Growth

SMO & ORM Strategies for EdTech: Creating a Positive Digital Presence

By Ashutosh Kumar

Learn how Indian EdTech platforms can use SMO and ORM. Strengthen your brand’s digital presence with proper strategies.

In India's crowded EdTech market, standing out takes more than just great courses. With so many options, learners seek brands that align with their values and can earn their trust and loyalty.

Are you struggling to grab the attention of potential students on social media? Is your website not delivering the personalised, user-friendly experience learners expect?

That's where social media optimisation (SMO) and online reputation management (ORM) come into play. They are essential for EdTech growth.

SMO is about crafting engaging, quality content that speaks to students and educators on their favourite platforms. This fosters a community of loyal followers.

ORM keeps an eye on brand mentions and feedback, seizing chances to engage or fix negative perceptions.

Together, SMO and ORM efforts boost your brand's visibility, build trust, and drive growth in the EdTech sector.

Your brand needs:

An SMO-ORM audit identifying website, content, and social gaps.
Data-backed recommendations on topics and platforms.
Creative campaign execution and performance tracking.

Let's examine how EdTech brands can grow in this modern digital space.

The Essentials of SMO for India's EdTech Growth

What does an effective social media optimisation (SMO) strategy entail for Indian EdTech brands? Let’s break it down.

The core goal of SMO is enhancing discovery and engagement across platforms where target users are present. For India’s education space, this means creating content formats that inform and inspire learners to choose your offerings.

Video case studies or live webinars help anxious students clear their doubts better. Creating content in a format that resonates with your audience is important. Responding to every query and celebrating student successes nurtures community building.

Choose channels matching student preferences. Ensure your website, ads, and profiles show a consistent brand identity.

The objective is an audience-first approach that delivers value beyond the product. With creative, mobile-first community building, traffic surges alongside revenue.

Now that we have covered the SMO basics, what are some proven tactics EdTech brands apply for concrete outcomes?

SMO Tactics to Fuel India's EdTech Growth

Let's explore proven websites, content, and engagement strategies.

Refine on-Page Elements

Ensure website pages have catchy titles and meta descriptions on search engines and social media. Highlight USPs (unique selling points) like personalised mentoring or economic resources.

Spark Curiosity

Capitalise on the curiosity factor to get users to return to the brand. Here is an example:

"Still confused about Fourier transforms? We will solve this in our live class next Friday at 9 PM. Join us!"

Spotlight Student Success

Ask learners to share testimonial videos or content on achieving goals through your courses. These authentic stories inspire trust in new and potential clients.

Reward Engagement

Gamify community participation, assigning points and recognition for interactions. Monthly rewards fuel healthy competition and encouragement.

The goal is an audience-centric digital space where students come to learn, share, and belong. With an optimised web presence and social ecosystem, attracting visitors seeking world-class tutoring is easier.

Now that we have the building blocks, let’s examine online reputation management for EdTech.

Monitoring Reputation - The Bedrock of Brand Trust

Online reputation management (ORM) is becoming increasingly crucial for EdTech companies, especially as India's educational landscape shifts online. Forums and review platforms buzz with discussions on everything from the quality of courses to job placement rates. A single misstep in responding to these discussions can quickly erode the trust and goodwill an EdTech firm has built.

Using monitoring tools to keep tabs on brand mentions is key. These tools can alert you when your company's name pops up online, allowing you to gather feedback from satisfied students and address any concerns raised on platforms like Quora with precision. Remember, a whopping 97% of young adults turn to reviews to scope out local businesses.

Actively asking for feedback and addressing any issues head-on not only shows you value customer input but also cements your reputation as a responsible business. In a field as competitive as EdTech, your reputation and the community you build around your brand can set you apart.

Now, let's talk strategy. How can ORM and SMO work together to propel your brand forward? By learning from the playbook of India's leading EdTech firms, you can unlock the secrets to standing out in a crowded market.

Integrating SMO and ORM Strategies

Rather than isolating SMO and ORM efforts, combining the two can help EdTech brands grow. Let’s see positive results from an integrated approach of SMO and ORM:

Unified Messaging

Ensure testimonials, website pages, social media campaigns, and forum responses reflect consistent messaging. These messages should convey your brand promise across channels.

