Digital marketing is surging with popularity in 2017. Businesses, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs are reeling at the chance to promote themselves electronically on an enormous variety of platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, company websites, blogs, and more. Online universities in particular have lots to gain from the digital marketing phenomenon, including but not limited to benefits like building community, expanding programs, promoting connection, creating potential future employees, and providing new opportunities for innovation.

Building Community

Digital marketing creates ways for students to interact with each other regarding a particular university via all different social media outlets. Apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook adorn most college students’ phone backgrounds and are utilized on a daily (or hourly) basis. These applications provide perfect opportunities to network about university life, programs, and more. Millennials have a profound appreciation for multitasking. This skill may as well be put to use regarding connection among college students. Unity is a powerful tool.

Expanding Programs

Many online universities actually offer programs or certifications in digital marketing. Utilizing digital marketing to attract students to a digital marketing program seems too easy and very self-explanatory. Being able to showcase a product to attract people to learn about it is the point of marketing altogether. Students will understand the practical application of the program they are applying to, and can get excited about making an impact upon graduation. Excitement about earning a college degree in a field that is the epitome of practicality will last long beyond their years at school and ultimately propel them into a fulfilling career.

Promoting Connection

Digital marketing promotes connection in a way that works in 2017. It allows student faces and stories to be distributed on the internet to others who can connect with some facet of that individual’s experience. Being able to see others with facets of similar experiences creates emotional ties and ultimately, the desire to attend the same university. This reach extends to students who need to be inspired, perhaps those who are the first in their family to attend college and need the assurance that absolutely, they can choose this path for themselves and succeed. Commonalities unite, and digital marketing is the perfect tool to expand the reach of those ties.

Creating Potential Employees

By attracting potential students to a digital marketing program, an online university can attract and groom its own future employees. Lots of people crave being a part of a bigger picture. Participating in a university’s culture as a student and then as an employee offers a multitude of benefits, including feeling like an important part of culture. Practically, being able to teach students the art of digital marketing in exactly the way that it should be practiced at that institution is a gift in itself. Any student who applies for a professional position will be more than prepared for the role, thus confident and successful.

Providing New Opportunities

Digital marketing provides all sorts of opportunities to try different things. It overlaps with web design, computer programming, and even outlets like public speaking in the form of recorded videos. There is nothing that cannot be combined with digital marketing, making it one of the most versatile professions in existence. For students who worry about getting stuck in a stagnant career, this can be a lifelong comfort. Digital marketing boasts a practicality that benefits just about every sector.

Truly, digital marketing has the potential to impact online universities in a plethora of ways. Community, programming, student bodies, future employees, and new experiences are all positive side effects of utilizing this particular branch of marketing.