Students who attend traditional classes on campus are typically more involved in their school’s community since they are physically there on a regular basis – meaning they’re easier to reach in terms of advertising your career center’s offerings. Students who attend your university online are an entirely different animal, though; you can’t reach them with on-campus posters, flyers or any other type of in-person method. Consider these three ideas to ensure that students who only attend classes online don’t miss out on the benefits your career center has to offer.
Make the Most out of Social Media
Social media is where students are, and this is one of the best ways for your career center to reach them. Make sure that your career center has its own Facebook and Twitter pages, then post regularly about events, job opportunities and any other resources you think will be interesting. Social media is essentially the online equivalent of posters and flyers on campus, and with some tips and tricks from your marketing team, you can really turn your social media pages into attractive channels for sharing information with online students who might not hear about it otherwise.
If your career services team does not have time to manage its own social media pages, collaborate with whoever runs your school’s main pages and ask them to run some career services-related posts on your behalf.
Compel Them With Email
Career services management tools like CSM allow you to send students email blasts, and this is another effective method for reaching students who are not physically on campus regularly. Make sure your subject lines are catchy and fun so students actually open the emails, then insert information about upcoming events and other resources they should know about.
Again, it might be a good idea to get a few pointers from your school’s marketing team on how to craft email content that will keep students’ attention, but a few tips to start: keep it exciting, original, and as short and sweet as possible while still getting across the important information.
Share Student Success Stories
Once you’ve captured online students’ attention through social media and email, begin using these modes of communication to share the success stories of other students who have landed great internships or jobs through your career center’s resources. Make sure that in the success story, you explain the specific career center resources this student used to score their exciting opportunity.
Try holding a contest or raffle to encourage students to submit these success stories, then use this content to show your online audience exactly why they should engage with your career center, even if they’re not physically on campus.
