Social media in international student

recruitment

Jessica Winters Coordinator Marketing @jlinkmarketing

University of Groningen

• 400-year old Research University

• Bachelor, Master, PhD

• 28,000 students

• 4,000 international students

• Over 100 degree programmes in English

• University of Groningen – 24,000+

• Approx. 50 University of Groningen-related FB Pages

• Approx. 50 University of Groningen-related FB Groups

• @univgroningen – 13,000 followers

• Approx. 30 University of Groningen - Twitter accounts

Why social media?

Main reason…

• This is where our students are

• Connect, find and share information

• And it’s cheap…

5

students & social media

• internet is (almost) as important as air, water, food and shelter: 82%

• internet is more important than dating, going out, or listening to music: 40%

• mobile device is the most important technology in their lives: 66%

• use a newspaper to access information: 4%

Cisco/Insight Express 2011

How can social media help us? • Recruitment

• Advertising

• Information flow – expectation management

• Admission

• Contact - Connecting

Recruitment • Advertising

• Presentation

• Outreach

• Creating engagement

• ‘Follow up’

9/19/2013 | 9

Online brochure

Information - expectation management

• Application, Housing & Living Costs

• Outreach

9/19/2013 | 14

9/19/2013 | 15

9/19/2013 | 17

Contact - Connect

9/19/2013

9/19/2013 | 24

How to be effective?

Know your audience Know the tools

Listen…

Facebook Facts

• 1 billion+ users

• 70% of the internet population uses Facebook

• 405 minutes per month

• 48% of the 18-34 year olds check FB when waking up

Top 10 countries on Facebook

• USA

• Brazil

• India

• Indonesia

• Mexico

• Turkey

• UK

• Philippines

• France

• Germany

SocialBakers 09-05-2013

Fastest growing countries on Facebook

• Brazil

• India

• Vietnam

• Indonesia

• Japan

• Taiwan

• South Korea

• Thailand

• Colombia

• Turkey

SocialBakers 09-05-2013

SocialBakers 09-05-2013

SocialBakers 09-05-2013

SocialBakers 09-05-2013

Population: 1.34 billion - On social: approx. 700 million

facebook pages

Posting

• 80 characters or less (80 – 130 characters)

• Visual

• Quality, not quantity

• Best days/times

• Mix fun with serious, but keep it informal

International student page

Types of posts

Best posts main Page • PRIDE

• Students

• University

• Local/regional

• College-humor

• Student-related

• Famous people

Best posts Prospective Page • Hype: Harlem Shake

• Groningen city

• Netherlands

• Study abroad

WORST POSTS…

Thank you and goodbye on:

Questions?

j.t.k.winters@rug.nl @jlinkmarketing