Instagram for Higher Education: 10 Go-To Strategies for Success

Instagram has been around for almost 10 years and started out as a way to share pictures with friends. It has since become a popular social media platform for schools to reach out to both Millennial parents and Gen Z students.

Since being bought by Facebook in 2012, Instagram has changed a lot. It’s now a great platform for marketing and advertising, but it still relies on users sharing high-quality images and videos to keep people engaged. This is something that schools should definitely consider doing.

Before You Get Started: Key Terms to Know

Instagram started as a platform for people to share personal profiles, but it has developed (similar to Facebook) to now offer a space only for businesses and other organizations, like schools. If your school or district is currently using a personal profile, you can switch to a Business Profile by going to your settings and following the directions provided by Instagram.

If you’re using Instagram to reach new customers, the Explore Page can be a useful tool. The Explore Page (found by clicking the magnifying glass icon in your app) suggests photos, videos, Reels, and IGTV content based on what the user has engaged with in the past. Your hashtag usage impacts whether and when your content appears on a user’s Explore Page.

Stories are temporary posts that you can share which last for 24 hours. You can find them on the Explore page which can help you engage with new audiences who don’t already follow you.

If you want to keep your Stories on your school’s Instagram profile for a longer period of time, you should try Highlights. This feature allows you to group stories together under a category, and they are featured just above your Instagram grid.

IGTV is a section of Instagram where you can upload long videos. This is a great place to store live recordings, video series, etc. for your school. IGTV also lets you categorize videos in collections, which are like YouTube playlists. This makes it easy to organize your longer videos on the platform. You can also post previews of your IGTV videos to your regular Instagram profile. If your school has any IGTV videos, the IGTV button will be added to the top of your school’s Instagram feed.

Instagram’s newest addition, Reels, are short videos (usually 15 seconds or less) that are often set to music or have a common theme. Reels are given a lot of prominence by Instagram as the app tries to compete with TikTok. You can find Reels either on the Explore page or in a dedicated space in the Instagram app. If your school has created Reels, there will be a Reels button at the top of the school’s Instagram feed.

Anatomy of an Effective Instagram Post

To start, all posts should have high-quality images. It can be helpful to first identify what a good Instagram post actually looks like before diving deep into your strategy. Defining what’s “good” can vary based on your individual goals — for example, a post with a goal to engage with current families will look different from an admissions-focused post. That being said, there are simple best practices that every post should follow. To start, all posts should have high-quality images.

This example from the International School of Brussels (ISB) checks all of the boxes:

1. The image: Every image or video you use on Instagram should capture your visitor’s attention and tell a story. ISB’s image is vibrant, shows off the spirit of their school community, and features real students. Avoid dark or blurry photos on this visual-driven platform. And in general, keep in mind that images tend to get higher engagement than graphics.
2. The caption: Your caption should match the nature of your image or video, be casual in tone, and will ideally offer an opportunity for your community to engage — whether you ask a question, encourage participation in an activity, or request a direct action. ISB’s caption explains the cause that they are looking to support, encourages its community to take part, and offers an opportunity to share photos directly related to the cause. It is encouraging in tone, without getting too serious (note the emoji!), and matches the energy of the photo.
3. The hashtags: While ISB does not use the recommended 30 hashtags (more on this later), they do use both relevant and branded hashtags in tandem to expand their reach and to increase brand awareness. They even go the extra mile by creating a branded hashtag for this event, #ISBredout, so that they can gather user-generated content from the day. A+ to ISB!

Now that you understand what makes a great Instagram post, we can get into your strategy!

10 WAYS TO GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM

1. Take advantage of all of Instagram’s features, including stories.

   • Instagram isn’t just pictures, you can tell stories using multiple images in one post using Carousel.

   • Instagram has a feature called Stories that lets you create content that disappears after a short period of time, similar to what you can do on Snapchat. A third of all the most popular stories on Instagram are created by businesses, according to a recent report.

   • Instagram Live is a free tool that not many colleges are taking advantage of. This tool allows you to be creative by moderating Q&A sessions, letting prospects “sit next to you” at the big game, or hosting a virtual tour. There are two ways to share a live video on Instagram. You can either promote the video in advance, or make it impromptu. Your followers will get a notification on their phone that you started a live video if they have Instagram notifications enabled.

2. Stories that are only highlights will be shown for longer than a day.

   • The attraction of stories is that they disappear after 24 hours, but the downside is that you can’t access them anymore. Turn on the auto-archiving feature in Story Settings so that your stories are automatically saved in the cloud and you can always access them.

   • You can now go back and add your favorite stories from the archive to your highlight. These will be seen by your profile visitors, right above your images.

   • Putting similar themed stories together, giving them a name, and designating a cover image is a great way to show off what makes your institution unique.

