Instagram has evolved from a photo-sharing site into a powerful social and commerce network with two billion monthly active users. While Instagram is no longer the new kid on the block, it’s still extremely popular. Instagram users spend an average of 30.6 minutes daily on the platform – more than on Facebook and Reddit. Instagram…
User-generated content (UGC) is an invaluable tool for higher ed social media marketers, helping them level up their content creation capabilities while building brand trust. According to TINT, three-quarters of consumers find reviews and testimonials submitted by real people more credible than brands talking about themselves. Meanwhile, 93% of marketers agree that consumers are more…
YouTube’s vast reach and credibility make it a valuable resource in the world of government on social media. The video platform has over two billion monthly active users, with over three-fifths of American users visiting the site daily. Moreover, nine in 10 users agree that YouTube provides trustworthy recommendations and information. Creating video content requires…
If I asked you to tell me about social media marketing, you’d probably describe an e-commerce brand promoting its products. Or maybe a B2B company using social platforms to generate leads. But those aren’t the only use cases for social – far from it. Social media for government agencies can be a key tool for…
Every marketer knows that having a robust online presence is essential for boosting brand awareness and driving sales. But not everyone stops to consider the powerhouse potential of their company blog in their marketing arsenal. Treat your blog as more than just a content hub to boost conversion rates. Picture it as a personal trainer…
Viral trends and cultural moments can be a social media marketer’s best friend. Whereas you may have brainstormed your “regular” content weeks (or months) in advance, a well-timed response to a viral post or topic can be a shortcut to tons of impressions and engagement. But tapping into buzzworthy conversions isn’t a silver bullet for…
Today’s marketers seek new ways to find and attract their ideal audience. But in the fast-paced and ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, reaching your people and getting results is getting harder and harder. Enter AI in marketing. What Is Artificial Intelligence in Marketing? Artificial intelligence marketing (AI Marketing) is leveraging customer data and AI concepts like…
Influencer marketing shows no sign of losing its appeal, with four-fifths of marketers believing it to be an effective channel. However, it’s most popular in e-commerce, where brands can leverage influencers to recommend apparel, beauty products, tech, and more. Things become a lot more complex when the “product” being promoted is a school or college….
LinkedIn’s advertising revenue more than doubled from 2017 to 2021 — and it’s set to double again between 2022 and 2026. Image source With approximately 63 million decision-makers using LinkedIn and four-fifths of all B2B marketing leads originating from the platform, it’s not hard to see why. Are you wondering how to advertise on LinkedIn?…
In just over a decade, Instagram has transformed from a convenient way to share pictures of your lunch to a staple of many brands’ social media marketing strategies. That’s largely down to its reach and engagement. According to Pew Research Center, four in ten Americans are on Instagram. About three-fifths use the platform at least…
Time is one of the most precious resources in social media for government agencies. Many government social media managers have small teams responsible for managing content and strategy across multiple platforms; others might be the only people focusing on social media at their agencies. Either way, you must leverage tools and workflows to ensure maximum…
Hybrid learning is here to stay, with research from Barnes & Noble College Insights revealing that almost half of students favor a hybrid class format. This data poses a few challenges for higher education marketers. How do you engage students who are spending less time on campus? And how do you reduce “melt,” whereby students…
Crisis management is one of the biggest challenges of social media for government agencies. A fast-evolving situation can cause panic and confusion in your community, requiring you to communicate the latest information in a calm, clear manner to the public, stakeholders, and media. Get it wrong, and you risk undermining confidence in your agency; get…
The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools by marketers wasn’t always a foregone conclusion. As recently as January 2020, half of the respondents to an Advertiser Perceptions survey said they had no plans to use AI to support their marketing efforts. Fast-forward to today, and opinions have shifted. Organizations are now using AI and…
Taking your first steps into a new social media platform allows your government agency to reach different audiences and experiment with new content formats. But it also presents challenges — not least how to grow your following from scratch. As with anything in the world of social media for government, it’s essential to have a…
The internet is packed with advice for social media managers. Whether you want to attract more followers, craft more engaging content, or optimize your post timings, millions of articles claim to provide an answer. The trouble is, only some of those articles consider the unique challenges faced by higher ed social media teams. You might…
Facebook Pages used to be a lucrative way for brands to connect with customers on Facebook. However, pages have seen a decline in organic reach in recent years, with the average organic Facebook Page post now seeing an engagement rate of just 0.07%. Ouch! This data doesn’t mean it’s time to pack up the team…
Anyone who works in social media for government agencies understands the importance of public trust. Generally, agencies do fantastic work and are rightly proud of their efforts. However, as marketers, you can’t afford to assume people will take your words at face value, with just two in 10 Americans saying they trust the government to…
Higher education social media marketers face unique challenges. Far from managing accounts for one or two brands and sub-brands, they might be responsible for managing social media profiles across dozens — or even hundreds — of different departments. They must ensure that each department consistently creates and posts suitable types of content and find reliable,…
It’s hard to imagine anyone not using social media today. Yet the industry continues to expand, with the global number of social media users climbing to almost 4.6 billion in 2022. Image source But not all social networks enjoyed equally strong years in 2022. Facebook has plateaued since 2021, adding fewer than 50 million new…
A communications strategy sets out how you reach, engage, and convert your target audience, including: Who they are Why you’re talking to them How you talk to them What content should you create Which channels to share it through Social media for government should form an integral part of any agency’s communications strategy, with 82%…
