Is Strategic Blogging The Key To Attracting New Students To Your RTO?

Today’s millennial students are actively engaged by compelling content. Strategic blogging is one way of providing them with the content they are looking for and attracting new students to your RTO. One benefit of strategic blogging is that it positions you as a thought leader in the educational space. The more your blog posts are read and shared, the stronger your position as an expert will become.

Why blogging works with today’s students

Millennials are born roughly between 1980 and 2000 and, according to Forbes, they are the most influential generation of consumers ever. The important thing to realise about your millennial student prospects is that authentic content empowers them. Millennials spend an average of 25 hours per week online looking for content-driven websites, blogs, and social media. Thirty-three percent of millennials rely mostly on blogs before they make a purchase and, according to a leading study on millennials, 73% say it’s important to read other opinions before making a purchase.

Strategic blogging is the ideal way to attract new students by providing them with the content they need to help them with their decision.

How to create a strategic blog

• Focus on important issues

Use your student personas to establish the challenges and needs of your prospective students. Your prospects are about to embark on an important stage of their educational life. Finding the right course is both a need and a challenge. A relevant topic to focus on would be showing that the courses your RTO offers provide value for money. As education tuition fees increase, students expect a higher quality of education. To validate this, consider doing a series of strategic blogs focusing on how students taking your courses have progressed in their careers. Their success will help sell your RTO.

• Recruit student bloggers

No one knows the challenges and needs of your prospect students better than their fellow students. If you recruit student bloggers to write your blogs, you’ll be tapping into what your prospects would most like to hear. Students who are already studying can also supply prospective students with details about what to expect in their future lives as students. They can highlight the advantages of different campuses and the range of facilities each offer. A blog on the campus accommodation and what it’s like to live in one of the residences will also help prospective students understand what their future holds. Encourage your student bloggers to share details about their lives – from their favourite movies to their pets, and even where they like to go on holiday. The more your prospects relate to your bloggers, the better your chance of converting them.

• Optimise your blog for mobile

Mobile smartphone users will make up 80% of the world’s population by 2021. People are already spending 86% of mobile time on mobile apps, which is only expected to increase going forward. It makes sense then to ensure that your blog is optimised for mobile, because this is where your prospects will be reading it. Use subheads and bullet points to divide up content will make it easier to read on a small screen. If your students can access your blogs wherever they are, they’re more likely to read them.

• Promote on social media

A report by Pew Research found that 92% of teenagers go online daily, with Facebook being their most popular and frequently used platform. Half of the teenagers researched use Instagram and nearly as many use Snapchat. To ensure your student prospects are even aware of your blog, it’s important to promote it regularly on your social media platforms. Once your prospects start following your blog, they will generally access the updates themselves; but if they forget to, a reminder on social media won’t go amiss. When you promote your blog, keep a close eye on the comments you receive on social media. The number of shares and likes you get will quickly indicate whether your prospects are enjoying your blog posts or not.

Lupo Digital is an inbound marketing agency that specialises in attracting new students to RTOs. Using inbound marketing techniques, which include strategic blogging, we help you with your student engagement and lead nurturing all the way through to close of sale and after. We have a passionate, experienced team dedicated to bringing all the benefits of inbound marketing to RTOs. For more information about how inbound marketing work for RTOs, download our executive guide to inbound marketing for RTOs.