How to create a social media strategy for higher education

Key points

• Social media boosts communication and student engagement.
• Content should address student challenges like stress and career prep.
• Use different platforms strategically to reach diverse audiences.
• A driven strategy with clear, measurable SMART goals is essential.

Social media has become a powerful tool in higher education, transforming the way institutions engage with students, faculty, alumni, and the community. Its strategic use can increase visibility and foster stronger connections across academic and social environments. That’s exactly why it’s essential for higher education to establish a solid social media strategy tailored to their digital savvy audiences.

The power of social media in higher education

Here are some key ways social media supports and enhances higher education efforts:

Athletics and personal branding:

Social media is becoming a powerful tool for student-athletes, especially with the rise of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities. Universities can support athletes in building their personal brands, engaging fans, and navigating endorsement opportunities, all of which can influence athletic recruitment and elevate the school’s visibility.

Social media has revolutionized how higher education institutions operate, communicate, and engage. It plays a crucial role in recruitment, branding, and relationship building. When used effectively, social media strengthens campus communities, academic goals, and empowers institutions to thrive in a digital world.

How to reach college students on social media

In order to reach college students in the most effective way it is important to analyze social media usage statistics to determine which platform will resonate the best with your audience. Most college students fall within the 18–24 age range and belong to Gen Z, one of the most digitally active generations. According to a recent Emplifi study, Gen Z prefers Instagram over any other platform, making it crucial for universities to focus on this highly engaging visual platform to connect authentically and relevantly. To capture college students’ attention, institutions must understand their world, speak their language, and add real value to their content.

The top platforms students spend their time on:

1. YouTube
2. TikTok
3. Instagram
4. Snapchat
5. X
6. Facebook
7. LinkedIn

To create meaningful and engaging content, it’s essential to understand the challenges students face – not just academically, but personally and socially.

Here are some common student pain points to keep in mind:

• Academic pressure: Many students juggle demanding course loads, high expectations, and time management issues. Content that offers study tips, stress relief techniques, or showcases academic support services can resonate deeply.
• Financial stress: Managing tuition, student loans, and living expenses is a major concern. Content that shares budgeting advice, scholarship opportunities, or financial aid resources can offer real value.
• Mental health and belonging: College can be isolating for some, especially those who are far from home or part of underrepresented groups. Creating content around mental health awareness, campus support groups, or student communities can help students feel seen and supported.
• Career preparation: Students are often anxious about life after graduation. Sharing internship opportunities, resume tips, alumni success stories, or career center resources can help reduce that uncertainty.

When your social media content speaks directly to these pain points, whether through short-form videos, infographics, or student testimonials, it shows that your institution understands and cares. That’s how trust is built and engagement grows.

Align social media content with student interests

To create engaging content, you need to truly understand your audience and what they care about, what they need, and how they behave online. When your content reflects student interests and daily experiences, it not only captures attention but also builds lasting connection and community.

Start by identifying common areas of interest among college students, such as:

• Campus life & events: Students want to feel connected. Promote student orgs, highlight events, and share behind-the-scenes glimpses of campus life to encourage involvement and school spirit.
• Financial tips & scholarships: Content around budgeting, money-saving hacks, and scholarship opportunities consistently performs well — especially when it’s concise, visually engaging, and easy to act on.
• Career development: Students are highly interested in internships, job fairs, networking events, and resume tips. Highlighting alumni stories or partnering with career services can make this content even more compelling.
• Degree-specific content: Creating program- or major-specific social accounts (or content streams) helps deliver targeted, relevant info — like lab highlights for STEM students or portfolio reviews for design majors.

Tailoring your content to these interests not only drives engagement but also demonstrates that your institution values the full student experience — academically, socially, and professionally.

What does a successful higher education social media strategy look like for a higher education institution?

A successful social media marketing strategy for higher education should be goal driven and in alignment with the university’s mission to engage and maintain a brand personality. It should focus on engaging students, alumni, and prospective students while maintaining a consistent brand voice. When strategy and purpose work together, social media becomes a powerful tool for building community and driving growth.

Set SMART goals

A strong social media strategy starts with SMART goals; goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework ensures your efforts are focused, trackable, and aligned with institutional priorities.

