US Educational Group Social Media Strategy Middle East

Editor's Notes

1. Intro, useg – recruiting company, consult on marketing to students in the middle east, work with clients on improving their overall brand in the region
2. We’re really going to mostly concentrate on the Middle East, so jordan, saudi, kuwait, bahrain, oman, uae, even though we do work in north africa & central asia.
3. Style of marketing today is tremendously different from what it was 5 years ago. You were a school on the cutting edge if you had an online application. That doesn’t cut it anymore. The students you meet in the middle east today, are extremely different from those from 10-15 years ago. They have a lot more access, a lot of marketing thrown at them – but of course not to the level of the domestic us student.
4. So what is your campus currently doing to recruit domestic students? Should we be on facebook and twitter? Well its not really about where you want to be, its not about the platform, its about WHERE IS YOUR AUDIENCE? 2 years ago, if we were sitting here, I would tell you “if you’re a community college, get onto myspace – that’s where your audience is”.
5. At this point, there was still little to no engagement by internaitonal admissions offices with the students in the MENA region on facebook or any social media outlet honestly. We’re talking about facebook today, but truthfully, this is not about a particular platform, its about engaging the students where they live and play.
6. From 6.2MM to 40MM users in Saudi Arabia , Lebanon , Jordan Egypt Kuwait Morocco United Arab Emirates Bahrain Palestine Qatar Tunisia Iraq Oman Turkey Syria Sudan Yemen Algeria Libya Azerbaijan Georgie Uzbekistan Kazakhstan
7. Style of marketing today is tremendously different from what it was 5 years ago. You were a school on the cutting edge if you had an online application. That doesn’t cut it anymore. The students you meet in the middle east today, are extremely different from those from 10-15 years ago. They have a lot more access, a lot of marketing thrown at them – but of course not to the level of the domestic us student.
8. Population of lebanon is 4MM – and 1MM are on facebook. That’s market penetration.
9. I left Egypt & Turkey off, because with a growth from 22million to XXX it throws
10. Style of marketing today is tremendously different from what it was 5 years ago. You were a school on the cutting edge if you had an online application. That doesn’t cut it anymore. The students you meet in the middle east today, are extremely different from those from 10-15 years ago. They have a lot more access, a lot of marketing thrown at them – but of course not to the level of the domestic us student.
11. Your target audience is on facebook – TODAY are you still mailing them viewbooks? are you waiting for your social media plan? are you concerned about losing control?
12. Ok, now what? Facebook is not your goal, its not your strategy. Its just part of the pie.
13. Your audience is there, Ultra targeted ads, Easy to control costs, Stay within budget, Measureable path
14. Create a FB page, make buy in, have students and admissions using the page, answering questions, etc. OR you just use it as a marketing tool, a website that you can generate leads from, have eyeballs at.
15. This data is based on an ad campaign in November of 2009
16. Target the Intensive English/ESL program Rewrite for each language – focus on main items students will find most appealing Keep sites in HTML/text for search engines to find Arabic search engine optimization & adwords purchases MUCH easier/cheaper than English Optimize landing page to create student engagement & leads
17. Student Bloggers – an invaluable tool in building emotional connection for international students Facebook Page aimed at incoming students, require all staff access to answer questions and build discussions Encourage students to write articles for magazines aimed at international students College visits and tours are the best way to clinch the student and connect them to your school.”
18. Understanding Use current trends to create emotional connection Expect you to care about them as an individual Market by understanding culture