Higher Education Content Marketing: 5 Tips for Creating Content

If so, higher education content marketing is a great strategy to help you get there.

With higher education content marketing, you can create blog posts, videos, and more, to draw in prospects and encourage them to consider your university.

On this page, we’ll provide you with three reasons why you want to invest in content marketing and four tips for implementing higher education content marketing successfully.

If you need help getting started with creating a content marketing strategy, contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist.

Why use content marketing for higher education

Content marketing is one of the most impactful digital marketing strategies for higher education institutions. Here are three reasons you’ll want to invest in content marketing for higher education.

1. It helps you rank in search results, so more prospects find your institution

At the beginning of the college search, many candidates will rely on search engines to help them learn about the college process and discover schools that offer programs of interest. As they search for different types of information, like how to finance college, for example, you can provide them with that information.

When you create content and provide valuable information, you drive traffic to your site. As your prospects read the content or watch a video, it increases dwell time. Both metrics send a positive signal to Google that your pages are relevant to users.

As a result, you rank higher in search results. When you rank higher in search results, you continue to drive more traffic to your page. This increase in traffic leads to more prospects finding your institution, reading your information, and learning about your programs.

Additionally, content marketing allows you to drive traffic from multiple angles. You can drive traffic if people are looking for information about funding college, choosing a major, and more — so long as you provide that information.

This means that you don’t have to rely solely on users searching specifically for your college, but you can attract them to your site with other beneficial information that they’re interested in learning.

2. It enables you to build a positive brand image for your higher education institution

Content marketing allows you to create a positive brand image for your college. When you invest in content marketing, you share valuable information with your audience.

As a result, they see your institution as an authority. They trust the information you’re sharing is accurate and rely on it to answer questions they might have about the college experience.

When your content shows up in search results, they might not even realize that they’re visiting a collegiate website — but when they find out, they’ll consider you an authority in your industry.

These leads will become familiar with your brand image, and because you provided helpful information, they will see your brand in a positive light.

3. Your prospects want content

So, why should you invest in higher education content marketing? Your prospects want it!

College is a stressful process for students and parents alike. From choosing a major to figuring out finances, there’s a lot of information to understand and digest. Your college prospects want information about different aspects of college, and you can help them by providing that information all in one place

That could mean creating a blog on your collegiate website that has different topic categories, creating videos that outline important information, and more.

There are a variety of ways to deliver the content that your audience wants.

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5 tips for doing higher education content marketing

Ready to dive into higher education content marketing? Check out these content marketing tips to help you build a successful content marketing plan!

1. Understand your target audience

When you invest in content marketing for higher education, you need to understand who’s going to read your content. You need to create content that appeals to your target audience and garners interest in your institution.

To create relevant content, you need to understand your target audience. Who are the typical students that investigate your college or university?

You’ll want to determine attributes like:

• Age
• Socioeconomic status
• Location
• Majors
• Clubs
• And more

This is called creating a target persona.

You can set multiple target audiences if you need them. For example, if your institution provides both undergraduate and graduate programs, you’ll want to create two separate target audiences for each group of students.

By determining your target audience, you’ll create more relevant content for your audience and drive more leads to your website.

2. Create a blog

Blogging is one of the most beneficial strategies for creating content. When you do content marketing for colleges, you need to include blogging as one of your strategies.

Blogs help you drive traffic to your site. When you write blogs, you create opportunities for your institution to appear in different search results. It enables you to drive more traffic to the institution’s website.

Blogging also enables you to constantly have fresh content on your site. When you’re creating new and helpful content for your audience, you’re providing these prospects with up-to-date information about a variety of topics.

3. Use a variety of content marketing methods

When you’re creating a content marketing strategy for higher education, you don’t want to confine yourself to blogging. While blogging is one of the most beneficial forms of content marketing, you don’t want to neglect other vital strategies that keep your content fresh and exciting.

You’ll want to use other content methods, like:

• Videos
• Infographics
• Ebooks
• Podcasts
• Guides
• Checklists
• And more

By creating a variety of content, you keep your information fresh and exciting. You’ll find new ways to drive in traffic and drive in different types of leads that like other content formats.

4. Use storytelling to help students see what it’s like at your institution

When you’re creating different types of content, leverage the power of storytelling. Storytelling is a great way to capture prospects and help them immerse themselves in what it’s like to be at your college or university.

As you create content, consider creating content that features current student or alumni stories about what it’s like to attend your institution. These students can talk about various topics, including:

• Education in their major
• Clubs and extracurricular activities
• On-campus events
• Off-campus internships and opportunities
• And more

These subjects provide your audience with valuable insight into your institution.

Storytelling pieces help prospective students get in the mindset of being a student at your campus. Not to mention, it provides prospects with input from actual students, which is as good as one of their friends or family members making a recommendation about a school.

By using storytelling to inform potential students, you’ll create compelling pieces of content that work as testimonials for your university. It’ll help you show prospective students why they should choose your higher education institution.

5. Measure performance to see what works

An essential part of higher education content marketing is monitoring your content performance. You must keep track of how content performs, so you know which content works best for your audience.

When you monitor your content, you’ll want to track metrics like:

• Traffic
• Dwell time
• Pages visited
• Bounce rate
• And more

Paying attention to the traffic your site garners helps you understand the power your site has to attract leads. If you’re not getting as much traffic as you’d like, it’s time to tweak your strategy.

Tracking dwell time can help you understand the time users are spending on your pages, which will give you great insight into the interest users have in your content, and also the usability of your page.

Additionally, tracking pages visited enables you to see what topics users are interested in. Prospects will often visit other pages if they like your content, so it’s a good sign if they’re browsing around your site.

Lastly, monitoring bounce rate enables you to see if your pages are relevant to searchers. If you have a high bounce rate, you can start refining your pages to provide a better experience and keep leads from bouncing.

By monitoring these metrics, you’ll know what content works best for your audience, so you can produce more of it.

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Invest in higher education content marketing from WebFX

Content marketing for higher education is an excellent way for you to reach prospects with valuable information they seek. You’ll attract more applicants and help them get familiar with your college or university.

If you don’t have time to dedicate to building your content marketing plan, WebFX is here to help. We’re a full-service digital marketing company that specializes in content marketing. With over 25 years of experience, you can count on us to develop content that reaches more prospects.

To learn more about how you can create killer content, contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about how you can use content marketing for higher education.