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.