Blogging best practices for student recruitment webinar

Blogging Best Practices for Student Recruitment

Presented by: Philippe Taza, CEO

Higher Education Marketing

ptaza@higher-education-marketing.com

• 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

• Pinterest

• 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 ptaza@higher-education-marketing.com www.higher-education-marketing.com https://twitter.com/PhilippeTaza

Have Questions About Blogging?