Part 2: The best higher education digital marketing campaigns of 2015

This week we have been looking back at 2015 and more specifically looking at were the highlights for us when it came to digital marketing in higher education.

Earlier this week we listed five social media or digital marketing campaigns that caught our eye last year and today we are bringing you the concluding five. (Catch up on part 1 here).

6. Bournemouth University student vlogs

Student vlogs can be incredibly valuable resources for students and incredibly rewarding for their institutions when done right. Bournemouth University have had an established student blog for some time but last year decided to branch out into student vlogging and the results have been very favorable indeed. The university have had high student engagement levels and lots of positive feedback about the quality, honest and authenticity of their blogs. You can read our original post about it here and check out some of their student vlogs.

7. The University of Wolverhampton's #courseyoucan campaign

‌‌‌

With colleges and universities in the UK offering so many great courses it’s easy to see why every year there are so many really, really clever clearing campaigns designed to attract the attention of the best and brightest students. We loved the University of Wolverhampton’s clearing campaign last year which used ‘digital student ambassadors’ to help incoming students find the course that’s right for them.

The digital ambassadors’ job was to provide prospective students with a realistic example of what to expect from life and study in Wolverhampton as a first year student. Each student made use of their own personalized ‘courseyoucan’ hashtag so prospective students could follow their specific journeys and see what course suited them all through a handy widget on the clearing section of the website. Read our original blog post and find out more about the #courseyoucan campaign.

8. Georgetown University’s Professors talk Star Wars

When we first came across this series of posts by the always on target Georgetown University we knew we had to include it. Let’s face it 2015 was sort of Star Wars’ year. It was everywhere from Star Wars breakfast cereal (complete with free lightsaber spoon) to Covergirl’s range of Star Wars: The force Awakens make-up. (Yes their slogan really was Light side or dark side, which side are you on?)

Anyway, we’re way beyond impressed that some clever souls at Georgetown University posted a series of videos featuring members of faculty attempted to tackle the big issues of Star Wars and get to the bottom of conundrums like whether or not Darth Vader is a hero or a villain, could star wars’ famous Jedi mind trick work in real life and how exactly does a lightsaber work? Check out the full series here.

9. University of Portland- Bluff Boxes

We sort of love everything that the University of Portland do (if you haven’t been following their social media accounts – then you really need to start…now!) We could have picked any number of posts from the last 12 months but we had a special place in our hearts for this one. It’s no easy feat keeping alumni involved in the university community and we think this campaign does just that!

For the past two years, the University of Portland alumni office has invited alumni to send a Bluff Box (a small care package) to the current students now living in the same dorm the alumni used to live in. They also made a video about it and it’s pretty darn sweet.

10. Boston College- Giving Tuesday

In the vein of keeping alumni engaged we had to mention this multi-faceted Giving Tuesday campaign from Boston College. Giving Tuesday is a worldwide movement typically refers to the day after U.S. Thanksgiving in the US and is a day dedicated to giving back. Last month Boston College asked members of their community to make a gift to support their college.

The campaign was promoted heavily throughout social media and followers were asked to share posts, download special badges and graphics, use the #givingtuesday hashtag and download the #UNSelfie sign, write why they gave to Boston College and post it to social media using the relevant hashtags. So what were the results of the campaign? Well, Boston College met and succeeded all of their goals raising a total of $200,000 in just one day! Read more about Boston College’s #GivingTuesday here.