Sparsholt College Crowned Top UK College for Social Media

It’s official! Sparsholt College has the best social media presence of any college in the UK. The College took top honours in the recent Edurank Awards winning both Social Media Performance of the Year and Best Instagram Performance.

The Edurank Awards recognise and celebrate the success of social media marketing across the entire education sector including top universities, business schools and independent schools.  Sparsholt’s impressive social media performance sees its name alongside national and international institutions including the University of Oxford and Stanford Business School.

The Awards identify the top digital and social performers in the UK, focusing on factors such as creation of engaging content, follower increase and the use of multiple social media platforms to connect with an audience, to determine their winners.

Natalie Peckham, Advertising Strategist Team Lead at NetNatives, creators of Edurank said: “Sparsholt College have done a tremendous job with their social media in the past year. Winning these two awards in the College category really shows that they are going above and beyond to ensure their social presence is at the top of its game.”

The College’s social media platforms are managed by Meg Bullock, Digital Marketing Officer who believes that students play a vital role in the College’s digital success. Meg explains: “We are delighted to receive this award and industry recognition. It may look easy – a beautiful, 400-acre campus in the Hampshire countryside with 200 species of animals on site is a great resource. But it’s the images captured by students that give a real insight into college life. I initiated #studentview on Instagram and this has proved to be one of our most powerful tools, with students excited about sharing their college experience. We are disciplined about keeping our content levels up and sharing information across our platforms that is relevant and interesting for parents and businesses, as well as current, future and past students.”

Sparsholt College currently operates across five social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. The College currently has over 11,000 likes on Facebook and growing, while on their Instagram account most posts achieve 100 likes or more with ease, showing the popularity and power of the College on social media.

Martin Simmons, Deputy Principal said: “Student-generated content enables our social media channels to be authentic and reflect a true representation of life at Sparsholt College. Here, we work hard to ensure our learners achieve their full potential and make sure that their hard work is recognised all the while as they develop. By posting about students’ day to day experiences at the College, we are able to celebrate their achievements on a public platform and communicate their individual journeys simultaneously, in the hopes of inspiring others to follow suit and turn their passion into a career too.”

About Sparsholt College:

1. Sparsholt’s social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

2. Sparsholt College Hampshire, incorporating Andover College, is one of the largest colleges in the South East offering hundreds of full and    part-time courses as well as bespoke training for business.

3. Following an inspection in February 2014, Sparsholt College was given a huge endorsement by Ofsted, which commended its high standards and overall effectiveness as ‘good’ with all areas inspected given a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ rating and governance being acknowledged as ‘Outstanding.’’

4. The College is an Associate College of the University of Portsmouth which validates degree programmes at the Sparsholt College campus.

5. The Sparsholt College campus is a recognised as one of the country’s leading colleges for outdoor and land based industries.

6. The College has achieved the Matrix Standard accreditation for delivering information, advice and guidance services.

7. Sparsholt College Hampshire is on the UK government’s Register of Education and Training Providers. The Sponsor Licence Number (SLN) on this register is G0J84DCF3.

8. The College was assessed for the quality of its Higher Education provision by the Universities and Colleges of Higher Education Quality Assurance Agency and received endorsements for the many areas of Good Practice.