LinkedIn Retools Higher Ed Features

Linked Higher Ed Retooling and Your Recruitment Campaigns

Presented by: Higher Education Marketing

1.  Major LinkedIn Higher Ed Changes in 2016 2.  Why is LinkedIn Changing its Approach to Education 3.  Previous LinkedIn University Features: A Missed Opportunity

4.  Promoting Your School on the New LinkedIn Students App

5.  Using LinkedIn University Pages After the Changes 6.  The Future of LinkedIn and Higher Education

Overview

Earlier this year LinkedIn announced big changes to its Higher Education features, including- �  The discontinuation of a number of its University Pages

features �  The introduction of a brand-new LinkedIn Student app

Read on to learn more about how the revamp affects your social media marketing campaigns!

Source: HEM – LinkedIn Retool Higher Ed Features: What This Means for Your Recruitment Campaigns

1. Major LinkedIn Higher Ed Changes in 2016

LinkedIn launched its University Pages in 2013 in a bid to become a trusted authority in the college decision-making process. But the site failed to capture the imagination of students.

2. Why is LinkedIn Changing its Approach to Education?


Research firm Chegg revealed that just 11% of high school seniors in the US used LinkedIn to research universities, even less than highly visual social media sites like Snapchat and Vine.

Source: Collegewebeditor.com

The online recruitment tools that are no longer available on LinkedIn include- �  Field of Study Explorer, which helped students to explore a range of

different study areas and the careers of graduates in specific fields. �  University Finder, which allowed students to refine their search based

on location, subject, and even the amount of alumni employed by a specific company.

�  LinkedIn’s University Rankings, which ranked schools in different subject areas based on career outcomes for graduates.

�  Decision Boards, which allowed students to amalgamate all their findings into a board to help them compare choices, and share and discuss them among their peers.


3. Previous LinkedIn University Features: A Missed Opportunity?

Example- When it was active, University Finder answered very specific requests based on career goals, like this search for a business career based in the US with a company like Amazon.


Prospective students could add each of these schools to their decision board and compare their choices

3. Previous LinkedIn University Features: A Missed Opportunity?

Many recruiters may feel the discontinuation of these features is a missed opportunity for the social network.

LinkedIn’s new Student app is aimed at finding current university students a career once they graduate. It allows students to:


Ø  Enter the details of their college major to receive personalised content

Ø  Content is displayed in a series of cards

Ø  Students can view current job openings in that area

Ø  Relevant articles are suggested for them to read

Ø  The app also recommends the profiles of alumni and companies

4. Promoting Your School on the New LinkedIn Student App

While the app is targeted more towards job seekers, there are still a few ways for schools to promote themselves – �  Post topical, career-focused articles to boost your chances of

having a post featured as a card �  Partner with LinkedIn to create a specially-tailored version of the

app for your current students, featuring postings directly from your career portal

�  Sponsored ads may be an option in the future for schools looking to promote postgraduate courses


4. Promoting Your School on the New LinkedIn Students App

For now, posting career-focused content is your best chance of featuring on the LinkedIn Student app


Example Posts like this one from John Cabot University which provide relevant, informative advice for career-seekers will appeal to the app’s demographic

4. Promoting Your School on the New LinkedIn Students App

Despite the changes, LinkedIn University Pages can still help you connect with prospective students. One of the biggest advantages of the platform is how well it links with your alumni.

5. Using LinkedIn University Pages After the Changes


Example- University Pages feature information about the careers of notable alumni prominently, which is a great way of showing interested students the possibilities studying at your school could open up for them!

The alumni recommendations section of your page has also remained, which allows you to invite alumni to speak about your school and how it helped their career



Example- This glowing testimonial from an alumnus of South New Hampshire is a good illustration of the kind of valuable user-based content LinkedIn’s alumni recommendations can generate.

Some schools have also had success connecting alumni with prospective students as part of their campaigns



Example- Royal Roads University’s ‘Future Mentor’ program invited potential leads to connect with some of the school’s alumni through LinkedIn to answer any questions they had about the school.

Schools can also use LinkedIn Pulse, the site’s news aggregation section, to boost their visibility and generate more leads



Example- This post from Arizona State University President Michael Crow has managed to gain over 1,000 views on Pulse. Having renowned faculty members publishing content on Pulse will help to maximise your visibility.

It will become increasingly vital to stay on top of your LinkedIn strategy in the near future, with further changes set to come before the year is out. �  Unconfirmed reports suggest that the site will be merging University

Pages with Company Pages before the end of 2016

�  This could allow universities to access the Company Pages comprehensive analytics tab, which tracks numerous different metrics relating to updates, followers, and visitors

LinkedIn is still an important lead generation platform. While the number of prospective students using it is small, they tend to be highly focused and motivated, making them very desirable recruits!

7. The Future of LinkedIn and Higher Education
