Staff Ambassadors: Tips for Writing the Most Engaging Blogs

Unibuddy’s blogging function is no longer exclusive to just student ambassadors — staff users can now create interesting and engaging blog content for prospective students too!

In light of this news, we’ve put together some pointers on what prospective students may be looking for in a staff blog.

For some young people, the thought of direct messaging a staff member at the university they’re interested in is pretty daunting. This is especially the case if they feel their questions are ‘silly,’ that they may impact your opinion of them, or even their application. They might opt to avoid engaging with you entirely, leaving them with unanswered questions and lingering uncertainty.

Well-written and relevant blog content offers another way for potential prospects to engage with your university, and find answers to their questions — without having to reach out to you directly. Subsequently, reading your blog may validate their questions and render you more approachable, leading them to drop you that message after all.

Here are a few topics that might pique prospects’ interests.

Setting Expectations

Prospects are eager to hear what they’re in for if they enroll with you, so writing a blog around the expectations on your course (types of assignments, what constitutes a ‘pass’ mark, etc.) gives these potential students a glimpse into what could be.

Essay writing

Most prospects will have very little experience writing academic essays (or if they are postgraduate, writing essays on a ‘Masters’ level).

You could use the blogs as an opportunity to provide some guidance on what you look for in an academic paper — this would also be great content for student academic services or academic staff to publish.

Available services

Universities offer a whole range of helpful services that prospective students may be completely unaware of.

Introduce the services your institution provides (career services, academic services, facilities, health & well-being, etc.) and what each service does, to provide a general overview on the support prospects may receive if they choose to enroll.

Deep dive into your service/department

What does your particular department or student service really do?

You could take an in-depth look into what your particular service (i.e. health & well-being) offers students or what your academic department gets up to (public lectures, student panels etc.).

Ways to practice religion

Prospective students may be concerned about whether they’ll be able to continue attending a place of worship or have the appropriate facilities to pray when they come to university.

Help reassure these students by making them aware of local places of worship and religious services the university provides (prayer rooms on campus, religious holiday celebrations/events, chaplaincy services, etc.).