I recently attended a webinar, “Facebook Takes on Google and Wins.” The presenters discussed the best ways to utilize Facebook advertising and exciting takeaways we can expect from Facebook in the future.

One of the most exciting takeaways is the growth in social media inquiries for higher education – almost two-thirds year over year. This means more prospective students are using social media to help them choose the right institutions and programs.

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How can higher ed marketers make sure they are taking advantage of everything Facebook has to offer?

Utilize custom audiences.

Custom audiences are one of the most dominating and successful audiences on Facebook. Custom audiences can be built by placing a pixel on your program pages and landing pages to target users who have previously visited these pages and are already familiar with your institution.

Implement lookalike audiences.

Lookalike audiences help marketers extend their reach beyond their current target audiences. The most powerful way to utilize a lookalike audience is to build an audience based on users who have already converted. Facebook uses demographic information from users who have previously converted through your Facebook advertising efforts to find similar users.

Engage prospective students with video.

Video has the highest engagement on Facebook. The first three seconds of a video are most important. Seventy percent of people who engage with the first three seconds of a video are more likely to finish the video. It’s best practice to use videos that are between 15 and 30 seconds. Videos should also be optimized without sound, making imagery and captions extremely important.

Interested in learning more about how digital advertising can positively affect your recruitment? Sign up for our digital advertising pre-conference session in Palm Springs at Converge 2017!