Snapchat has catapulted to popularity among teenagers with its easy interface and fun filters. However, university marketers are not using the social network platform to its full advantage.
The Guardian reported that there's more to Snapchat than just college students documenting their lives in campus. The video social networking app has a lot of opportunities for university marketers to engage with its students and showcase the best of their institutions.
The publication spoke to three universities that have used Snapchat stories to run its campaigns. Stories is a feature of the app that allows users to publish photos and videos that can be viewed for 24 hours.
Anglia Ruskin University's media team had the right strategy when they realized during the early days of Snapchat that they needed to put in more efforts in keeping a story going and gaining followers. After they set up the account and were able to start right, the team allowed student ambassadors to take over the official account.
These student ambassadors gave a behind-the-scenes look at what actually happens during the Clearing process. They also invited other young people to share their experiences.
"Followers posted images with their results, pictures of the email saying 'You're in', or snaps of visiting campus," Katy Christie, communications manager at Anglia Ruskin University, said. The account was able to get 106 new followers on the first day. Moreover, young people also began to reach out to them directly about Clearing on Snapchat.
Christie noted that the main point was to give young people a place to share their thoughts with each other about their lives at uni. "It is user-to-user interaction, and we are the facilitators," she added.
Newcastle University, on the other hand, used Snapchat to document the lives of three undergraduates as they went on their research trips to Chile, the Arctic Circle and an archaeology project in Lufton in the U.K. Loughborough University use the social media app to document school activities such as recruitment, internal comms and commencement rites.
Snapchat can also be used to give potential students a virtual tour of the college. It can provide a glimpse of what they can expect when they enroll at the university.
