Admissions Lab eBook Example

TA L ES O F T H E V I R T UA L E N R O L L M E N T C O O R D I N ATO R

P L A Y B O O K # 6

4 Keys to Putting Your Higher Eduation
Social Media Strategy into Action
A Social Media Primer for College Recruitment

Learn more about Enrollment Manager at www.AdmissionsLab.com © Copyright 2011, Admissions Lab. All Rights Reserved.

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TA L ES O F T H E V I R T UA L E N R O L L M E N T C O O R D I N ATO R PL AY B O O K # 6 1

So you’ve set up a fantastic Facebook page and you’re
also tweeting and blogging and posting all over the
place like the little social media machine that you
are. Great job! You’re using the tools!

So now what?
How do you move forward from here? What is Social Media?
1 What’s the next step in the plan? How do Stripped of its hype, social media describes
Channel you build a sustainable, long-term social a full range of electronically mediated
media strategy? interactions that occur between people and
tend to focus on a common interest or topic.
2 Reach Our recent playbook, “10 Social Media Here at Admissions Lab, we focus on the
Do’s and Don’ts for Higher Education transition from high school to college —
Enrollment Success,” was an introduction from a high school student’s first attempts
to social media for college admission to learn about a university to the moment
3
Credibility officers. In that publication, we talked he or she arrives on campus for their
about the rapid growth of social media as freshmen year.
a marketing and recruitment tool. We also
4 outlined a few dos and don’ts for the basic But simply creating electronic content
Sustainability principles for success. about a common interest is no guarantee
that anyone will pay attention. To exert
This topic has generated an enormous influence and cultivate a receptive,
amount of interest and you wanted more. sustainable audience, you must be believed
and trusted. The more “followers” or
So, in this playbook we’ll take a deeper “friends” you are able to recruit into this
look at what it takes to build a successful audience, the more chances you have to
social media strategy. But first, a build an effective relationship on social
little background. media networks.

To build a comprehensive social media
strategy, you need to address the four
fundamental components of social
media: channel, reach, credibility and
sustainability.

1
Parker, Lenhart, and Moore. (August 2011) The Digital Revolution and Higher Education. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
2010 tracking surveys Internet. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/College-presidents/Summary.aspx

Learn more about Enrollment Manager at www.AdmissionsLab.com © Copyright 2011, Admissions Lab. All Rights Reserved



1 Channel
“Channel” describes the
Messaging Channels
particular form of communication Twitter
you’re using, be it a tweet, Facebook
blog entry, a Facebook post, a Youtube
YouTube video or a text message. Different Mobile
channels are more or less appropriate SMS Text
for different types of communication. A
Blog
YouTube video, for example, might show
Email
a unique side of student life and could be
Phone
used to engage prospects and encourage
them to schedule a campus visit. A blog
post, on the other hand, might describe
exciting new research opportunities for
undergraduates and connect them with A good way to start managing your channel have already opted in for your content.
a faculty member or upperclassman is to draw up a list of your available Often your followers will be high school
while a tweet might be used to remind communication types and messages and students who have applied for admission
prospects of an important deadline or an match them to each other. Remember that or have already been admitted.
upcoming event. messages can go out through multiple
channels. As new message opportunities But the potential size of the audience is only
Some channels, such as texting, are present themselves, they can be added to one aspect of reach. What’s more important
passive; the message is delivered without your growing channel matrix. is the actual number of prospects that
the need for any action on the recipient’s actively engage with the communication.
part. Others, such as blogs and videos,
tend to encourage or require action
2 Reach
“Reach” refers to both the
The best video in the world will be of little
value if no one watches it! Extending reach
from the recipient; the students must intended — and the actual — is an exercise in relationship building.
seek out and view the content. The line audience viewing your content. You’ll slowly engage prospects, one person
between active and passive channels Who are you reaching out to? at a time, by introducing them to your
can quickly get blurred when prospects How many of them are out there? What content channels and moving the marker
subscribe to your content by “friending” actions must be taken in order to receive toward passive acceptance by gathering
and “following” you. In this case, your and respond to your message? friends and followers.
content automatically becomes part of a
personal page where it can be viewed at Reach is partially channel driven. For Remember that each communication
the prospect’s leisure. Whether active or example, that video showing the “unique channel has an intrinsic reach, but what
passive, carefully matching your message side of student life” can be hosted on your really matters is the number of channels
to your channel will be a key component college’s YouTube channel and have a on which you can effectively engage a
of your social media strategy and critical potentially unlimited audience. On the specific individual. Ultimately, your reach
to maximizing your “reach.” other hand, a tweet is most likely going to is a measure of how many prospects you
be seen only by your followers, those who are engaging, on how many channels and




how frequently. But there is an exception. and messages go out lets you see what is many voices speaking at once; very little
Viral posts or videos are a little like resonating with your prospects. Using of the ongoing conversations actually get
winning the marketing lottery; your reach online aggregator tools such as Hubspot their attention.
can grow exponentially as each person and Radian 6 can help you monitor a large
(and each person’s followers) become number of channels simultaneously and What students focus on is determined by a
a new channel. But don’t bank on the very efficiently. combination of familiarity, noteworthiness
lottery. Having something go viral is rare, and recognition. A voice we recognize, the
especially for a college.
3 Credibility
Prospective students are
name of a familiar friend or maybe the
face of a well-known celebrity all have the
You should always monitor your reach, bombarded daily by information, ability to catch our eyes and ears. Within
from both the channel and prospect much of it coming through social media we call this ability to draw
perspective. Each channel should have one social media channels. Some attention “credibility.” Once you have the
or more reach-related metrics — followers content gets filtered out altogether, other means to communicate your message and
for Facebook, re-tweets for Twitter, email information gets a cursory glance, and an audience on the other end to receive
opens and click-throughs, YouTube views, only a tiny bit — even when it is actually it, the effectiveness of your messaging
blog visits and so on. Monitoring your read — garners much attention or focus. and its influence will be determined
social media traffic as new campaigns It’s like being in a crowded room with by credibility.

