This means that if an influencer recommends a certain product or service – or educational institution – it’s almost like a recommendation from a friend.
In higher education, this can be an extremely effective marketing strategy, seeing that most prospective students these days are active on Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and other social media platforms.
What the Data Shows
- 70% of teens trust influencers more than traditional celebrities.
- Influencer marketing campaigns earn $6.50 for every dollar spent.
- 74% of people trust social networks to guide their purchasing decisions.
How To Get Started
To have success with influencer marketing, you’ll need to carefully consider three main questions:
Which influencer will you select?
The influencer you select should align with your target audience and the type of students you are trying to attract. Your influencer must:
Have a strong presence within the appropriate age-range – as a higher-education institution, your best bet would be to select an influencer with a strong presence within the 17-25-year-old age group as this is the most common age range for university applicants.
Align with your institution’s values – if the influencer you select does not align with your school’s core values, your efforts will have been in vain. For most higher education institutions, it’s a good idea to stick to the self-improvement/learning space when it comes to picking influencers.
Match your goals – are you trying to attract more international students? In this case, it’s worthwhile to consider a foreign influencer who has some pull over the type of students you’re looking to attract.
Which platform will you choose?
At the time of this post (2020), the best platforms for influencer marketing are Instagram, Youtube, and blogging. It’s important to choose the one that’s most likely to capture the attention of your target audience.
That said, there’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of influencer marketing across multiple platforms. In fact, this can provide a significant boost to the success of your campaign because people are likely to follow their favourite influencers across several social media sites.
What is your budget?
The cost of partnering with an influencer usually depends on the size of their audience. According to an article published by Digiday, Instagram influencers with 100,000 followers will charge approximately $1,000 per post, which works out to a price of $0.01 per follower.
On the other hand, Youtube influencers with 10,000 subscribers will generally charge about $2,000 per sponsored video. This uptick in price is due to the fact that video content is much more time-intensive compared to a simple Instagram post.