5 ways to leverage social media marketing in your VET organisation

Social media marketing is all the rage at the moment. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s a lot cheaper than traditional forms of marketing. It’s easier to do yourself. It has much shorter lead times and has a huge following.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics  found that approximately 63% of all Australian’s use Facebook, whilst a whopping 936 million people use Facebook on a daily basis, around the world.  

Given the heightened competition of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector at current, marketing efforts are more crucial than ever before. Why not leverage social media marketing in your VET organisation?

Social media and social media marketing is no longer a tool for VET organisations to optimise but frankly a necessity. Social media marketing has the ability to attract and retain students, grow your organisation, diversify your revenue streams and strengthen your brand image. Just to name a few benefits.  

Five easy steps to help you leverage social media marketing, into your VET organisation:

Entertain your audience  

Seduce your audience so that they are left wanting more. Gone are the days of blatant marketing efforts, in a world where the average person is exposed to up to 20,000 marketing messages per day. Of all these messages we’re exposed to, funnily enough only 0.03% of ads actually make an impression on us.

Keep it short and sweet

We live in a time-poor society, don’t babble on. Research shows that most people who use the Internet don’t read more than 60% of a content piece. Include a link. If people are interested they will read on.   

Use brand repetition  

Whilst it is important not to blatantly market your organisation, you do need to reinforce your brand. You want your target audience to remember your name and logo, in a highly cluttered marketplace.    

 Have a clear USP

A USP or unique selling proposition is a short sentence summarising exactly what you are trying to say. Have one clear message that differentiates you from your competitors. Here’s a tip, make it quirky. You can use trending topics (embrace the #hashtag for God’s sake) and add your own twist.  

Research, research, research

Here’s an obvious one, research your target market! Who are you trying to target?

Choose the right social media platform for your message and audience to ensure quality. There’s no point creating a killer ad if it’s appearing in the wrong person’s News Feed. Targeting tradies? LinkedIn might not be your best solution…   

To learn more on social media marketing and ways to grow your VET organisation, why not attend Akolade’s upcoming conference Innovative Business Models for VET Organisations? The conference will be held in Sydney, from the 27^th – 29^th July, 2016.  

For more information on the conference, please contact Akolade on (02) 9247 6000 or visit our website.  

Ashley has lived on Manly beachfront her entire life – she worships the sun and chases it year round. Having recently finished her Bachelor of Business in Portugal’s gorgeous capital, Lisbon, she thought that producing conferences at Akolade would be a great new experience.  Ashley loves her new dinner-time conversation, enlightening people on her research topics!