The 5 Pillars of a successful digital communication strategy for higher education

In a constantly evolving competitive environment, attracting the best students is becoming a crucial issue for higher education establishments. To succeed in this mission, a well-defined digital communication strategy is essential. It makes it possible to optimize the candidate experience throughout their journey, from first discovery to registration. Discover the 5 essential pillars for building an efficient admissions strategy, adapted to the demands of the current market, taking into account the solutions offered by Emundus, an expert in digital strategy for higher education.

Summary :

1. Define your objectives and target

2. Analyze the competition and the market

3. Choose the appropriate communication channels

4. Create relevant and engaging content

5. Measure and optimize performance

Define your objectives and target

To develop an effective digital communication strategy, it is essential to carry out an in-depth analysis of its positioning on the market. The SWOT analysis tool helps identify the institution's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the area of ​​admissions. It is crucial to identify 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 candidates. Emundus offers support solutions to analyze these levers and position the establishment strategically.

Create personas representing target candidate profiles

Once the objectives have been defined, it is imperative to segment your targets by creating detailed personas. These profiles allow us to better understand the expectations and behaviors of candidates, in terms of background, motivations and preferred channels. Emundus helps establishments build relevant personas, in order to adapt messages and communication to candidate profiles, such as the international student or the atypical profile.

Set SMART goals

The objectives must be aligned with the overall strategy of the establishment. By following the SMART method, these objectives become specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-defined. For example :

• Increase the number of international applications by 20% via a targeted advertising campaign over 3 months

• Reduce the cost of candidate acquisition 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 to understanding the digital strategies of your rivals. Emundus offers benchmarking solutions, allowing you to identify best practices and identify opportunities for differentiation, such as the integration of chatbots for personalized assistance or smooth user journeys.

Focus on your accreditations and specializations

Highlighting your accreditations and specializations is a powerful lever to differentiate yourself in a competitive market. For example, an establishment with recognized expertise in quantitative finance or big data can capitalize on these specialties to attract highly qualified profiles. Emundus offers solutions to integrate these distinctive elements into the digital communication strategy, maximizing their visibility on digital media.

Choose the appropriate communication channels

Resource allocation is a crucial step in defining communication channels. By relying on performance analyzes and feedback, Emundus helps prioritize digital actions with high ROI. For example, a budget can be allocated to the redesign of an intuitive website (50%), to targeted advertising campaigns on social networks (30%), and to events aimed at atypical candidates (10%).

Adopt a cross-channel strategy to multiply points of contact

In a successful digital strategy, a cross-channel is essential. Emundus offers solutions to orchestrate a smooth candidate journey, integrating multiple points of contact: email, social networks, 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 is essential to involve the establishment's internal stakeholders. Emundus facilitates the co-creation of content with students, teachers and alumni, in order to make communication more authentic and credible. For example, podcasts, video testimonials or 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 targets have varied preferences in terms of formats (video, podcast, infographic, article), it is strategic to diversify the content to meet everyone's expectations. Emundus supports establishments in the creation of content adapted to each profile, whether YouTube videos, Instagram stories or practical guides.

Measure and optimize performance

A digital communication strategy must be constantly evolving, based on precise data analyses. Emundus offers analysis tools to track campaign performance, user behavior on the site, and candidate conversion rate. This data makes it possible to adjust personas and streamline the application process to maximize efficiency.

Optimize candidate pathways

Candidate relationship management (CRM) platforms must provide a clear vision of the stages of the conversion journey. Using Emundus tools, institutions can analyze friction points, understand application abandonments, and adapt their processes to improve the candidate experience.

Conclusion

A well-thought-out and executed digital communications strategy can significantly improve the admission rate of a higher education institution. By taking into account best communication practices, competitive analysis, and the use of effective tools, it becomes possible to maximize results. Emundus, thanks to its innovative solutions and sectoral expertise, supports establishments in implementing optimized digital strategies, focused on the specific needs of candidates and institutions.