What Facebook’s Enhanced Targeting Could Mean for Higher Education

Creating custom college content on Facebook soon could become little easier.

Facebook on Tuesday offered select page administrators a new “Page Post Targeting Enhanced” feature that would allow administrators to target posts based on user-provided information, according a TechCrunch.

The new feature increases the post parameters to include age, gender, education, college name, graduation status, major, workplace and high school. Page administrators will still be able to target posts based on geography and language, as they have in the past.

TechCrunch shared additional information about the feature it obtained via a closed Facebook group for marketers:

… over the next few weeks, this will become available to all pages. With this new feature, Pages can now target their posts to certain fans in the news feed who meet specific criteria such as age, gender, location, language, etc.

All content will still remain on the Page since this is the only way to allow friends of engaged fans who don’t meet the targeting criteria to see viral stories (i.e. David likes a post.. )

The impact on an institution’s content strategy could be immediate. Here’s a few key audiences colleges and universities could target with the new Facebook feature:

Current Students

It appears Facebook will allow page administrators to target posts to those enrolled in a specific college, meaning reaching out to current students could be a breeze. The new feature also would allow posts to be targeted to students by major.

Transfer Students

There’s no indication that the “in college” status would be limited to the college that created the page. Imagine offering helpful transfer information to fans of your 4-year institution who may be enrolled in a nearby community college.

Alumni

Alumni and development officers may be the ones who benefit the most from the enhanced targeting feature. Audiences could be segmented by graduation year, major and workplace, allowing for tailored messages that resonate with all audiences.

Prospective Students

Facebook still has yet to lower the age limit of its user base below 13 years old, but that doesn’t mean high school students aren’t flocking to the social network. Open houses, high school visit and college fair information may not resonate with all audiences, but it’s key information for those still in the decision phase.