Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences became the most-followed university of applied sciences in social media in Finland. Haaga-Helia was already the most well-known university of applied sciences among young Finns.
Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences continues its successful growth not only as of the most well-known Finnish university of applied sciences but now also as most-followed UAS in social media. The ranking is shown in the latest report of BrandSome.fi, which follows the social media analytics of Finnish brands.
Haaga-Helia has currently a total of 80,000+ followers.
CARO VEHMAS, the content producer responsible for Haaga-Helia's social media, says that she is quite satisfied with the figures. According to Vehmas, the empty campuses of the Corona era have brought up some challenges, what comes to producing interesting and relevant content. Despite all that, the number of new followers has remained strong.
- Undeniably, I’ve had to use a lot of my imagination to create content. On the other hand, that's what I enjoy most about my job. Possibility to use my imagination. Especially on Instagram, you can throw yourself in and go totally crazy with the content, she laughs.
According to Vehmas, paying attention to the target group is emphasized when producing content on social media. Different channels attract different kinds of audiences, which also affects the content she publishes. Sometimes the differences are big, which is why Vehmas have to pay focus on each channel and target group separately on a daily basis.
“Where the followers of Instagram are mainly students and young people applying to UAS, LinkedIn's follower basis is mostly made up of our alumni, staff from partner companies, and experts who want to develop their own skills,” she says.
IN HAAGA-HELIA, the social media strategy is planned up to six months in advance. In this way, Vehmas can influence the focus of their channels, and produce the needed content. As examples, she cites join application periods as well as larger events and conferences.
"Admittedly, social media also live all the time, which is why my job requires a lot of flexibility. One must be able to react to rapidly rising trends and, if necessary, change plans accordingly", social media guru admits.
She is particularly proud of her student brand ambassadors. In January 2020, Haaga-Helia launched a brand ambassador program that allows students to produce content on Haaga-Helia’s Instagram on a weekly basis.
There are currently a total of thirty brand ambassadors.
"Some of them have been involved for a long time, while others have just begun their studies. With the help of brand ambassadors, we get content on our channel that resonates with our followers. It’s from the students to students", she says.
According to Vehmas, the brand ambassadors have been a great help in her work. To her, it has also been rewarding to see how students are evolving as social media content producers, and how their self-confidence and output are growing with each brand ambassador week.
