As technology continues to evolve and student behaviours shift, we’re faced with new opportunities and challenges — especially when it comes to content.
We know that students are hungry for information. On our platform, we’ve seen a steady increase year over year when it comes to article views and clicks. We served over 4.2 million views in 2022, which is a 35% increase over 2021.
But while content consumption is going up, it’s important to understand what kind of content works best, and how to plan for the future based on current trends.
In this article, we’ll delve into the most crucial trends and strategies that will shape the future of content marketing, helping you stay ahead of the curve and effectively engage prospective students. From creating personalized experiences to addressing students’ pain points, we’ll share our top 5 trends and key learnings that will help give you the tools to create compelling and impactful content as we look to the back half of 2023 and beyond.
1. Personalization is Paramount
Customized content based on user preferences and data analytics is crucial for engaging and converting audiences effectively. Personalization is important to students (PDF), and students want to feel like the content they’re consuming was written exactly for them.
Where possible, write content that is specific to your key demographics. For example “Tips to Help You Settle in as a Canadian Student in the United Kingdom” was one of our top articles of 2022, and would perform much better than a more generic article titled, “Why You Should Attend X University.” Students want to see themselves reflected in your content!
2. Interactive and Immersive Content
With students’ waning attention spans, interactive formats are becoming an effective way to market your content. Quizzes, polls, and surveys are growing more prevalent in content marketing, and although they can take more work to create, can yield strong results that remain evergreen.
3. Authenticity and User-Generated Content (UGC)
With the proliferation of AI and chatbots as communication tools, users crave content that feels authentic and genuine. Where possible, leverage your student ambassadors or current faculty to tell real stories about life on campus, program information, and more. This type of UGC can greatly enhance your brand exposure and build authenticity.
4. Content that Students Want to See
We can all speculate on the types of topics students are interested in learning more about, but we thought it best to ask them ourselves! Unsurprisingly, students’ #1 pick was learning more about scholarships/financial aid, followed by program information and deadlines.
For international students, information on getting a student visa moves above programs to the #2 spot. For older students, the application process takes the #2 spot.
Writing content that answers student questions and gets to the heart of their concerns can help address their pain points and reinforce your brand as a trusted and reliable source.
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation
AI-powered content creation, curation, and automated distribution contribute to more efficient and effective content marketing strategies. While you want to ensure authenticity with your content, leveraging AI to help you strategize, ideate, and proofread can help you spend less time executing and more time increasing the volume of what you publish.
There’s one caveat: while AI can help you fact check, we’ve found that it still requires some additional fact checking to ensure accuracy.
We hoped this help you gain a solid understanding of the most important aspects of the future of content marketing in 2023 and beyond.
To learn more about The SchoolFinder Group or for help with your content strategy, email us at info@schoolfindergroup.com.
