More than 100,000 students are now official fans of UCAS’ Facebook advisory page.
The UCAS page supports people who are applying to university or college and gives them the opportunity to ask for direct help from expert advisers.
By liking the page at www.facebook.com/ucasonline, Facebook users get regular updates from the admissions service in their main news feed.
Campaigns such as Halloween’s ‘#wooocas’, where students shared their worries about applying to university, helped the page to reach the milestone of 100,000 'likes'. These fears were then allayed with additional, tailored advice based on the topics that came up.
Facebook also provides an easy way for international students to get crucial information to help with their decision-making.
Beth Hayes, Digital Media Manager at UCAS said: “We guarantee a personal response to all the questions that come through on social media. This means we can build a relationship with everyone that asks a question, making sure they get the information they need.
“Facebook is so effective for us because one answer to a question can help thousands of people who are wondering about the same thing. That means one reply from us can solve a problem for many others.
“When we set up the page in 2009, we had 3,000 people using it. To now have over 100,000 people on board is a huge achievement. It’s really exploded over the past year, alongside the boom in the use of smartphones and tablets.”
UCAS has won several social media awards, including a European Call Centre and Customer Service Award in 2013 and a 2011 Customer Contact Association (CCA) Excellence Award.
UCAS also provides advice on Twitter (@ucas_online) to over 65,000 followers. The admissions service is also active on Youtube, Google+ and Pinterest.
Press Office contacts
UCAS Press Office: 01242 545 469
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, is a charity and is the UK's leading shared admissions service for higher education. We manage applications from over 650,000 applicants each year for full-time undergraduate courses at over 350 institutions across the UK.