The 5 Pillars of a Successful Digital Communication Strategy for Higher Education

In a constantly evolving and competitive environment, attracting the best students is becoming a crucial challenge for higher education institutions. To succeed in this mission, a well-defined digital communication strategy is essential. It allows you to optimize the applicant experience throughout their journey, from initial contact to enrollment. Discover the 5 essential pillars for building a high-performing admissions strategy, adapted to the demands of today's market, taking into account the solutions offered by Emundus, an expert in digital strategy for higher education.

Summary :

1. Define your objectives and your target audience

2. Analyze the competition and the market

3. Choose the appropriate communication channels

4. Create relevant and engaging content

5. Measuring and optimizing performance

Define your objectives and your target audience

To develop an effective digital communication strategy, it is essential to conduct a thorough analysis of your market positioning. A SWOT analysis tool helps identify the institution's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the area of ​​admissions. It is crucial to pinpoint your competitive advantage and define areas for improvement. For example, an institution with strong international accreditations can differentiate itself by highlighting its certifications, such as EQUIS, AACSB, and AMBA, to attract international applicants. Emundus offers support solutions to analyze these levers and strategically position the institution.

Create personas representing the profiles of target candidates

Once the objectives are defined, it is essential to segment your target audience by creating detailed personas. These profiles allow you to better understand the expectations and behaviors of candidates, in terms of their background, motivations, and preferred channels. Emundus helps institutions build relevant personas to tailor messages and communication to candidate profiles, such as international students or those with atypical profiles.

Set SMART goals

The objectives must be aligned with the institution's overall strategy. By following the SMART method, these objectives become specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example:

• Increase the number of international applications by 20% through a targeted 3-month advertising campaign

• Reduce candidate acquisition costs by 30% by optimizing communication channels over one year.
  Emundus provides advanced analytics tools to track and adjust these objectives in real time.

Analyze the competition and the market

Competitive analysis is essential for understanding your rivals' digital strategies. Emundus offers comparative analysis solutions that allow you to identify best practices and opportunities for differentiation, such as integrating chatbots for personalized support or seamless user journeys.

Leveraging its accreditations and specializations

Highlighting accreditations and specializations is a powerful way to stand out in a competitive market. For example, an institution with recognized expertise in quantitative finance or big data can leverage these specializations to attract highly qualified candidates. Emundus offers solutions to integrate these distinctive elements into your digital communication strategy, maximizing their visibility across digital platforms.

Choose the appropriate communication channels

Resource allocation is a crucial step in defining communication channels. By leveraging performance analyses and lessons learned, Emundus helps prioritize digital actions with a high ROI. For example, a budget might be allocated to redesigning an intuitive website (50%), targeted social media advertising campaigns (30%), and events geared towards atypical candidates (10%).

Adopting a cross-channel strategy to multiply points of contact

A successful digital strategy requires a cross-channel . Emundus offers solutions to orchestrate a seamless candidate journey by integrating multiple touchpoints: email, social media, SMS, website, and push notifications. Each step of the journey must be optimized to guide the candidate from discovery to conversion.

Create relevant and engaging content

To create engaging content, it's essential to involve internal stakeholders within the institution. Emundus facilitates content co-creation with students, faculty, and alumni, making communication more authentic and credible. For example, podcasts, video testimonials, and Instagram stories are powerful formats for showcasing the real and inspiring experiences of members of the academic community.

Diversify formats according to audience preferences

Since target audiences have varied preferences in terms of formats (video, podcast, infographic, article), it is strategic to diversify content to meet everyone's expectations. Emundus supports institutions in creating content tailored to each profile, whether it be YouTube videos, Instagram stories, or practical guides.

Measuring and optimizing performance

A digital communication strategy must be constantly evolving, based on precise data analysis. Emundus offers analytical tools to track campaign performance, user behavior on the website, and candidate conversion rates. This data allows for refining candidate personas and streamlining the application process to maximize effectiveness.

Optimize candidate journeys

Candidate relationship management (CRM) platforms must provide a clear view of the stages of the conversion journey. With Emundus' tools, organizations can analyze pain points, understand application abandonment, and adapt their processes to improve the candidate experience.

Conclusion

A well-thought-out and executed digital communication strategy can significantly improve a higher education institution's admission rate. By incorporating best communication practices, competitive analysis, and the use of effective tools, it becomes possible to maximize results. Emundus, with its innovative solutions and industry expertise, supports institutions in implementing optimized digital strategies tailored to the specific needs of applicants and institutions.