Digital student recruiter Sqore has secured strategic tender with five Swedish universities, as well as a national agency, the Swedish Institute, to boost international applicant numbers via its digital marketing services.
Along with SI, Lund University, Stockholm University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University will be using Sqore’s “digital challenges” and interactive campaigns.
“LinkedIn is a network that grows in usage numbers in the audience in Europe”
Sweden, which recently revealed plans to increase its student recruitment, saw a rise of 5.6% international numbers in 2018.
The new partnership hopes to promote Sweden as a study destination, with the tender focussing on the five specific universities.
It marks the second time Sqore has won a public procurement bid that includes both the SI and Swedish universities, according to Niklas Tranaeus, marketing manager at SI.
“SI seeks to develop new innovative ways of reaching out to our target groups and digital marketing is the most important means to do that,” he said.
“Previously SI has collaborated with Sqore primarily for student competitions, which is something they are specialised at. This time our collaboration may include other digital marketing services.”
According to Sqore, 85% of students who applied to university say personal conversations they had with schools help them to cement their decision, while search engines and social media remain vital for today’s pool of international digital natives.
“We market worldwide with some exceptions where the market restrictions and media usage is significantly different such as Japan,” Pernilla Carlström, Sqore chief marketing officer told The PIE News.
The digital recruitment platform uses a mix of channels as behaviour differs depending on the market.
“Facebook ads work well on some specific markets, for example South Europe, Balkan countries and South East Asia,” she noted. “LinkedIn is a network that grows in usage numbers in the audience in Europe.
“Video ads generate a lot of exposure, whilst image ads convert to clicks more efficiently.”
Universities will choose which markets to focus on with Sqore, Carlström added.
“Depending on the resources and organisation structure on the client’s side, we will manage the entire user journey on behalf of the client: digital marketing, lead capturing, and lead nurturing including email marketing and personal one-on-one candidate management. The end goal is to deliver qualitative applications to the clients,” Carlström said.
Carlström added that the UK stands out in Europe with its mature working processes for nurturing leads, as do some of Sqore’s “private for profit” school clients.
“We see that the focus of this part of the user journey is growing as you may lose many good potential applicants by not speaking to them in their ‘consideration’ phase when they decide where to actually apply in the end.”
