Digital Marketing for Educational Institutions
Current Scenario:
Now a day’s Nonprofit educational institutions such as schools & colleges are BUSINESSES and So many institutions face heavy competition to get enrollments particularly Engineering Colleges and Schools. Each institution and courses needed to be marketed to get enough admissions to stay in the race.
But the problem is that schools & colleges are still relying very heavily on traditional marketing such as TV ads, newspapers, direct mail, and billboards. They spent huge money on the low turnaround of admissions. They have no clue what to do next.
But in recent times there is one more marketing concept that has evolved in the world called “Digital Marketing” which may be the right tool for educational institutions. Let me brief about what is all about digital marketing.
Digital Marketing:
All the activities you do to reach out to your Target Audience using the Internet, mobile devices, social media, Website, search engines, and other channels are called Digital marketing.
Vital Digital tools for Marketing Educational Institutions
1. Website
Now a day’s usage of the internet in India is new normal, most of the people try to find the information from the internet before asking someone else for eg. People look out the google maps to locate any place before asking anyone else. Likewise, parents and students are started researching information regarding the courses and details of institutions across the world by google search. So the website is an integral part of their lifestyle. So it is inevitable to have a proper website for any educational institution.
While creating a Website, one should consider the following, any good website should have
1. Responsive – Access in Laptop, Tablet & mobile phone
2. Fast – It should be accessible anytime and fast
3. Appealing – Professional look and parents leave with a positive impression.
2. Search Engine Optimization & PPC Ads
Having a website doesn’t mean that you have reached your target audience, please note that your target audience comes to you only when they need your service otherwise they will be just a mute spectator. So Search Engine Optimization most important to help your website active and will be on top of the search when the parents search for information. Hence SEO should be done regularly by professionals while creating and maintaining the website.
PPC Ads will help EI to get your audience details such as Age, Gender, Locations, etc. Google Adwords and Facebook are the most effective platforms for Pay Per Click advertisement. You can advertise to parents at the very moment they are researching about education.
3. Mobile Marketing
The recent reports say that over 50 crore Indians are now using smartphones across the country. Apart from calling and messaging, most of them use the smartphone for research, purchase, banking, learning & connecting social media, etc. Hence mobile marketing enables educational institutions to reach the right audience with the right message. One can send anything like a message, video, Images to the target people about their services and organization very fast. The ROI is easily measurable and take corrective action and repeat it as when required.
4. Email Marketing
Emailing is handy when you want to touch with your alumni and parents with the newsletter, blogs, etc. Email newsletters are low-cost, communication tools in Digital Marketing. You can take a basic approach and send a weekly or monthly email newsletter to existing parents and students to stay in touch with them because they are our success stories and ready referrals.
5. Social Media Marketing
Last but not least, Social media marketing is a very effective digital marketing platform for educational institutions to easily connect with our target audience. SMM has encompasses Facebook, WhatsApp, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Linked-In, and many more, it can be used depending upon the location, type of audience and time, etc.
Let me give you some of the more effective platforms of SMM while considering geography like India & TN.
1. Facebook
Facebook is great for businesses and brands to create an online community and generate conversation. Facebook has over 32 Cr users in India. For the schools and colleges, it can be another communicating platform to provide information to parents, families, and students. Upload videos, post events, run polls, ask questions, and generally improve communications.
Hence Educational institutions should have a FB page to promote their courses. Facebook advertising has tremendous flexibility, and it could be used to advertise to prospective students and parents as per the target audience, Age, Gender & Location.
2. Youtube
Next to Google, Youtube is the widely used search engine platform across the world. YouTube in India has over 26.5 Cr monthly active users. It is a video sharing tool that allows users to watch videos posted by other users and upload videos of their own to promote their business, Youtube is an effective communication and promotional platform for Educational institution to promote their courses and facilities thru Youtube advertisement. This gives a positive impression among the students and parents.
3. WhatsApp
WhatsApp in India has over 40 Cr active users. WhatsApp is a messaging platform that uses your phone’s internet connection to send messages, images, files, and make voice calls. Other than normal WhatsApp it also has a business version, called WhatsApp Business. It enables educational institutions to remain connected with parents and students and can communicate with them in real-time.
4. Instagram
Instagram is a free photo and video sharing app that is very popular among students in India. People can upload photos or videos to their service and share them with their followers or with a select group of the target audience. This is becoming very famous in India. It has over 7 Cr people on Instagram in India. People between the ages of 18-24 are the largest age group for Instagram in India. While Educational institution promotes its courses and facilities in FB advertisement, which can be extended to Instagram audience as well. So, if the colleges want to influence their courses among students, then Instagram is highly recommended to reach out to the young audience.
5. Linked In
Linked In is mostly used by working professionals to connect with companies and fellow professionals. Educational institutions will have a fair chance to connect with alumni, students, and professional parents to improve its image and brand. Also give career guidance to their students, sometime to get an opportunity for placement activities by connecting with companies. The higher education colleges can promote their courses via Linked In that attract other student’s community to convert a target audience.
Other handy digital marketing & tools for Educational Institutions are …
Reputation Marketing
Blogging
Video Marketing and Many more
Best wishes for more enrollments…The Best way to do Digital Marketing is "Have an Expert Who can Deliver Result"