Social media for government agencies is about demonstrating your expertise, building trust and credibility, and providing audiences with fast, reliable, unambiguous information. It’s been a game-changer for the sector, transforming previously faceless organizations into teams of real people doing valuable work. Lots of agencies are doing an amazing job at showcasing what they do (and…
User-generated content (UGC) is highly impactful in any industry. Research from TINT found that: 72% of consumers believe reviews and testimonials submitted by customers are more credible than brands talking about their products 93% of marketers agree that consumers trust content created by customers more than content created by brands Six out of 10 marketers…
Content marketing is one of the best ways to set your business up for growth. Knowing how effective a well-made piece of content can be at reaching, intriguing, and converting audiences, it’s no wonder that 64% of businesses spent more than 10% of their total marketing budgets on producing and distributing content in 2021. Nor…
It’s fair to say 2022 has been a busy year for social media marketers. According to McKinsey, inflation has put a dent in consumer confidence, with shoppers feeling twice as pessimistic about the economic outlook as during the pandemic. This pessimism has prompted a change in shopping behavior as consumers look to “trade down,” with…
Life used to be a lot simpler for social media marketers. There were fewer platforms, and users were still attracted by the novelty of social, which helped content cut through. Today, marketers face various social media-related challenges, from figuring out the right platforms to post on to developing new content ideas and turning them into…
Today’s consumers are fast-paced, overloaded with information, and short on time. We skim content, interact with chatbots, and gravitate toward convenience and instant gratification. We spend more than seven hours daily using the internet, including almost 2.5 hours on social media. Image source In this new reality, brands must humanize and connect with their audiences…
Facebook has a whopping 2.9 billion monthly active users, with an estimated 71% of internet users in the US using the platform regularly, from college students and young professionals to seasoned execs and stay-at-home moms. Just because everyone is hanging out there doesn’t mean posting for free will help you achieve your marketing goals. Nor…
One of the most challenging aspects of social media marketing is consistently creating high-quality, engaging content over an extended period. This is backed up by data, with research from Visual Objects ranking consistent content creation as one of the top five social media challenges for marketers. Matt Hamada, Digital Engagement Manager for the City of…
It’s hard to remember when we weren’t all glued to social media. Yet the proportion of marketers using social media to reach new and existing audiences has risen every year since 2013: Image source With so much competition from other marketers, you must take the time to develop smart strategies for social media marketing to…
For years, government agencies have been an attractive target for marketing campaigns. But increasingly, agencies realize the benefits of flipping the script, transforming themselves from prospects to marketers. It makes sense. Marketing can help you connect with end users who benefit from your services, build a support base among thought leaders in your sector, and…
Social media marketing is tough. There are plenty of roadblocks that could stop you from delivering the results you want to see. The seemingly simple processes of planning and posting content are the biggest challenges. Indeed, one in eight social media marketers at small businesses say they struggle to post content consistently, while one in…
No longer the bright new thing in the social media world, TikTok is now firmly established as a key element in many higher ed institutions’ marketing toolkits. Marketers love the short-form video platform because it generates far higher organic engagement than other platforms. That’s a massive advantage in higher education marketing, where budgets are often…
It’s hard to understate the importance of social media in higher education marketing. Why? Because teens – in other words, the ideal target audience for most higher ed marketing campaigns – use social media a lot. According to Common Sense Media, US teenagers average almost 7.5 hours of screen time daily, with about 16% of…
A year-and-a-half ago, no one had ever heard the phrase “non-fungible token.” It’s fair to say things have changed somewhat since then. According to a Security.org survey, familiarity with NFTs has skyrocketed in recent months. In 2021, two-thirds of Americans were unfamiliar with them, whereas only 7% don’t know what they are today. And while…
Local, federal, and national governments on social media have a tough job. They need to educate their audiences, build trust, communicate essential information, and respond to complaints and queries. When it comes to reaching and engaging audiences, Facebook is still hard to beat. According to Pew Research Center, seven in ten Americans use the platform,…
Investing in content marketing can secure exceptional results for your brand. It’s why 97% of businesses had a content marketing strategy in place in 2021. And it’s why 72% of organizations plan to increase their content marketing budgets in 2022. You probably know that focusing on quality and consistency is crucial to content marketing success….
It’s time for executive leaders in higher education to step out from their ivory towers. Across all industries, there’s plenty of evidence about the benefits of people in leadership roles interacting with their audiences via social media. For instance, research from Sprout Social discovered that 70% of consumers feel more connected to brands when the…
Social media listening tools give you the power to discover what your (current and future) customers really think about you. That’s something we’d all like to know, right? After all, research from SuperOffice shows that the number one reason customers ditch a company is because they think that company doesn’t care about them. But it’s…
Building a brand community isn’t about improving vanity metrics like engagement and follower count. Or at least, it’s not just about that because it delivers real, measurable results. According to a survey from Vanilla Forums, 58% of brands say their communities improve customer loyalty. That’s a big deal, with research from KPMG revealing: 86% of…
Chelsey Holts currently serves as the Director of Social Media for UNC Chapel Hill’s flagship accounts. In her role, she advises leadership on strategy and reputation and also works with a team to create and amplify engaging content for the school’s various audiences. Check out our interview with her in anticipation of the upcoming Social…
