The Role of Student Ambassadors in Effective Community Marketing in Higher Ed

As bonafide trusted peers of Gen Z, you know student ambassadors are an effective conduit for communicating with prospective students. 92% of prospective students say just speaking with a student ambassador is enough to help them decide on where to study for their higher education. That’s powerful stuff! 

By effectively leveraging your student ambassador program, you can boost your numbers across the board at every step of the student journey. And a lot of this involves integrating your ambassadors into your community marketing efforts. 

Get our latest Unibuddy guide to community marketing for higher ed here.

Here are some points to consider on the role of student ambassadors in effective community marketing in higher ed: 

Provide student ambassadors with more autonomy 

The authenticity of your student ambassadors, as peers of prospective students, is what makes them so effective to community marketing campaigns. While brand control is a common area of concern for most higher ed marketers, from brand messaging to brand consistency, as a general rule, try to be more hands off when it comes to student ambassador messaging.

Remember that your student ambassadors are part of your program because they want to be there. By providing their role with more autonomy, you empower them to tell prospective students about your school through their own personal lens and stories. In addition to appearing more authentic, as evident by higher ed social media content, Gen Z appreciates off-script banter. 

Related: How to leverage the win-win of student-to-student connections

And the results speak for themselves. According to Unibuddy data,  92% of prospective students say just speaking with a student ambassador helps them make an informed decision about your school – with a further 45% reporting these candid conversations help bolster their confidence to succeed. 

Integrate student ambassadors into your brand 

Any higher ed brand wants to appear welcoming, approachable, and relatable to incoming prospective students. In an era where 10% of visitors arriving to your site leave if they do not feel immediate “good vibes” and 1 in 4 Gen Z students don’t feel represented in your ads, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Related: ​​The Importance of Selling Student Ambassadors on Higher Ed Marketing

Integrating the role of student ambassadors into your brand is an effective way to hit all engagement checkmarks with prospective students. As their bonafide peers, Gen Z trusts what student ambassadors have to say and views them as the “authentic” voice of your brand. As such, through fully integrating your student ambassador program with your brand you can, in turn, position yourself as a trusted and authentic industry voice. 

Let student ambassadors shape brand language 

Higher ed can be an industry known for using overly cold, institutional language. This issue can be further compounded by target audiences consisting primarily of the youngest demographics in the consumer market – groups who demand personalized authentic interactions. Rather than trying to crack these audiences yourselves, enlist the help of your student ambassadors to your brand “speak their language.” 

You might, for example, have a section of your website which lists what libraries are available to students studying at your school. While you can list everything about these libraries, from their respective catalogues to available services, does this information really help a prospective student discern one library from another outside the basics? 

Related: How to Foster Authentic Personalization in Student Recruitment

A student ambassador can help push the ball over the line by providing prospective students with supplementary information not listed on your site, like which library is best to study at or what cafes or gyms are nearby for students looking to take breaks. While this supplementary information may seem trivial from a pure academic perspective, it can be invaluable contextual information to help your brand stand out from the pack.   

Student ambassadors help renew your efforts year-over-year

An effective student ambassador program should be self-renewing in the sense that existing ambassadors are your greatest recruitment asset for new program recruits. From the moment prospective students reach out to the moment they arrive on campus, ensure your student ambassadors have all the tools they need to be successful. In addition to assuring new students that they made the right choice in attending your school, an engaging student ambassador program can encourage new students to pay it forward. 

So, in essence, an effective student ambassador is not only helping you recruit new students – they’re also helping you recruit new student ambassadors. Tools like Unibuddy Chat empower student ambassadors to speak candidly with prospective students on their own terms and in their own voice. By enabling them to be their authentic selves, you’re also advertising your program as something desirable, creative, and fun to future generations of student ambassadors. 

On your end, try to sell the very real career-building benefits of your student ambassador programs. The role of a student ambassador shouldn’t be one-sided – they also need incentives to want to be there. When recruiting student ambassadors for your program, be sure to communicate these benefits to them, from the indispensable skills they can learn to the incredible networking opportunities available to them. 

Want more? Get our latest Unibuddy guide to community marketing for higher ed here.