blogging best practices for student recruitment webinar
TRANSCRIPT
Blogging Best Practices for Student Recruitment
Presented by: Philippe Taza, CEO
Higher Education Marketing
• Blog Definition
• Using personas
• Blogging Benefits
• Making Your Blog the Hub of Your Content Marketing
Strategy
• Blogging With a Content Calendar
• Benefits of Blogging on SEO
• Ways to Promote Your Blog Articles
• Measure Your Blog’s Results
• Aligning your Blog With Student’s Buying Journey
Today’s Presentation
• A collection of articles that provide helpful, valuable,
educational, and remarkable content to your target
audience. By providing this value, blogs can easily and
effectively draw prospects to your website.
- A HubSpot Definition
Definition of a Blog
http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/137828/file-705600239-pdf/Certification_Files/IC2014/The_Fundamentals_of_Blogging_2014.pdf
• Blogs are owned by your institution and are
your voice on the web
• Perfect place to communicate with your
community and create content about:
– News
– Events
– Programs
– Related Topics
• Offer a prime avenue of content distribution
through different channels
• Source of content for social media, email, etc.
Making Your Blog the Hub for Your Content Marketing Strategy
Which Blogging Platform Should You Choose?
• Give your audience
valuable insights on:
– Your programs, brand,
support systems, success
rates, school’s spirit and
culture
• Improve SEO and drive
traffic to your website
– Every post gets published as an individual indexed page
What Are the Benefits of Blogging?
Source: http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/09/inbound-marketing-blogging-makes-marketers-13x-more-likely-to-get-positive-roi/
What Are Personas?
• Fictional, generalized
representations of your
ideal students.
• They help create highly
targeted content
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_(user_experience)
What Should Be Included in Your Personas?
• Background
– Age, family, job, career
path
• Academic orientation
– What program they might
choose?
• Interests
• Motivation
• Concerns
Why Are Personas Important for Blogging?
• Blogs developed around
personas relate to & connect
with their:
– interests
– motivations
– and concerns
• Personas will help you blog
with focus: – Choose the topics
– Choose your distribution channels
– Frequency
– Etc.
How Often Do You Need to Blog?
At least once a week
However the frequency of blogging depends largely on:
• The content (infographics, images, etc.) and effort needed to
produce it
• Your institution’s size
• Your institution’s internal resources
Larger universities will often feature both a news section
and a blog
For smaller institutions we recommend:
• Create a blog section
• Create multiple categories, including News
If You Have Multiple Resources for Blogging:
Separate your Blog from News
and events:
• Create a News section to
announce and discuss:
– Faculty and staff
– Alumni success
– Research
– School’s events
• Create a Blog:
– International Student Blog
– President’s Blog
– Institutional Blog
– Student Recruitment
If You Have Limited Resources for Blogging:
Here is how to organize
your blog:
• One Blog Section
• Feature the link in the menu
• Use multiple categories
– School News
– Industry News
– Student Success Stories
– Segment by program/faculty
– Etc.
Who Can Write a Blog Post for Your Institution?
• Marketing and admission staff
• Student Ambassadors for
authentic content about life on
campus
• President/Dean can talk about
institutional news and special
events
• Professors/Instructors can blog
about attending conferences,
recently published research
• Marketing agencies
For each blog post:
• Titles and taglines to consider
• Description
• Producer
• Due date
• Date of publication
• Targeted Keywords
Have a content inventory
• What has been produced
• Image Bank
• Ideas for future posts
Create a Content Calendar
Tools to Help You Create a Content Calendar
• Spreadsheets
• Outlook or Google Calendar
• http://editflow.org/ (plugin that
allows to edit and manage your
calendar within WordPress)
• http://kapost.com/ (Complete
content operation platform)
• http://www.hubspot.com/ offers a
downloadable template
https://library.hubspot.com/blog-editorial-calendar
There are many tools at your disposal to help you
create Editorial Calendars. Here are some examples:
Where to Look for Content Ideas?
RSS Feeds - Feedly
Use Google Analytics to See What Subjects Are Popular on Your Blog!
Use Pageviews to get an indication on popularity Use Page Value to measure the
impact on website goals
• Enter keywords that describe your college and programs
• Select the location (s) you are interested in targeting
• Select the language (s) you are planning to target
• Use search volume as an indicator of popularity
Perform Keyword Research
Perform Keyword Research
Implement SEO Best Practices
SEO Impact of Posting Regularly on Blog Pageviews
A filter was used to include only blog pages in this report
SEO Impact of Posting Regularly on Traffic
• Length: 400+ words
• Use bolded text
• Include subtitles, bullet lists
• Use quality and attractive images that
reflect the content of your blog and the
image of your school
• Include infographics
• Include CTAs
Blog Formatting Guidelines
Include a CTA in your blogs
Make Your Blog Easy to Share and Comment on
Once the Content is Published, What is Next?
Here are some ways you can promote your blog posts:
1. Leverage your website
– RSS feed
– Internal links
2. Consider using Email marketing
3. Use your social media channels
Promote Blogs Through Social Media
Keep your target personas in
mind and determine the best
channels to share your
content:
• Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,
Instagram or Google+?
• Do you have a LinkedIn
Education page?
• Use curation sites
• Scoop it
It Doesn’t End There: Re-purpose Your Content
Use your blogs to create content for your Newsletters or other
email marketing initiatives
Create visual content by simplifying your blogs for:
Motion graphics
Slideshares
Infographics
Infographics
Infographics get more
shares than any other
content!
Easy to understand,
they are a simple way
to share:
• Study tips
• Career trends
Measuring Blog Social Shares
https://app.buzzsumo.com/
Measuring Blog Inbound Links
https://app.buzzsumo.com/
Aligning Your Blog Content to Your students Buying Journey
Source: http://www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing
• I’m easy to reach at:
Philippe Taza Tel: 514-312-3968 ext:104 [email protected] www.higher-education-marketing.com https://twitter.com/PhilippeTaza
Have Questions About Blogging?
