media-analytics

http://sproutsocial.com/features/social-media-monitoring



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Now that you have built a social environment

where prospective students can engage and

you have thought through how your team will

interact with them, it’s time to build a

community of strong leads. Here’s how:

Discover who is reaching out to your school.

Find out who is already reaching out to your

school on social media by doing some quick

searches for your name—bonus points if those

students are already reaching out to the school’s

main channels with questions on the application

process. Moving forward, you can have the team

running your university’s main brand channels

refer prospective students to your new admissions

handles. Sprout’s Tasks feature makes this

process easy.

Monitor social media for school mentions.

People discussing you on social won’t always tag

you in their posts. That’s why it’s a good idea to

monitor for when your school isn’t mentioned

directly on your page. For example, your

admissions team could also monitor for phrases

such as “applying to NYU,” “Northwestern

admissions” or “UCLA acceptance rates.” These

would be interested people with whom your team

should foster relationships. Keyword monitoring in

Sprout makes this process e�cient.

Monitor social for “brand adjacent” and

education category phrases.

How about prospective students who are

undecided about even attending college? With

intent to act, these are important relationships to

build. The prospects may not mention your school

by name (or even any school by name), but they’re

talking around the category. Try monitoring social

media for keywords such as “best colleges,” “best

schools applications,” “great universities to attend”

and other brand adjacent phrases that are typical

of people starting the college selection process.

Build a Steady Following of Eligible Prospective Students


http://sproutsocial.com/features/team-collaboration

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Create and Share Content that Nurtures InterestEvery university boasts unique characteristics; make sure you’re

showcasing yours across your social platforms. Use media—images,

infographics, videos and testimonials—to create interesting, useful

content that will aid in the decision-making process.

Do you have a beautiful campus?

Show it o� through pictures of storied buildings,

handsome statues and secret study spots that

students will have the joy of experiencing.

Have you been featured in the press?

Share articles about your school and alumni that will

draw applicants into your world.

UWMadison Admissions@UW_Admissions

#UWFall is a great time to be on campus. Have you signed up for a visit yet? admissions.wisc.edu/visitbucky/#future-badgers

Impressive young alumni getting deserved recognition in Forbes for their innovative app. @BCAlumniforbes.com/pictures/eimi4...

BC Admission@BC_Admission

3 http://wommapedia.org/#section2

05


A recent report from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association shows

that 81 percent of US consumers are influenced by their friend’s social

media recommendations. Take advantage of user-generated content to

shape your story. Retweet and share posts that have a positive message

about your university. If someone posts about being accepted to your

college, why not retweet it for all to see?

Are you known for your sports program?

Highlight recent box scores, pictures of your team in action or tailgating videos.

An unforgettable game! @PackMensBball wins against No. 2 Duke! #STATEment #tradition #gopack

NC State Admissions@applyncstate

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Facilitate a Social Media Friendly Application ProcessAll your social media e�orts will be in vain if it isn’t easy to apply. To

ensure prospective students understand what next step to take, include

a link to your admissions website in your social media profile and call

attention to this link frequently around application deadlines.

Furthermore, consider the life cycle of prospective students as they

interact with your school—what information is needed at each stage?

• Inquiry

• Application

• Admission

• Enrollment

On the following pages are some best practices to drive action

throughout the admissions process.

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Only 10 days left to apply! Don’t forget! colorado.edu/admissions/und...#ApplyCUBoulder #CUBoulder

CU Admissions@mycuboulder

Join us in January to get all your admissions questions answered! #OhioStateChat

FutureBuckeyes@futurebuckeyes

Host live chats.

Set aside regular times to host live Twitter or

Facebook chats with interested students. It’s best to

plan topics and announce themes in advance so that

students come prepared and you are able to guide

the conversation.

Coach the students.

Social media allows prospective students to interact

in real time with admissions representatives. The

experience you create here, like the one you provide

in person, should be welcoming. If students feel

overwhelmed in any way, they may opt out of your

social media all together and, with it, the application

process.

Create a sense of urgency.

Let’s face it, high school students may not have the

most developed time-management skills. Frequent

deadline reminders will encourage them to plan

ahead, manage the process and submit their materials

on time. Consider it a crash course in college itself.

Distribute FAQ documents and resources.

Social media runs 24/7. Your team, however, does not

(though sometimes it might feel that way). Post

documents on your social channels that answer

common questions about the admissions process.

Self-service tools can be more e�cient for

prospective students and of great relief to your team.

08


The decision on where to attend college is both practical and

emotional. Perhaps the student is interested in one of your

academic programs. Maybe the student’s parents went to your

school. Or it could be that the student has an a�nity for your

sports team. The more you highlight these assets while delivering

necessary information around dates and deadlines, the more likely

you are to bring in the right students at the right time.

As students gear up to make that big decision, and you work to

shape the ideal freshmen class, make sure you’re providing an

exceptional social experience—on campus as well as online.

Final Review

Sprout Social provides social media engagement, publishing

and analytics tools for leaders in higher education, including

Marquette University, Oklahoma State University, Seneca

College, The Wharton School of Business at University of

Pennsylvania and Yale University. A powerful platform for

communication, Sprout enables colleges and universities to

more e�ectively manage their channels, collaborate across

teams and o�er an exceptional student and alumni experience.

Headquartered in Chicago, Sprout is a Twitter Certified

Product, Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer and

Google+ Pages API Partner.

sproutsocial.com

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