Newsletter #109: A lesser-known reason higher ed content marketing fails; Edified’s student enquiry tracker is a white-knuckle ride; That Sunday Times article
✏️ From the Education Marketer desk
A lesser-known reason higher ed content marketing fails. Read
Edified’s student enquiry tracker is a white-knuckle ride. Read
What higher ed can learn from gaming. Look
How to differentiate with ambassador marketing in 2024. Listen
📰 HE news
In the future, if I’m ever asked what killed the global competitiveness of UK higher education, I will answer, “Our own government and media.” The homepage splash by The Sunday Times (a paper that makes unsubscribing harder than travelling to Mars) went full tilt with its “investigation” into international foundation courses, concisely titled, “Cash for courses: top universities recruit foreign students on low grades. While Britons need straight As to get onto prestigious Russell Group degree courses, their international classmates can buy their way in through secret routes.” Pass me the sick bag. Everything detailed about these “secret routes” is publically available on university websites. Also, let’s not forget how we got here - UG home fees have been frozen since 2012. The Times faithful wouldn’t have to accept international students subsidising “Britons’” education if the sector had been sustainably funded in the first place. Silver lining: Higher ed funding may finally be acknowledged in parliament. Read
📊 Marketing and media news
The latest chatbots are proving more emphatic than their human counterparts. A medical study in Nature revealed that AMIE, a Google chatbot, could not only diagnose some diseases more accurately, but had a better bedside manner than doctors. A similar study was conducted with students. More than a thousand “lonely” students found that using Replika, a chatbot, had a positive impact on their mental health. 3% of students even stopped having suicidal thoughts after chatting with the bot. Wow. Now, there are a couple of things we can take from this. 1) chatbots are certainly a way to augment a university’s student support services and, 2) the same technology could be used to improve the quality of comms. Edified’s recent student enquiry tracker revealed the sector’s weakness in response times and personalisation of communications. If chatbots can demonstrate as much empathy as humans, and even have a positive impact on complex issues like student mental health, I’d say it’s time for comms to bring them into the mix. Student support bots | Doctors beaten on empathy
Remember how BeReal positioned itself on “authenticity, spontaneity, and kindness”? Well, it looks like someone got out the calculator because now we’re getting the opposite: RealBrands (corporate accounts) and RealPeople (influencers.) I must say, I’m impressed. The app has existed for four years without making a penny, floated by investor cash but now looks like it’s trying to become profitable, however slim its chances… According to a recent study by Pew, fewer teens use BeReal than Facebook and by opening the doors to brands, doesn’t that torpedo it’s one differentiator? Not that its differentiator was that strong to begin with. TikTok’s clone of BeReal (TikTok Now) was shuttered months ago and its focus has since shifted to taking on YouTube with long-form content. Meanwhile, BeReal is betting it all on influencers being their “authentic selves” and sharing their “messy hair first thing in the morning.” TikTok experimented with that too, but it ended with the Gen Z camera shake and the app turning itself into the QVC of 2024. The odds are not in BeReal’s favour. RealBrands | Gen Z camera shake
🏫 What unis are doing
What do you get if you employ a BAFTA-winning EMMY-nominated filmmaker to create your university video? Something that keeps on giving. Cambridge’s “Welcome to Cambridge!” video has been on YouTube for a year, but only got shared on LinkedIn the other day to a fresh audience and equally stellar praise. Shout out to Charlotte Steggal’s Hiring Gen Z newsletter for bringing this one to my attention. Cambridge video | Hiring Gen Z newsletter
Loughborough University is testing out holographic lecturers: speakers that are filmed in one location and appear in a tardis-like cube in the other. Without seeing this in person, I can’t attest to the realism but the Guardian was so impressed that I thought its article was sponsored content (it wasn’t.) Personally, I’m all for this kind of experience as it beats wearing a $3,500 headset (I’m looking at you, Apple.) Read
Idaho universities are seeing a surge in applications after a new scheme launched that subsidises in-demand degrees. The LAUNCH programme covers up to 80% of fees across 76 Idaho institutions and is remarkably ambitious in its scope. Clearly, it’s a hit - 12,600 students have applied, sailing past the initial target of 7,500. Are we surprised? The cost of education in the US has risen faster than the price of healthcare… Read
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“People who say content creation is a 'Mickey Mouse degree' or is just about taking pictures and posting them on Instagram aren't seeing 99% of the work that we do on the course and they don't really understand fully what the course is about.” Ria Reddy, BA (Hons) Content Creation student on how she started a content consultancy business before even graduating. Read
👾 Culture shock
The UK government has launched its own WhatsApp channel. I thought it already had one. Look
Bank-owned cafes are weird. Read