3. Develop a posting routine

   • Colleges and universities should aim to post an average of 3.5 times per week, according to Rival IQ. The key is to find a balance that works for you without sacrificing quality for quantity.

   • Posts made on Instagram between 11am-1pm and 7pm-9pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays tend to have the most engagement.

   • Try out different times to see what works best for your audience. Be open to making changes.

   • Try using a service to automate your posts so that you don’t have to set alarms or reminders.

4. Use one filter for all your images

   • If you want your college’s social media to have a cohesive look, use the same filter for all of your posts. This will help create recognition and familiarity among your followers. 60% of the top brands use the same filter for every post.

   • Open up your Instagram app and reorder your filters to make things less confusing for yourself and others who post on your account. You can also delete filters that you no longer use.

5. Use selected hashtags

   • The hashtags feature on Instagram allows users to find content and accounts to follow that are related to their interests. By making use of this feature, you can increase your chances of attracting new followers, getting more likes, and overall increasing engagement.

   • Posts that have at least one hashtag tend to see about 13% more engagement than those without any hashtags. For example, “I’m going to be starting a new #business soon and I’m looking for some advice. Does anyone have any tips? #entrepreneur #startup #businessowner

   • Encourage prospective students to use hashtags in viewbooks and admissions communications by creating specific hashtags for incoming classes. You can use these hashtags on social media to increase engagement and enrollment efforts.

6. Don’t be shy about following others

   • Following prospective students on social media is a great way to gain exposure and encourage follow backs, especially if you are not a nationally known institution.

   • When a brand follows someone on social media, that person gets a rush. Make sure you’re only following potential customers in your core target audience. They’re likely to check out your profile, and from there investigate your campus online.

   • Other institutions’ success on Instagram can provide inspiration for your own strategy.

   • Make sure to follow your faculty, staff, and current students on social media. Engagement rates will increase significantly when you follow these groups.

   • Be sure to follow the schools, businesses, and organizations that you partner with on social media.

   • If you’re worried that it will look bad if you follow too many people, you can always unfollow some later to reduce your list.

7. Curate and repost from the Instagram community

   • To find posts about your college, select the Tags tab in your search bar and enter your college name. This is a great place to start monitoring social media for mentions of your brand. Doing this can help you understand what types of messages and opinions are being expressed about your brand, both solicited and unsolicited.

   • It is best to contact the person before reposting their image and asking for permission. Most people will agree and be happy for the extra exposure.

   • Why not use their images to supplement your daily posts and fill in any gaps when you don’t have your own photos to share? Re-sharing someone else’s images can help supplement your own posts and ensure that you’re still sharing content regularly, even on days when you don’t have your own photos to share. This can be especially useful for students or other users who may not have access to professional-grade equipment or the time to create perfect images every day.

   • How can your followers be considered for regramming? By using a certain hashtag and monitoring it.

8. Monitor locations and geotags

   • If you want to see all of the posts that were made from your campus, you can browse by location.

   • If you want to find a specific location on campus, like an athletic field or a recital hall, you can search for it on Facebook. If there is no geotag for a popular spot on campus, you can create one by going to Facebook’s “Create the Location” setting. To do this, go to create a new post on Facebook, click “Check In,” and enter the name of the spot you’re at.

   • If you’re on campus, you can also search for posts and stories that were made “near your current location.” If you’re at a big game or event, you can search near your location to see if you can find someone who got the perfect shot to re-gram.

9. Identify your influencers and work with them

   • A surprising number of users, 39%, are now spending their media time with user-generated content. The number is even higher, 56%, for users aged 13-17.

   • Someone with a large following on social media who is influential among their peers can help to increase the visibility of your brand.

   • Customize your settings to get notifications when they post.

   • Reach out to influencers and try to form relationships with them. If they are local, ask them to take pictures at campus events or invite them to memorable events. Find out their size, send them a sweatshirt, and ask them to tag your brand when they post pictures of themselves wearing it.

10. The “See link in bio” can be used to drive traffic to a website, run a promotion, or generate leads.

    • Instagram will not let you put a URL that someone can click on in your posts. A workaround for this is to tell your followers to check the link in your bio.

    • Your new viewbooks have arrived! You can feature them in a post and let people know they can request one by clicking on the link in your bio. That link can drive them to a landing page where you collect their information. You may generate a qualified lead, or reach an influencer like a parent or teacher.

    • Some organizations post a link on their Instagram profile that goes to a landing page made specifically for Instagram users, or includes a specific UTMs tag. This allows them to track how many people clicked the link.

As Instagram continues to grow, more schools and districts are using it as part of their marketing and communications strategies. It offers more opportunities for engagement than any other channel, and reaches a wider range of generations than most platforms.

Instagram is a visual social media network that allows you to tell your story, show your authenticity, and have fun with your brand, community, and environment.