SMART goals should:

• Specific: Clearly define what you want to accomplish
• Measurable: Include metrics to track success (likes, shares, click-throughs, etc.)
• Achievable: Be realistic given your resources and constraints
• Relevant: Align with broader university goals like enrollment or retention
• Time-bound: Include a deadline to create urgency and accountability

Examples of SMART goals for higher education social media:

• Increase student engagement on social media by 10% by posting weekly interactive polls and Q&A stories on Instagram through the end of the semester.
• Boost event attendance by 15% by promoting student activities through Instagram Reels and TikTok videos during the first six weeks of the academic year.
• Grow prospective student leads by 20% by launching a targeted Facebook and YouTube ad campaign for undergraduate admissions by October 1.
• Strengthen alumni engagement by increasing LinkedIn post interactions by 25% with monthly alumni spotlight stories and career updates by year-end.
• Improve first-year retention messaging by developing a series of supportive wellness posts on Instagram Stories twice a week, running from August through December.

To create an effective social media strategy for higher education, it’s essential to align your social media objectives. Whether the institution is aiming to increase enrollment or boost alumni engagement, your content should directly support the priorities of the university. This alignment ensures consistent messaging, strengthens brand identity, and uses social media as a powerful tool.

Collaborating with teams in admissions, marketing, and student life allows for unified campaigns that are more impactful.

Choosing the right platforms for social media marketing for educational institutions

Each social media platform serves a unique purpose in connecting with college audiences. About three in four students rely on social media for news, with TikTok and Instagram ranking as their top sources for news-related content.

Meanwhile, alumni are more active on Facebook and LinkedIn, where they engage in networking, nostalgia, and supporting their alma mater. Maintaining brand consistency and presence across multiple platforms helps boost recognition and engagement among users who are active on several channels.

Here’s how to tailor your social media strategy to effectively reach higher education audiences on each platform:

TikTok is perfect for short, attention-grabbing videos that showcase student life, trending challenges, campus trends, dorm tours, and personal experiences. Content that feels informal and creative performs best here.

Instagram supports visual storytelling through reels, carousels, stories, and takeovers, making it a good place to promote events, student features, and behind-the-scenes content.

YouTube is a platform for long-form content like virtual campus tours, student vlogs, admissions tips, and academic highlights, helping prospective students explore more in depth.

Snapchat offers real-time, personal engagement through campus-specific stories making it perfect for sharing quick updates and day-in-the-life content.

X is used for immediate updates, campus news, alerts, and engaging in trending conversations quickly.

Facebook works well for longer posts, event promotions, and connecting with parents and alumni through community building like Facebook groups.

LinkedIn is more professional and is best for highlighting academic programs, career services, connection building, and alumni success.

Knowing what content works best on each platform helps colleges engage specific audiences more effectively and ensures that messaging stays relevant and impactful. Knowing the best times to post is also a key ingredient in a successful social media strategy.

How to create engaging social media content for higher education

To effectively reach college students on social media, universities should focus on creating short, attention-grabbing content that feels authentic and trustworthy. Universities face tremendous pressure to stand out in such a highly competitive environment. Social media content can be the key factor that sets one institution apart from another.

Increasingly, students are using social media to conduct research on which university they should apply to or attend. This shift in behavior underscores the need for your brand to be not only discoverable online, but especially visible and active on social platforms.

To help universities succeed in this space, we’ve outlined a set of social media content recommendations for higher education institutions designed to boost visibility, build engagement, and strengthen brand identity across the platforms students use most.

Use content that resonates with your audience

To effectively engage both current and prospective students on social media, focus on creating content that is relatable, authentic, and student-centered. Student spotlights — featuring individual stories, achievements, or testimonials. This not only builds trust and a sense of community but also incorporates user-generated content (UGC), which feels more genuine to your audience.

Gen Z in particular responds well to humorous, informal content. Brands like Duolingo have excelled at this by creating playful, meme-style posts that go viral and build brand affinity. Universities can adapt a similar tone where appropriate to appear more approachable and relevant. Here is an example of Duolingo targeting Gen Z humor on TikTok and receiving more than seven million likes:

Duolingo’s viral TikTok featuring its mascot in an exaggerated “rise and grind” scene taps into Gen Z’s love for irony, chaos, and self-aware branding. By leaning into relatable pressure with over-the-top humor, it connects authentically with students—showing that informative content doesn’t have to be serious to be effective.

