Covid-19 has successfully re-arranged how we conduct every aspect of our lives as individuals. The entire school system has been in disarray, and no one would have thought that a pandemic would affect how people become enrolled in University. 

Are you concerned that the enrollment process for your University Cohort for 2021 is coming up and there might not be enough innovative strategies put in place to increase the numbers of students? Don’t sit and expect a decrease in University Enrollment, but rather consider these ten creative ways to keep your enrollment numbers up and growing in this coronavirus season. 

1. Connect with your students

There is no connection without understanding. Getting to know your students is critical. 

This step outshines any other enrolment and student recruitment or marketing strategy. 

Forbes believes that getting to know your students means understanding your existing students. This will assist you in being able to visualize who will have a better opportunity at being successful at your University. 

This process will ensure you create student personas that will help in: 

• Targeting the best marketing strategy, which in turn increases Return on Investment.
• Knowing exactly where to go to recruit the right student prospects.  
• Encouraging the increase of graduation and recommendations.

2. Ensure social media is a key marketing strategy for your University

The best way to increase University Enrollment is to use social media management strategies to keep students interested. Studies show that an average of 3 hours is spent daily on social media.

This is best achieved by:

• Being aware of all social media platforms
• Knowing all the changes and updates of each social media platform
• Producing only quality content on all social media platforms

Learning and understanding all the above pointers will ensure you are consistent and can effectively build your audience. 

3. Maximize the use of video 

The use of video content should be incorporated as a strategy to increase your enrollments for your University. Wyzowl studies exposed that 72% of consumers prefer text to video to learn about goods or services. 

Also, in a population of booming Generation Z’s, YouTube video viewership has never been higher. A total of 59% prefer YouTube videos for learning. Notably, 86% of your competitors, other colleges and universities, have a video presence on Youtube. 

Video content boosts leads and increases click-through rates when coupled with emails. 

4. Make enrollments mobile-friendly

Generation Z spends the  on their mobile phones browsing the internet. As a University seeking to increase enrollment, it is important to ensure deliberate efforts are made to implement mobile optimization across all mobile operating systems. 

5. Incorporate emails

Emails are still an essential aspect of increasing enrollments for your University. Email marketing can be improved by personalizing emails, spam proofing your emails and using intelligent automation to personalize and launch campaigns. This process will ensure you remain connected with your prospective students throughout the enrollment process.

6. Learn your enrollment marketing statistics

If you aim to increase enrollment for your University,  should never be a moment of guessing but surety. 

Decisions for effective marketing will ensure your numbers climb. Marketing decisions ought to be data-driven in a way that will cause strategically analyze the traffic that comes to your website, the metrics and incorporate a high-tech CRM system. 

7. Implement innovative enrollment marketing

Higher Ed marketing is always an avenue to consider in boosting enrollment rates for your University. This can be achieved by implementing live streams and videos focused on interaction or chatbots. 

8. Develop groups on social media platforms for parents

Anika Olsen, Principal and Consultant, at EAB encourages interaction with parents on social media platforms like Facebook. This will be a tremendous influence for an increase in enrollments. The more parents are able to feel involved and have their questions answered, the more it will positively impact the enrollment through direct and referred measures. 

9. Utilize text systems for student reminders

Implementing personalized text messages to remind prospective students to complete the enrollment process proves to be truly helpful in ensuring the process is completed. 

10. Introduce admitted-students website 

This website serves to prompt and equip students as the decision day advances. This is a reliable, easy, and organized way of communicating with students. Find ways to include infographics to present and answer student questions. 

Conclusion

The Covid-19 Pandemic has forced your University to think outside the ordinary. Universities are now pushed to become creative. Though it may come with more planning, the positives outweigh the negatives. 

Universities that incorporate the outlined strategies above will create even better opportunities to offer students that will appeal to this age and keep University Enrollment going up even amidst a pandemic.  

Is enrollment still not ideal at your University?  can help. With STARTNOO, your University can increase enrollment and retention by offering a unique, alternative form of financial aid to your students. Learn more here.