IBC-M

Social media as a Sales Instrument

Summary

Covid-19 has hit the education sector hard. Universities throughout the world have struggled with both student retention and attracting new students.

One of the best Universities in South-East Europe, International Business College Mitrovica (IBC-M), was also one of them. A university that has always attracted students through physical events and direct physical outreach, shifting their awareness and promotion campaign was an extremely difficult task for them. They lacked a clear social media strategy, were not sure how they can have proper exposure via Social Media, and did not have the experience within the team that could bring such a strategy to life.

Their objective however was very clear: they wanted 150 signed up, new students by the start of the new academic year.

What we did

IBC-M needed a social media strategy that 100% made up for their traditional marketing efforts, focused primarily in Kosovo and Serbia. Other than the Mitrovica region, the brand was not very familiar to high school graduating 17/18 year old’s. They were more attracted to universities that promoted themselves significantly more, but had far lesser qualities and benefitsthan IBC-M. We needed to raise awareness first about what IBC-M was, it’s amazing campuses in Mitrovica, the different internationally accredited programs it offered, the international faculty, the study/work-abroad programs, and the significantly cheaper tuition rates compared.

We have entirely refreshed their look on both Facebook and Instagram – which are the most used social media among high school students. We designed a strategy based on:

Posts about brand recognition and brand strengths (Answering “why IBC-M”)?
Posts about new, high profile students from all over Kosovo and Serbia, current IBC-M students, and very successful Alumni, their experience with IBC-M, and the various international experiences that they were exposed to because of IBC-M. The goal here was to answer the question “who studies at IBC-M”?)
Posts about what IBC-M does and has done for its students: events, conferences, international site visits, and a lot more. Things that other universities do not offer.

Most importantly, we executed a series of online events for students, which brought IBC-M to an image far superior to its competitors:
– Online Trainings for students entering the Matura exam
– Facebook live info days, career orientation days, and subject-specific presentations and talks
– Virtual tours in school
– Free English courses

The results were amazing, marking 2020 the most successful recruitment campaign they have ever organized. In less than 5 months, we have double both our Facebook and Instagram followership. Over 170 students enrolled in IBC-M for the fall semester, exceeding the targeted goal of 150.

In addition, many future graduates showed interest in IBC-M, further strengthening the university’s admissions efforts for the years to come.