Education Agency Improves Social Media Presence with KINSHIP digital

Challenge

The education agency had an extensive array of social media properties. There were a significant number of student and prospect visits to those sites where a lot of content was being consumed. What was not clear was how engaged the students were during this process, how they felt about the engagement and what they said about the engagement. Additionally, it also wasn’t clear how this engagement compared with what was being said regarding international competitor education institutions.

The agency understood that social media and the effective use of the social web could enhance the interest and consideration of potential international students but was unsure of the best way to utilise the social web and social technology.

The education agency wanted to better understand what ‘conversations’ were occurring on the social web – conversations that are pertinent to the target markets, future potential students, stakeholders and key terms so they were then able to define a social media strategy moving forward.

Strategy

To inform the strategy development, KINSHIP digital undertook an assessment of conversations in social data streams to gain an understanding of weather there were a significant number of conversations taking place that concerned a potential students decision to study in Australia or another competitor education market.

KINSHIP digital reviewed the current social media presence of the education agency and proposed a social media audit based on the following 4 deliverables:

About the Education Agency

Geography

Canberra, Australia

Employees

1000 +

Phase 1: Review of the government agencies Social Presence

On 33 education social media assets globally across blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Phase 2: Country Educational Conversations

Using a social media research tool and listening tool, conversations about Australian education were analysed over a 12-month period. Conversations about four key competitor markets were also analysed.

Phase 3: Government Agency Global Brand Analysis

Using the same global dataset, analysis was undertaken on the specific Australian ‘education brands’ – Future Unlimited and Study in Australia.

Phase 4: Stakeholder interviews

Interviews were held with:
  • staff from five locations – US, Indonesia, Italy, China, and Peru/Brazil.
  • four prospective students in three locations – Brazil, Peru and China.
Based on the finding from the social media audit, KINSHIP digital developed a social media strategy for the government agencies education team based on the Eight Point methodology is shown to the right.

 
 

Results

The social media audit and proposed social media strategy developed by KINSHIP digital assisted the education agency in achieving the following results:

Brand Health

  • Improved awareness of Australian education and its brand values
  • Improved sentiment around the Australian education brand
  • Improved desirability of Australia as an education destination
  • Build resilience and trust in the brand

Marketing Optimisation

  • Increased word of mouth advocacy of Australian education and re-sharing of content
  • Drive attendance at events
  • Target content production and distribution to suit the different social channels
  • Drive engagement and participation in conversations

Operational Efficiency

  • Self Service Student Support – provided answers on a one-to-many basis rather than one-to-one.
  • Centralisation of processes – centralising the Education agency's social media assets to better control and better leverage the content
  • Creation of Social process workflows to involve stakeholders as necessary
  • Sharing of content to reduce resource levels required
  • Policy guidance to staff participating in social media

Ecosystem Engagement

  • Built shared media objectives where stakeholder and providers in the Australian Educational value chain are contributing
  • Became a trusted source of content
  • Aggregated conversations and mentions in a place where they can be accessed by all, and reused
  • Increased lifespan of content through propagation by the eco system
  • Created a reference base
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