How to identify content topics for your website and social media marketing to appeal to your target audience and improve your SEO rankings

1. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 1
Strategies for Creating High
Quality Content for Lead
Generation in Higher Ed

2. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 2
 Introduction
 Strategies for the first objective
1. Break down your total audience into customer personas and
create customized content for each of them.
2. Create content that is targeted at individuals at the multiple entry
points of your recruitment funnel.
 Strategies for the second objective
1. Configure Google Analytics
2. Use the Google Adwords Tool
3. Use Q&A sites like LinkedIn Answers or Quora
Overview
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

3. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 3
When you are creating content for your blog you have two very
important audiences to keep in mind:
 the prospective student & the search engine spider.
So you have two objectives:
1. For the student, you want to create engaging, relevant content that will be of
interest, and use, to your target audience so that they will take notice of your
school, want to learn more about it and hopefully, consider attending.
2. For the search engine spider, you want to create relevant, keyword-rich
documents that will increase your organic ranking for your priority short and
long-tail keyword phrases, therefore increasing the likely number of
prospective student visitors to your website who are searching on those
keywords.
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

4. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 4
1. Break down your total audience into customer personas
and create customized content for each of them.
2. Create content that is targeted at individuals at the
multiple entry points of your recruitment funnel.
Here are two strategies to help tackle the first
objective of creating high quality content targeted
at your student audience:
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

5. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 5
1. Break down your total audience into customer personas
and create customized content for each of them
Customer personas are “fictional characters created to
represent the different user types within a targeted
demographic, attitude and/or behavior set that might use a
site, brand or product in a similar way.”
Here’s an example of a student persona:
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

6. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 6

7. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 7
1. Break down your total audience into customer personas
and create customized content for each of them
With this type of detailed persona of a hypothetical student in
hand, it’s much easier to identify:
 unique topics that this “individual” will find interesting and
useful.
Brainstorm to generate topics based on their demographic
characteristics and psychographic needs and develop your
content for them, in as direct, and as personal a way as you
can.
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

8. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 8
Select topics and generate content that is targeted at the
interests and needs of individuals entering your recruitment
funnel at its different entry points.
 For example: information package request, open house,
campus tour, etc.
2. Create content that is targeted at individuals at the
multiple entry points of recruitment funnel
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

9. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 9
For example:
 Create a blog post with copy, pictures & visiting student’s
comments, describing in detail the most interesting stop on your
campus tour.
 Target topics, places and things that a prospective student at the
tipping point of entering your recruitment funnel can relate to.
 Try & mentally step into their shoes. ask yourself what questions
they have in their minds at that moment & write about it.
2. Create content that is targeted at individuals at the
multiple entry points of recruitment funnel
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

10. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 10
In the graphic below you can see some examples of how different
formats for content might be applied to address the changing
requirements of a prospective student, as they move through their
“buying cycle”.
2. Create content that is targeted at individuals at the
multiple entry points of recruitment funnel
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

11. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 11

12. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 12
Now let’s consider strategies for identifying
topics for content development motivated by
our SEO priorities
1. Configure Google Analytics
2. Use the Google Adwords Tool
3. Use Q and A sites like LinkedIn Answers or Quora
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

13. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 13
1. Configure Google Analytics
 Why?
• to track your internal site search and identify the most common
queries that visitors make when inside your site.
• How will it help you:
• This list of search topics is an excellent place to start writing about.
• It provides value to your visitors by creating content that pre-empts
their need to go any further looking for information and beefs up your
SEO for these key topics all at the same time.
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

14. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 14
2. Use the Google Adwords Tool
• Why?
• to identify topics related to your main targeted keywords that have
the most traffic volume and then write about them.
• Adword’s Keyword Tool will also:
• provide an almost endless list of variations on keywords, providing
you with suggestions for related phrases that can be great
inspiration for a new angle or new approach to a priority topic that
you want to write about.
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

15. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 15
3. Use Q&A sites like LinkedIn Answers or Quora
• Why?
• to see what kinds of questions are being asked about the topics that relate
most directly to your type of programs and start to write about them.
• When you create your website content you should always write
first & foremost for your target audience, human that is.
• Don’t try to write specifically for SEO because it will sound like it
and be ineffective on both sides of the fence.
• Use the optimization strategies we have talked about here to focus
your editorial plan on the best topics, and your SEO rankings will
take care of themselves.
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

16. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 16
What other strategies do you use to generate ideas for your
posts?
What works the best for you?
Please pass along your ideas and we’ll certainly share them
with all of our other readers.
Source: Higher Education Marketing - Strategies for Creating High Quality Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed

17. Strategies for Creating High Quality
Content for Lead Generation in Higher Ed
Slide 17
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