Instagram is a great platform for cultivating an online community for educational institutions. The easy-to-view and interactive platform allows for low-effort engagement from prospects, students and alumni. Here are some of our tried and true tips for properly leveraging all that Instagram has to offer.
Appearances Matter
First, before you begin creating posts and promoting them for maximum user engagement you’ll want to make sure your profile is complete. Do you have a cohesive look between your profile photo and highlight covers? Do you have a plan for what you want to post and when? One of the best ways to continuously cultivate engagement is by being present and active on the platform. Have a list of posts and Stories ready to post as you begin your push for engagement.
Information Hub
Another way to prep your profile is by creating and building out the link in your bio. Whether you use a third party as a host for all of the links associated with your posts or have your own website that you constantly update to reflect posts, it’s important to have an information hub easily accessible especially for an education institution.
Leverage Themes
If you’re familiar with other social media platforms, you’ve probably noticed hashtags like #mondaymotivation and #wednesdaywisdom. These are smart ways to have students share what motivates them, their best advice for new students, what they’re looking forward to, etc. Whether it’s through a post on the Instagram feed or through Stories, these general and lighthearted posts are engagement gold.
Be Relatable
If part of your content strategy is sharing updates about your educational institution or what it provides, you’ll want to present the information in a way that can connect with your wide audience. Sharing scholarship information? Include a key requirement in the post, have a previous scholarship recipient share how this positively impacted their educational experience and direct them to the link in your bio for more information (which should include contact information as well).
Use Stories
Stories are quickly becoming the hot spot on Instagram with the majority of brands and influencers taking part. Fill-in-the-blank stories are easy, super fun and engaging. As an educational institution, creating stories of this type can give them the opportunity to learn more about their audience, which programs students are in, how students are feeling during the semester, what they like about the institution and more.
The heart of your Instagram posts as an educational institution should be catered to students. Whether they are potential, new or old, you want to convey their importance to you and that you are not detached from their educational journey. Showing interest, encouragement and support through a solid Instagram strategy can help grow loyalty and pride in your institution.
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