Virtual tours and interactive content are especially valuable for reaching out-of-state or international students who may not be able to visit campus. Meanwhile, day-in-the-life videos, dorm tours, and event coverage offer a real, behind-the-scenes look at student life—helping prospective students imagine themselves on campus. Humor-driven content can be equally impactful.

Incorporate UGC

User-generated content (UGC) has become increasingly more popular and used as a key ingredient to engage the community online. It refers to content that is created and shared by a brand’s audience or customers, not the brand itself. It could be content created by students, alumni, or staff that is reposted by a university’s social media channels.

According to Emplifi’s data 65% of consumers trust customer content more than influencer posts. Companies need to be mindful that they follow UGC best practices such as asking for permission and to avoid shortcuts. This type of content builds authenticity because it reflects genuine experiences. A successful UGC campaign boosts engagement, because students are more likely to interact with and share content that features their peers or themselves.

Build a social media content calendar

Building a consistent social media content calendar is essential for keeping your social media posts timely, relevant, and consistent across all platforms. Planning monthly, weekly, and platform specific content that align with the university’s missions and goals is a great way to stay organized and ensure that every post supports your communication strategy.

You can download our free social media content calendar template to help you better plan and organize your posts with ease. As you map out your strategy, be sure to include a variety of content formats such as videos, stories, carousel posts, and interactive elements. This will help keep your audience engaged and coming back for more.

How to build an engaged community

As a key part of a successful social media marketing strategy in higher education, building social engagement helps increase visibility, strengthen school pride, and attract prospective students.

To foster an engaged community, institutions should prioritize active two-way communication. Responding to comments, messages, and reviews in a timely, thoughtful manner shows that the university values its community and is listening.

Personalized communication goes a long way. Customizing responses to reflect each individual’s question or concern creates a more human, approachable presence. Incorporating interactive content like polls, surveys, and Q&As also helps followers feel involved and heard, transforming passive viewers into active participants.

How to measure success using social media analytics

Tracking the success of your social media marketing strategy using analytics is essential to understand what’s working and what isn’t. One of the most effective ways to measure this is by monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs), which can include:

Engagement metrics

• Engagement Rate (likes + comments + shares/ impressions or followers x 100) shows the percentage of your audience actively interacting with your content, helping you gauge how engaging or relevant your posts are.
• Average Likes, Comments, and Shares per post can help you see which types of content consistently drive the most interactions and conversations.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR) on links shows how many users click on your post compared to how many saw it which gives insight on how effective your call to actions are.

Reach

• Follower growth measures how fast your audience is increasing over time and how well your content is doing at attracting new followers
• Impressions is the number of times your content or post was displayed on a screen no matter if it engaged with or not which measures its potential visibility.
• Profile views how much your profiles are getting viewed on each platform showing interest in the university after seeing a certain post or ad.

Traffic

• Landing page visits from social media tracks how many people visit your website or internal links on social media after engaging in a post revealing how effective posts drive traffic to other digital platforms.
• Application starts or inquiries from prospective students after engaging with your social media content demonstrate genuine interest in the institution.
• Registration in events or other campus activities based off of social media posts like webinars or social gatherings shows social media’s role in promoting attendance.

Sentiment

• Mentions monitoring helps you understand the visibility your school has in online conversations, through tags, hashtags, or brand mentions.
• Sentiment analysis reveals the emotional tone in conversations online determining if they are positive, negative, or neutral. This can help find potential issues early and highlight what content resonates with your audience the best.
• UGC volume is a strong indicator of brand engagement that can provide valuable content to share across platforms to highlight authentic experiences of your university.

Content performance

• Platform specific metrics each social media platform offers unique insights based on contact and reach. Tracking specific metrics on each platform makes sure you’re optimizing your social media marketing strategy to target the strengths of that platform’s algorithm and reach your audience in the most effective way.
• Top performing posts by engagement reveals which content types are landing well with your audience. This lets you recycle successful strategies and get rid of ones that are not working. This is one way to continuously improve how you connect with current or prospective students.
• Views and completion rates indicate how many people watch your content and how many watch it all the way through. A high completion rate suggests your post is engaging, while a low rate may mean it’s too long or not well-targeted. Monitoring these metrics can help improve your video strategy.

