No Marketing Support? No Problem. A Simple Communications Framework

Many Career Centers do not have the budget or ability to hire a person dedicated to managing communications, marketing, or social media for their office. Often career advisors or other staff are expected to serve in these roles though many are not trained in effective communications. How can you communicate with students without this expertise? What should you do? Why is it important to think about your email and social media strategy at all?

According to the College Marketing Group, “research shows 99% of consumers look at and send emails daily. College students aren’t any different. While college students favor social media, they are highly active email users. Most students check and send emails regularly.” Further, Ed’s research showed that college students’ media consumption increased during the COVID pandemic, with social media being the primary place they spent their time. Like the old student affairs adage says, we must “meet them where we are” to make sure they don’t miss out on how we can support them.

The good news is that any Career Center can create an effective marketing and communications plan with advanced planning and the assistance of a few tools regardless of marketing expertise. At the Georgia Tech Career Center, we use these simple steps to set up our team for a successful semester.

1.      Get organized.

Before you can create a communication plan, you must first create an event calendar and map out topics that may be most relevant to your audience by week. Use major events such as career fairs to serve as your anchors as you plan your career content. There is a common cycle that occurs each semester in most career centers: before a career fair, students seek assistance with their resume and career fair prep. Shortly after, students will begin interviewing and negotiating salaries. Though not all students will fall into this pattern, this is a good base on which you can structure your email and social media communications. Identify the core programs you would like to provide and use Excel to layout your structure.

Once you have this outline in mind, schedule your workshops and programs early, at least the topics if not the specific dates or times. Use this as your guide in your communications planning. Dates, locations, and other important information can be slotted into social media or email messages at a later date. Create templates using tools like Canva, which don’t require a graphic design background. Pick 2-3 fonts and color schemes so your graphics appear consistent, and don’t forget to review your university’s brand guidelines before making these decisions.

 2.      Use breaks.

Give yourself a break at the beginning of summer or end of the year holidays to recoup, but once you have caught your breath, it’s time to gather your thoughts. Revisit your fall and spring programming calendars to review any email or social media analytics you captured over the past year. What topics seemed to resonate most with students? What time of year was this? What programs resulted in the most engagement or highest attendance? Jot down your notes and identify these trends. Understanding what topics most resonated with students and events that had the largest attendance should inform your strategy.

3.      Schedule and execute.

Tools like Hootsuite, Symplicity, and Handshake all have features where you can schedule future messages. Though many campuses may make you wait until closer to the start of the school year before you can solidify your reservations, there is nothing to prevent you from creating templates. Slot in the finalized details and space out your social media posts using tools like Hootsuite. Use Handshake and Symplicity to complement your social media posts through email marketing. The best times to send emails and social media posts will vary, but scheduling during class breaks, evenings, and right before major events may be most effective. According to SproutSocial, posts scheduled on Instagram from 11am-2pm receive the most views. The best timing to post on social media varies, but this helpful Hootsuite article gives suggestions for times by platform.

Though Career Centers should certainly promote their events, this should not be the only thing you are communicating. Be mindful of incorporating career preparation into your content. Too often employers will give feedback that students seemed unprepared in introducing themselves at career fairs, lacked employer research, or had a deficiency in some other professional skill. Increase the value of your communications by incorporating preparation information that will help your students best represent themselves.

Measures of Success

So how will you know if you have created a successful communications plan? Make sure you have enabled your email analytics, look at your open rate, and see the number of clicks you are receiving. You can measure social media success in many ways, and it varies by platform. The Georgia Tech Career Center focuses on LinkedIn and Instagram to communicate with students through social media, as well as to increase awareness of Career Center offerings to upper-level administration using LinkedIn. This decision was made after surveying students on their preferred platforms, and engagement through both has been better than we could have anticipated as a result.

At the end of the day engagement with your content and increased student attendance to events you are promoting are key measures of success. If you do not see engagement through either means, take the time to evaluate why. Could you change the timing of your post or event? Is the title or content appealing to students? How relevant is this topic to students? Modifying how you market these events or content could increase your success. Lastly, partner with other offices across your campus or employers to drive student engagement. Their brand name or additional marketing support could assist in driving your success.

Best of luck with your communications efforts!