The majority of people visiting websites are usually just looking for more information and not ready to take the big leap yet. Whether your goal is to get more attendees to an open day or increase applications for a place at your school, content marketing has a huge role to play in helping you engage prospects and getting the conversions you want. We’ve rounded up 5 types of content to engage prospective students and parents which you can easily create and publish online.
1. Guides and templates
A great way to get email addresses is to create career guides or CV templates which students have to provide their email addresses in order to access. You can create downloadable guides or templates to help guide students’ futures. If parents and students see that you as a school are knowledgeable in this field, then this pushes them further along the funnel, and they will definitely want to hear more from you. Why not create specific guides or CVs depending on the career or subjects they are interested in? This is also a way to segment your email data, and depending on what subject areas they are interested in, you can then later create email content around this.
2. Testimonials
The number one way to give prospects a sense of what it would be like to attend your school is through current student/parent testimonials. Not only does it offer insight into the real student experience, but it can also help your school stand out amongst the competition, especially at a time where people make the majority of decisions based on reviews. Make it easy for people to leave their thoughts and comments – create your own hashtag or an email account where people can easily submit what they have to say. You can then share these on your social media and other channels.
3. School news
Showcasing your school’s news and achievements is a good way to keep your school at the top of mind. A newsletter is usually the best format for this, and you can create a few different types to send to your email list segments, depending on what they are interested in. For example, you can create newsletters by age group – one for your prep school and one for your senior school. You can include the latest updates such as sports team wins, school productions, academic achievements and more. Or you can create newsletters for developments and news in specific subjects such as an arts newsletter, or a sports newsletter – the possibilities are endless. To figure out what you should do, analyse your email data to see what kind of contacts you have and what they interact with most. This will give you a good idea of what content you should create for them.
4. Alumni achievements
Future pathways are very important for prospective families. They want to know how an education at your school will increase the chances of finding a job or getting into a good university. By providing stories of your successful alumni, segmented by industry, you can connect prospective students with those that have graduated and gone on to build admirable careers. Reach out to your alumni office and gather these stories for your blog and social campaigns on an annual basis. You could even create LinkedIn groups for your alumni and invite prospective students to join them so they can connect directly with graduates
5. Video content
The use of video content is increasing exponentially every year and people engage with it more than any other type of content out there – 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. And it’s not just humans that prefer video content – a website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes a video. Therefore if you really want to appeal to students and parents then video is the way forward! You probably already have so much written content you can use and easily turn into an engaging video. Repurposing already existing content is a good place to start – for example, the career guide you created previously can be made into a step-by-step video guide to finding the right career for you. Video projects can also be an opportunity to bring current students into the project too – imagine how impressive it would be to prospects if your video content is produced by your own students!
If you would like more professional tips on marketing your schools do get in touch with the Digithrive For School’s team who are always happy to help. contact us here