The world is becoming more and more digitized with every passing day. Everything from the business industry to healthcare is transitioning from traditional methods of performing day to day processes to new tech-savvy methods of performing routine tasks.
With all these digital transformations, higher education institutions also have to transition from traditional methods to digital processes. Among all the industries, education has been facing a lot of limitations due to the digital advancements in recent years.
In order to hike up the applicants pool and enrolments, higher education has to make use of digital and mobile marketing techniques.
Mobile Marketing for Higher Education
Digitalization in the past few years has enabled people to find anything and everything in just a few taps. Gone are the days when students and adults used to take out books from their respective shelves to look up for something they wanted to research.
Now in just a few taps, one can research everything. This is why higher education institutions need to incorporate mobile marketing in their strategies to increase admissions and enrollments. In fact, mobile marketing should be the top most priority for education institutions to target potential students.
The target audience for higher education institutions is mostly students which means the generation of this modern era. Most prospective students are always on their mobile phones or computer devices and making use of mobile marketing will be highly useful to grab their attention.
Higher education institutions are mostly targeting the Generation Z and Millennials who use their mobile devices for communicating as well as researching. Mobile devices are an important part of their everyday lives and interact with their peers.
Mobile marketing is the best way to engage prospective students. All you need to do is to channel the right content at the right hour and you will see a drastic increase in the overall admissions. Your aim as a higher education institution should be to empower students through the right content.
Why is Mobile Marketing a must for higher education admissions strategy?
Still not convinced why mobile marketing is necessary for higher education admissions strategy. Here are some reasons why:
- Mobile marketing will create brand awareness and equity.
We all know that first impressions always make a difference to people. It is why we always make sure we look the best when we are meeting someone for the first time. Similarly, an important step towards successful digital marketing for higher education is to make sure the design and branding create brand equity.
Marketers should make sure that the design and branding remain the same throughout all the marketing platforms whether print or digital. By incorporating mobile marketing, we mean to use media channels which are easily accessible through mobile phones.
Apps like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram etc are mobile friendly and users are always online on them. Posting as for admissions on these platforms using a distinctive marketing strategy would not only create brand awareness but would also reach prospective students easily.
Moreover, when your website is mobile optimized, users can access it properly through their mobile phones from wherever they want. This will give students the access to easily go through important forms or submissions by using mobile devices.
- Most adolescents spend more time watching videos on their mobiles.
Videos are an excellent way to engage prospective students as the Generation Z mostly spends time by watching videos on their mobile devices. This means if you want to grab the attention of prospective students then videos on mobile friendly apps such as Youtube is the best way to do so.
Your marketing team can create content showcasing the campus of your university and how students will get exposure to professional faculty by enrolling in our institution. Make sure to make the video extremely engaging so that people do not scroll through them and watch it till the end.
- It will make it more approachable and in touch with the latest technology.
In this era, the more approachable your brand is, the more people will prefer it over other competitors. That is why your university should be easily approachable and should use the latest technology in order to attract students. The generation you are targeting is more fascinated by technology.
If your higher education institution has the latest technology incorporated in its websites, apps etc, students will be more attracted to get enrolled in programs. For example, the accessibility to mark your attendance using your mobile devices is a good tech-savvy initiative by most institutions.
- Mobile marketing will make your social savvy.
Social media is a good tactic to target the young generation. They are constantly active on social media platforms and being present on these channels with inspiring and engaging content will have them constantly in your loop.
This would also be included in mobile marketing as students are more likely to use these platforms through their mobile devices. Your marketing team can post the link to admissions forms on social media channels for prospective students to easily access them.
How to build a Mobile Marketing Strategy for Higher Education?
After knowing how important mobile marketing is for higher education admissions strategy, you may want to develop a successful mobile marketing strategy. It is quite evident that students do not now look for potential colleges in physical guidebooks or library computers. This is the age of mobile devices and they rule the search for a college.
This is why you must develop a mobile marketing strategy for higher education admissions. Here are the steps to successfully develop a mobile marketing strategy:
- Test the Mobile Usability of your Website.
The first step towards successful mobile-first marketing is to test the usability of your website. This includes testing if your website is operational on mobile devices conveniently or not.
You can easily do this by taking a mobile-friendly test that is built by Google. You just have to add the URL of your website and check the score. If it is not good then you must take the steps to ensure your website is mobile-friendly.
- Check for more Mobile Usability Problems that are nuanced.
Once you ensure your website is mobile-friendly, it is time to check for more issues regarding mobile usability. Sometimes as the owner of a website, you are not able to identify the issues which users face so it is ideal if you log in as a prospective student, fill out forms and submit them while browsing through the other areas and see what are the user issues.
Once you identify them you can take the necessary steps to fix them.
- The structure of your content should be mobile-friendly.
The structure of your website obviously plays an important role but one thing is equally important which is the content that will be visible to your audience. YOu must make sure that the content is mobile, usable and engaging.
For mobile users, you have to ensure a few things like segmenting the content into short paragraphs, using numbers and bullets, adding visuals, and ensuring short headlines and titles.
- Keep a close check for Conversion for mobile compatibility.
Your goal is to get conversions through mobile users. Some of the users might browse through the content but would not get enrolled. This type of conversion is not what you are looking for, right?
You must keep a close eye on the pattern of conversions so that you can adjust your strategy according to it. If users are not converting through mobile devices and then try to find out why.
- Test Admission Emails on Mobile devices.
Emails are a great way to engage potential students and also inform them of the latest events, news and admissions. As discussed earlier, users mostly check emails through mobile devices which is why the emails you draft should be mobile accessible and mobile-friendly.
- Consider Mobile Marketing Communications Channels.
Emails are not the only means of communication for mobile users. You should make use of other mobile marketing communication channels such as messaging apps for sending notices, confirmation messages and news of events.
- Optimize Interactive Campus Map for Mobile devices.
Last but not the least, you must have an interactive campus map that is mobile-friendly for interactive communication with prospective students and their families. In this digitized era, this is a necessary tactic which is also a way of marketing.
An interactive campus map gives a quick overview of the campus, navigates them to find out about events and move-in and also offers opportunities you will be open to.
The ultimate aim of higher education institutions should be to empower students through the right content. Think Orion can help educational institutions achieve this by creating customized mobile marketing strategies that align with their goals and objectives. By leveraging data-driven insights and AI-powered tools, Think Orion can help educational institutions stay ahead of the competition and deliver a top-notch educational experience to their students.
Conclusion
Higher education institutions and colleges need to incorporate mobile marketing in their core admissions strategy in order to increase the applicants pool and hike up the enrollments.
The above article will highlight some of the major reasons why mobile marketing is important and how one can develop a mobile marketing strategy.
