How to Create Content By Leveraging Higher Ed Faculty

There’s a new normal for higher education institutions across the country: a disruptive financial climate combined with ever-increasing competition for student enrollment. And it’s not changing anytime soon. With the demographic cliff, increasing skepticism about the value of a traditional college degree, and the advent of non-traditional students and credentials, we can no longer rely on “traditional” methods to recruit students to our colleges and universities.

Enrollment marketers must find new, innovative ways to attract, engage, and delight their prospective students. Even more importantly, these higher education marketing strategies can’t break the bank. Plus, they need to be adaptable and easy to implement.

It’s a tall order, but it’s not impossible. And one approach starts by taking a look at the resources you already have with a fresh perspective — faculty.

Many institutions have a massively untapped asset in their faculty. Traditionally in higher education, faculty members were the original “influencers” who were well-positioned to build upon the established brand and credibility of their campus. Nowadays, you’re more likely to see students taking up this role, but we believe that faculty can retake the mantle of “influencer” to create new opportunities for their institutions. By doing so, they can make a tangible impact on the enrollment pipeline for their respective programs. It’s a win-win.

Enrollment marketers need to do more than just reimagine their faculty colleagues as true “influencers” — they need to set them up for success and get buy-in. That’s where we come in.

Why you should leverage faculty in your higher ed content marketing

They're already content creators

Most full-time faculty members have a responsibility to publish and contribute to research in their field. In addition to producing research, faculty often present and share their findings with colleagues at conferences and other events.

These efforts could — and should — be extended beyond the ivory tower of academia to create opportunities for influential engagement with prospective students. And doing that is relatively easy! It could take the shape of written content for a program blog, interviews on relevant podcasts, or short-form videos to tease some of the concepts that faculty would expand upon in their courses.

Regardless of the modality, adapting what faculty are already doing and broadening it for a wider audience is a great way to leverage them as influencers to sway interested students into choosing their program versus a competitor. As an enrollment marketer, the trick is to foster strong relationships with faculty, so you can stay in-the-know with their research and the resulting opportunities that present themselves.

Students seek them out

Faculty are higher education leaders and are subject matter experts in their fields. They are consistently sought out for their perspectives on current events and their cutting-edge research that is changing the world in which we live. While today’s prospective students may not be as motivated by big-name faculty as they used to be, prominent faculty members with strong or unique research interests can help students identify right-fit academic programs that match their future goals. Prospective graduate students, particularly those interested in participating in research, build affinity with faculty members; solidifying those relationships early in the recruitment process is vital to enrollment efforts.

Regardless of the reason, faculty members do ultimately sway enrollment decisions as prospective students compare academic programs. The enrollment choice is often easy when students have the opportunity to study with a well-known, highly respected faculty member who can increase their professional and social capital or open doors to future opportunities. To capitalize on this, elevate the awards and accolades or highlight the unique contributions of faculty at the institution to assure prospects that the school is a safe bet.

They have a high impact on their "audience"

Faculty members who engage with prospective students during the admissions process help to bridge the gap between administration and academics. This is a high-impact practice that allows admissions professionals to reinforce the “how” of the admissions process while faculty can put the question of “right fit” into perspective.

Similar to the way social media influencers impact their audience, faculty members serve as role models, mentors, and guides for their audience — including prospective students — and that starts far before class begins. During the admissions process, they provide insights into their programs and research, course instruction, program outcomes, and more. They can also get a head start on building personal connections with prospective students, reinforcing themselves as a resource on which students can rely.

To return to our metaphor: influencers desire a large, consistent audience that they can engage with and drive toward a specific action. Faculty aren’t all that different; they want to reach as many students as possible and help motivate them toward their academic goals. 

How to create content with faculty members

It’s no secret that admissions and academic units are very different — the friction between the two is commonplace throughout higher education. However, engaging faculty to create marketing content is one way to forge new relationships, mend fractured ones, or strengthen the bonds you’ve already created.

