The Open University: launching Facebook for international students

The Open University is a UK-based public distance learning and research university, which has taught more than two million students worldwide.

As the majority of courses offered by The Open University are delivered through distance learning, the University saw the opportunity to expand their community overseas.

As part of a wider international marketing effort, we were asked to develop a strategy and content plan to help the University launch a Facebook page dedicated to its international student community.

We were then asked to produce content for the Facebook page for an initial period of four months before handing the work over to others. This content was designed to showcase best practice in creating engaging marketing content for a Facebook page.

The page needed to find the right balance between engaging and promotional content, that would attract community members to courses while also remaining on their Facebook news feeds.

Within a couple of months, the Facebook page had a community in the thousands and was driving traffic back to the University website.