Podcasts have seemingly cast a spell on target audiences recently, and marketing professionals are tapping into the current trend by using them to spread the word about educational opportunities. The world of academia has long been filled with people who enjoy gaining knowledge by listening to lectures from their professors and mentors. Now, over 70 million people are tuning into podcasts, which is why our team at Semgeeks often uses them as part of our mobile marketing strategies for educational brands.
Building a Stronger School Community
It’s important to note that podcasts are a bit different from the typical lectures that people sometimes encounter during intense college-level courses. To be effective for higher education marketing, podcasts need to be engaging and spark conversations. Our team works closely with your institution’s representatives to find out what makes your program stand out. Using information that we glean regarding the school culture and target audience, we can then create podcasts that resonate with listeners and make them want to be a part of that community.
Expanding Brand Awareness Among Specialized Fields
Using mobile marketing strategies for educational brands makes it easier to put information about your school’s academic programs directly into prospective students’ hands. Listening to a podcast about your university’s recent technological research findings can spark interest that leads to higher enrollment rates. From sharing sports news to providing insight into local community events, podcasts are an excellent way to increase brand awareness throughout the academic realm. With more competition developing in the field of academia, it’s worth working hard to develop a strong brand story that resonates with students and makes them want to be a part of your educational community.
Choosing Relevant Content
For the ultimate effect on prospective students and their families, podcasts need to be relevant, exciting and pertinent to their lives. Recent scientific studies, upcoming sports events and interviews with students and staff are topics that do well when we use them for mobile marketing strategies for educational brands.
During your strategy consultation, our pros will ask questions about your program or educational institution to help them with content creation, including generating podcast topics that will jumpstart your new marketing plan. We often find that working with influencers, and local celebrities such as the school mascot and popular educators are all effective for capturing prospective students’ attention.
Establishing a Consistent Schedule
Similar to other types of content strategies, you’ll want to release podcasts on a regular schedule that keeps people tuned in and looking for more. Creating a playlist of podcasts that include both short and long-form content encourages students to tune in to learn more about what your educational program has to offer. Providing a steady stream of podcasts can also help to build excitement among listeners leading to them following the calls to action.
Promoting Podcasts On Social Media
In a recent study, 75% of students revealed that social media is their primary source of getting news. Including podcasts on your school or educational program’s website is a great way to share information, and you’ll want to include snippets and links on popular social media platforms. Making social media posts helps to spread awareness about the newest podcast that can generate new leads who might not have heard about your academic institution before.
Encouraging Interactions
A well-executed podcast makes it feel as though the listener is in the room with the speakers. Releasing podcasts on social media allows listeners to choose how they want to interact. On top of bringing them to your institution’s website, you can also have the speakers ask questions during the podcast that are relevant to the target audience. Encouraging sharing, comments, likes and subscriptions also helps to push the podcasts to the front of people’s content lists. As the podcasts gain popularity, you can also expect to see enrollment rates start to rise.
Adding podcasts to your higher education marketing strategies can increase the ROI and bring more students to your institution’s programs. As we like to do with any new strategy, our team will work with you from start to finish to make sure every podcast we release is engaging. Once the podcast airs, we’ll then use data analysis and tracking methods to ensure that audiences listen and share for the ultimate impact on your program’s conversion rates.
To learn more about how we use podcasts in educational marketing plans, sign up for a strategy consultation that gives you a personalized glimpse of what we can do for your program or school.
