How student ambassadors help institutions build meaningful connections with prospective students

Improve student recruitment conversion through your Ambassador Program

Our Director of APAC, Luca Cella, led a webinar with our partner institution Krea University in Sri City, India, taking the opportunity to explore the value of student ambassadors and exploring what the student experience brings to the recruitment process for educational institutions. Luca spoke with Bhakti Shah, Director of Outreach at Krea and two current students and ambassadors.

Here we're exploring their discussion in more depth and looking at how to prioritise and value the student experience. One of the key takeaways from this sessions is that the ambassadors who share their experiences with your prospective students can be invaluable for your overall recruitment strategy.

Krea University and The Ambassador Platform

Krea University was the first Indian institution utilising The Ambassador Platform. We work with Krea to offer them our unified, integrated, multi-touchpoint platform for connecting student ambassadors with prospective and future students and their families.

Krea University is an Indian state private university founded in 2018 and committed to offering interwoven learning experiences and the chance to explore different subject areas in correlation to each other. Krea has partnered with The Ambassador Platform, as they too recognise and champion student ambassadors as the biggest brand asset any institution has. Our tools help engage, nurture and convert future students and their families via the true student voice.

Our partners, including Krea University, benefit from our four-pronged approach to connection and collaboration via our peer-to-peer platform:

• User-generated content
• Peer and group chats
• AI reports and insights
• Live streams

The scope of our offering empowers student ambassadors to provide a far-reaching service for future students and their parents. Ambassadors can help to build a community for your student body and give prospective students an insight into how they may enjoy and experience student life at your institution.

The importance of student experience as part of your value proposition

Any institution's value proposition comprises many factors, but the student experience must be a core part of this. Bhakti Shah of Krea University asserts that "student experience is the most important thing" about your value proposition and delving more deeply into this makes it very clear why.

The best marketing materials, open days and motivational speeches will not stand up if this does not match the reality of your student experience. Bhakti makes another important point in the webinar. We live in the age of reviews, and this goes far beyond holidays and restaurants. Prospective students want to know what current students think about your institution, and ambassadors are perfectly positioned to offer this insight.

Promoting and prioritising the student voice

Our webinar explores the experiences and insights of two current Krea University students and highlights how valuable the university's ambassador program would have been when they applied. Without access to an organised program, students had to rely upon word of mouth, open events and other means to find a way to access insights for existing students.

Universities can and should make the student voice part of their marketing proposition. Krea University regularly has student social media takeovers. Our platform allows for a wealth of user-generated content, giving potential students a clearer vision of the student experience from those currently at the university.

A single integrated platform that prospective students can access and student ambassadors can curate and populate with content is more suitable for the increasingly digital world we live in and makes it easier to reach a wider spectrum of potential students too.

The phygital future of university recruitment

Our webinar also introduces the concept of phygital, an evolution of the hybrid approach to the future of recruitment. A phygital approach to student recruitment involves using technology to build a bridge across the digital and physical worlds, creating unique experiences and opportunities for potential students to engage with.

The Ambassador Platform is thus playing a key part in this revolution by enabling institutions to turn their students into marketeers. 

Making student ambassadors a critical part of your institution's recruitment

Building an ambassador program is critical for universities that want students to choose their institution for the right reasons. There are many factors that contribute to a student's university choice. The insights of people who have already lived on campus, attended lectures, and used university facilities are best placed to give a candid view of what student life is like.

A well-designed brochure and strong branding do not easily wow students, they want to get to the heart of the student experience, and your ambassadors are the key to delivering this. Fear of negative student feedback is not enough of a reason to limit potential students' access to your existing cohorts. Investing in and supporting your ambassadors to become strong and proud representatives of your institution makes them an invaluable tool for promoting your courses and attracting the best caliber of students to your university.

A strong and well-designed ambassador program gives your ambassadors purpose and pride in their activities, developing them as advocates for your institution and attracting students who fit well with your ethos and values.

Building meaningful connections to attract prospective students

Bringing new students to your institution is a constant challenge for any university. Finding a balance between in-person open events and a digital solution a wider range of prospective students can access is vital for showing your institution positively and giving future students unobscured insight into student life on your campus. Student ambassadors know the student experience and life and are the perfect advocates. Connecting your current students with the students of the future helps to streamline the decision-making process for the next generation and gives them a full picture of what it's like to be a student with you.

We work with universities and colleges around the world, providing them with the tools needed to make student ambassadors a core element of their recruitment marketing strategy. Our platform facilitates digital engagement at every stage of the student recruitment journey, helping prospective students to better understand your unique university or college experience. 

You can watch our webinar with Krea University here and find out more about the experiences of student ambassadors using The Ambassador Platform in India.

If you want to find out more about The Ambassador Platform and how we can help you take your ambassador program to the next level, don't hesitate to book a demo with us.