College Students and Their Gadgets
Percentage of all adults in each group who own different devices

Non-
students, Under- Grad Community
All Adults 18-24 grads students College
Cell phone 82% 89% 96% 99% 94%
Desktop computer 60 58 59 73 67
Laptop computer 52 64 88 93 70
iPod or mp3 player 45 69 84 86 72
Game console 41 64 58 49 61
eBook reader 5 4 9 7 4
Tablet computer 4 4 5 5 4

2
Smith, Rainie, and Zickuhr. (July 2011) College students and technology. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project 2010 tracking sur-
veys Internet. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/College-students-and-technology/Report.aspx




Who sends the message is even more messaging is best reserved for serving up credibility, while keeping content current,
important than the content itself. A friend factual content that complements the peer- consistent and controlled, is no small task.
who participated in an overnight visit at based contacts that influence opinions It is not something a single person can, or
your college and then posts pictures and and perceptions. should, do alone.
talks about the experience on a personal
Facebook page will have much more of The channel matrix can be expanded to A wide range of individuals need to be
an impact on someone than a similar add source credibility to help insure that involved and coordinated, including
testimonial posted anonymously on all messages (particularly factual ones) administrative staff, parents, boosters,
your admissions office Facebook page. are being communicated with maximum and students — past, present and future.
Likewise, a video created by students credibility. But the most credible opinion- To make it work, you’ll need someone
showing unique aspects of campus will shaping sources will always be those working behind the scenes to make sure
be more credible than a slick professional independent voices that pick up your that everything is operating smoothly —
video produced by the admissions office. message and pass it on! you’ll need a Social Media Ninja (SMN).

College-age students have always The SMN is responsible for
paid more attention to their peers Who sends the monitoring the message and the
than to authority figures. This is one message is even content, both direct and indirect,
of several good reasons why most more important as well as any reactions and/or
college admission “road-runners” than the content questions from your followers.
are usually in their early 20s. Social itself. Often, the SMN will be active on
media provides a new set of tools all of your channels and may be a
that allow us to leverage these peer major source of your online content.
relationships, typically by incorporating
current students and recent graduates
4 Sustainability–Find a Social
Media Ninja
But the primary responsibility of the
SMN is to own the process and maintain
into our social media strategy. Another Now that you understand the awareness of how your message is being
is to re-tweet and point to peer-based parts of a successful social media perceived, what is being said in response,
content in your official channels. But strategy, you need to implement and what new opportunities exist for
there is still a place for credible authority- and sustain your message. additional activity.
based messages, which means your dean,
president and prominent alums may have a Managing the different channels, Online tools and software aids are an
role to play. But remember: Authority-based extending reach and maintaining important facilitator for implementing,

32% of college presidents report
that they use Facebook
weekly or more often;
18% of college presidents
say they use Twitter at
least occasionally.




monitoring and managing your social they may be able to help structure an initial on social media; it must be someone who is
media strategy, but a human needs to strategy — getting everything lined up and also an expert on your institution and can
oversee everything — a person with a feel organized — but are not committed enough serve as a credible representative via social
for life on your campus and a full-time or credible enough to assume ongoing media interactions.
commitment to the process. Beware of ownership. That needs to be handled by
outsourcing this role to external “experts”; someone who is more than just an expert

Summary
A sustainable social media strategy must be Your messaging needs to be coordinated
current, consistent and controlled. Outdated across channels, with each contribution
content can be worse than no content at all. uniquely suited to that particular channel.
All messages must reinforce a manageable
Your social media strategy must leverage set of common themes and project a
many channels simultaneously, with careful consistent image.
attention paid to the match between content
and channel. The content needs to look — and actually be
— spontaneous. But it must also be managed
Relationships must be fostered and built and kept “on message.” Information that is
over time to extend your reach. The goal misleading, incorrect or distracting should
should be to have contact with each prospect be moved, changed or updated. Graffiti
on multiple channels and to facilitate the (including rude or vulgar comments) needs
exchange by having them become followers to be deleted immediately.
and friends.
Your social media strategy must involve
many people and be managed by someone
who is both an expert in social media and
your institution.




How Enrollment
Manager Can Help
Enrollment Manager provides the essential In addition, your dedicated Virtual
tools and services needed to support an Enrollment Coordinator™ can help you
effective social media strategy. From post and monitor social media content,
the ability to post content to Facebook, provide “best practices” recommendations
share content via email and monitor related to social media integration and use
the effectiveness of your social media Enrollment Manager Web Intelligence
presence, Enrollment Manager’s toolset tools to help you evaluate the health of
helps you leverage social networking your overall Web presence and automate
channels to make friends — and interaction with Web visitors based
keep them. on page views, session length and/or
referral source (e.g., Facebook, search
engine, Etc.).

See more Tales of About AdmissionsLab
the Virtual Enrollment A Microsoft Higher Education Partner, Admissions Lab is the leading higher education
Coordinator at provider of software-as-a-service programs, serving more than 70 client institutions. Ad-
AdmissionsLab.com/ missions Lab, a division of 422 Group, is made up of former higher education admissions
officers who bring more than 150 years of experience in the admissions world, helping
comics
the company create problem-solving programs specifically designed for that sector. www.
AdmissionsLab.com


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