Monitoring social platforms and listening to student voices help universities better understand student perspectives and respond strategically to concerns or suggestions. Social media analytics provide insights into which content resonates with different audiences, highlighting the importance of social media monitoring. Emplifi’s social media analytics tool supports monitoring performance and KPIs, driving strategy and elevating your brand’s impact.

Using data to refine your social media approach in higher education enables informed decisions about what’s working and what needs improvement. Leveraging social media benchmarks offer insight into your current standing, helping you strategize more effectively to maximize your digital impact. Since social media is constantly evolving, staying up to speed with the latest trends is essential.

How to mitigate crisis management and build brand reputation on social media

To handle negative feedback or online crises effectively, institutions should develop a clear response plan that includes multiple important factors. Preparing templates and guidelines ensures consistent communication. To maintain a positive brand image, share uplifting, authentic content, as well as engage with your audience. .

How to develop a plan for handling negative feedback or crises online

Developing a plan for handling negative feedback or online crises is crucial, given the vast amount of information constantly circulating on social media. Monitoring your social platforms and content with social listening tools like Emplifi’s can help you stay ahead of your brand’s reputation and detect potential crises before they escalate—or even occur.

When creating crisis protocols, it is essential to establish clear guidelines within your team that define roles, responsibilities, and approval processes. Designate a response team that includes social media managers, communications staff, and senior leadership when necessary. While no one wants to face a social media crisis, being prepared is key. Having pre-approved templates and tone guidelines ready can save valuable time while ensuring responses remain consistent and appropriate.

Responding promptly and efficiently is critical for de-escalating crises while maintaining professionalism. Transparency and effective follow-through are especially important today, as “cancel culture” runs rampant on social media. Address the issue respectfully, avoid defensive language, and focus on the facts and the steps being taken to resolve the situation.

How to maintain a positive brand image

A positive brand image requires consistency and authenticity, both essential elements for an effective higher education social media strategy. With students spending significant time online, maintaining a strong reputation can attract prospective students as well.

Sharing uplifting content such as success stories, campus life insights, and notable achievements helps build pride in your institution. Engaging with your audience in a respectful and friendly tone demonstrates that you value them, strengthening the sense of community; a crucial aspect of portraying a university’s culture online.

Reposting user-generated content fosters inclusion and motivates students to engage more, eager for a feature. When mistakes happen, addressing them transparently and honestly is key to maintaining credibility. Monitoring feedback allows you to adapt your social media strategy, ensuring your messaging stays aligned with both your audience’s values and those of the university.

Top performing universities on social media: inspiration from the best

Looking at top-performing institutions can offer valuable insights and inspiration for building your own social media strategy. A prime example is Harvard University, which consistently ranks at the top with the highest follower count among universities. While Harvard benefits from strong brand recognition, its success on social media goes beyond name alone.

Their Instagram feed is full of high-quality visuals, as well as stories that feature students, faculty, and alumni. Harvard effectively integrates user-generated content (UGC) and maintains a consistent posting schedule, which drives strong audience engagement. Their content frequently ties into current events and global topics, keeping it culturally relevant and timely.

As one of the most prestigious and recognized universities, Harvard uses its social media presence not just to showcase academic accomplishments, but also to highlight diversity, inclusion, and social impact. By prioritizing authentic storytelling and maintaining a consistent, interactive presence, Harvard has built one of the most followed university accounts on Instagram.

By looking to institutions like Harvard and others that perform well online, you can gain a clearer understanding of what resonates with audiences in higher education. Whether it’s showcasing research, highlighting student achievements, or creating a sense of belonging through community engagement, top universities show that social media success is driven by strategic, values-based content.

Takeaway

Social media marketing is essential for educational institutions aiming to stay competitive and relevant in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. As student expectations evolve and platform trends shift, universities must continuously adapt their strategies to effectively connect with their audiences.

A well-executed social media strategy promotes not only engagement but also long-term brand growth. By staying in tune with your audience, embracing innovation, and remaining committed to continuous improvement, your institution can build a powerful digital presence that stands out in the higher education space.

Ready to elevate your social media strategy?

Contact Emplifi for a demo today and see how our social media marketing platform for higher education can help your institution thrive online.