Dive Summary:
- Social community site The Student Room and consulting agency Communications Management conducted a study of current and prospective students in the U.K. and how they perceive universities' social media accounts influenced their school decisions.
- Although 65% of students surveyed reported using social media multiple times a day, less than 20% said they were influenced by university Twitter accounts and approximately 25% were influenced by university Facebook pages.
- In comparison, over 75% were influenced by schools' open days and 90% were influenced by schools' websites; 100% of universities surveyed reported increasing their social media activity while 50% cut back time and budget spent on traditional marketing.
- To see the full study results in an infographic, click here.
From the article:
Comments we received from students included, "they do not talk about the things we need to know" and "I don't find enough useful information that relates to me". This suggests that many universities are using social media to try and engage with too many stakeholder groups at once, and consequently not being tailored enough about the updates they are sending out.
The danger of using social media channels to push out any and all university messages run the risk of engaging with no one successfully. Universities should be looking at social media content as part of a wider immersive and rounded experience for prospective students, and should think about how much of the information they are pushing out is relevant to new or potential students.