The catch is — you have to make it easy for them. They already have enough work on their plates and may not even see marketing or recruitment as within their scope of responsibility. So, here are some low-effort ways (at least for them) to leverage faculty members and influence your prospective student pipeline:

• Empower their social media presence to connect with a relevant audience. If you’ve been wondering how to create content for social media, one simple approach is to repost your institution’s thought leaders to give them more visibility. You will most likely be introducing their account to brand new eyes — and prospective students to a thought leader that may sway their enrollment decision. If your particular faculty member has a larger audience on social media than the university account, write up something you would like them to post, provide relevant links, and suggest a day/time to post and ask them to do so. It’s an easy way to garner more brand awareness.
• Create videos to use on your academic program landing page. When it comes to video marketing strategies, you can accomplish a lot with a smartphone and a cheap external microphone, but if you have a videographer on the team, use them! Book time with your faculty member and come with questions. Set up your shot and test your equipment before they arrive to avoid wasting any time. Even just thirty minutes of footage could turn into a variety of videos, but you’ll want to embed it on the program page or even in a program-specific nurturing email flow. If faculty don’t have time for a one-on-one, consider setting up a tripod and video camera during a lecture. You can even repurpose Zoom webinars or presentations to create something engaging that helps connect students with their prospective professors.
• Pitch them to be a guest on relevant podcasts. Get their blessing on this, of course, but your faculty members are subject matter experts who can speak to niche subjects with authority. They could be the perfect podcast guest. Use their research areas or areas of interest as a jumping-off point to help you track down podcasts that might align. Do your research to see the format of the podcast and how they can contribute, then pitch the idea to your faculty member and the podcast producer. If your faculty member does get featured on the podcast, it’s a win all around for the faculty member, the university, and the new audience who’s just listened in.
• Celebrate their accomplishments on university channels. Whether it’s on social media or on the institutional blog, make sure to brag about what your faculty members are accomplishing. This is good for your university brand and for inter-departmental relationship building. Be sure to highlight interviews, recent research, and any featured publications, awards, and conference presentations.
• Bring them to student recruitment events. If you’ve organized your events to be program-specific or if they’re just particularly fun to attend, there’s no reason you shouldn’t invite relevant faculty members. (Looking for some inspiration? Check out some recruitment event ideas!) Faculty do a great job of selling their program, so you should find opportunities for them to do so directly. All they have to do is show up and chat.
• Rework their academic writing to be used as blog posts. Your faculty members have a gold mine of original content (a rarity these days): their research. Get access to their academic writing and sort through the overall topics. Would the institution benefit from thought leadership around these topics? Do any of the topics align with trends in the industry or the world at large? Do any of the topics just frankly interest you? All of these are good reasons to begin to translate academic writing into marketing content. Depending on the faculty member, the hardest part might actually be explaining the marketing approach and why the writing must be different and more accessible to potential students.

A few tips to make higher ed content marketing easier

For your faculty members, working with you (however they choose to do so) should feel like a true choice. Give them agency in what that partnership looks like. In addition, you should be as efficient with your faculty member’s time as possible by having your team prepare thoroughly prior to engaging with them.

You should:

1. Anticipate their questions or concerns and prepare answers to them ahead of time.
2. Do some legwork in advance and learn about your faculty members’ backgrounds and research interests prior to working with them. Faculty respond well to genuine interest in their work and specific requests for how their work can help your efforts.
3. Create content ahead of time and ask them to add input or quotes wherever they feel compelled.
4. Coordinate interviews on their behalf (including scheduling).

You should also update faculty regularly on the impact they are making on the institution’s marketing efforts. They will be more likely to continue helping you if they know it’s worthwhile. Share metrics around the total engagement with their content and any conversions that can be tracked. DD Agency uses HubSpot for higher education to assess those efforts.

Faculty members may not be the most natural marketers, but that’s okay! With the help of their enrollment marketing colleagues, they can make a real impact on enrollment in their programs. Through their content, expertise, and ability to provide meaningful mentorship to students, faculty can be a powerful resource for institutions to leverage as they navigate this current era of student recruitment.

Want to learn more about content marketing for higher education?

DD Agency is a full-service digital marketing agency that champions inbound marketing for schools — a more sustainable approach to enrollment marketing that works by providing value first to prospective students. If you’re interested in learning more about how to spend less and enroll more students, get in touch!