Omnichannel Personalisation

Track prospect activity across website searches, community forums, and social media to craft targeted promotions. For example, landing page nudges highlighting relevant courses based on the interest they showed.

Issues Troubleshooting

Categorise and analyse student complaints/concerns captured via email, app feedback, calls, and chat support. Identify process gaps causing friction in the satisfaction rate. Fix recurring problems, saving time and brand credibility.

Student Lifecycle Engagement

Students need plenty of resources. Ensuring that your brand sends personalised engagement beyond course completion can be vital. You can do this through job preparatory tips and hosting alum network groups for continued upskilling. Provide as much value as you can for better returns.

Thoughtful integration of SMO and ORM can help improve the experiences for customers. It also focuses on the brand identity.

How Can Advanced Technologies Help?

Advanced tools allow for delivering individual attention on a huge scale. This was previously almost impossible to achieve in the EdTech context. Let's analyse leading applications:

AI and ML for Personalised Experiences

From speech recognition assessing student accents to ML (machine learning) algorithms that customise course complexity - AI (artificial intelligence) is transforming possibilities. EdTech uses advanced tech to tailor learning to individual paces and preferences at scale.

Analytics for Optimisation

Big data analysis provides insights into behaviours, patterns and tendencies. Guiding everything from personalised communication to identifying curriculum efficacy - analytics unlocks exponential growth.

Overcoming Key Challenges

Despite the promise, EdTech firms encounter obstacles in managing integrated digital strategies effectively and continually. Some of the common hurdles and prevention options are:

Initial Resource Intensity

Developing a thoughtful digital presence requires a significant initial investment. Your brand will have to invest in specialised talent and technology.

Rather than entirely in-house, strategically partner with experts offering solutions. One such option is Growth Jockey, which offers both SMO and ORM services.

Analysis of Data

Data alone doesn’t provide solutions without structured assessment frameworks. Adopt time-bound reporting dashboards analysing metrics to uncover actionable insights tied to business KPIs (key performance indicators).

Platform Algorithm Shifts

Stay updated on algorithm changes that impact content visibility and engagement. Your brand should know how to build on a specific platform. This expertise can help you save time, effort, and resources.

Standout Successes in Indian EdTech Digital Strategy

Beyond chasing short-term gains, Indian EdTech pioneers who focused on the long game are emerging as winners. Here are some examples of unlocking technology for strategic advantage:

Simplilearn - Optimising Lifecycle Value

The boot camp learning platform leverages analytics to identify high-potential leads likely to maximise customer lifetime value. They do this based on activity history and potential. They deliver hyper-personalisation to accelerate purchase and loyalty across their programs.

Upgrad - AI-led Campaign Optimisation

Upgrad’s ML platform funnels cross-channel data into engagement engines, optimising targeting and content.

In short, thoughtfully harnessing platforms, analytics and automation to deliver engagement at scale has separated market leaders. This change is redefining Indian EdTech through technology.

The Way Forward

Online reputation and community building represent untapped potential for EdTech firms. This is especially true for those struggling on crowded platforms.

Tried and tested online reputation management strategies can help your brand avoid a negative brand image. Even when there are challenging negative reviews, your business should know how to tackle it.

The same is the case for SMO. It offers brands a great strategy to set the brand value right. Make sure you come off as an EdTech brand that helps students to grow. Eliminating the noise on digital platforms can be a game changer.

Are you wondering how you can do this for your business? That is where service providers like Growth Jockey come in! We have tried and tested SOPs (standard operating procedures) and strategies to grow your EdTech brand.

FAQs

1. What role does analytics play in SMO and ORM for EdTech?

Analytics forms the bedrock for data-backed decisions across social media and online reputation management. From identifying high-performing content to tracking brand reputation - analytics provides intelligence for EdTech brands.

2. What are effective ways to measure SMO and ORM success for EdTech?

Custom metrics aligned to objectives matter more than impression numbers.

Track:

Website visitor to lead conversion changes.
Student satisfaction scores.
Alum membership sign-ups.
Cost per referral programs.
Lifetime value achieved through repeat engagements.

EdTech brands should optimise towards critical KPIs.

Why should EdTech brands focus on long-term learner relationships post-course completion?

Sustained, mutually rewarding relationships beyond graduation maximise customer lifetime value. This increases the upsell of new certifications, cross-selling of alternative offerings, and drives referrals.