3. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 1
Agenda
TIME DESCRIPTION
9:45–10:00 am Registration
10:00–10:15 am Welcome & Introductions
10:15–10:45 am Session 1: Digital Marketing – The Challenges & The Opportunities
10:45–11:15 am Session 2: Who’s Evaluating Us?
11:15–11:30 am Quick Break
11:30 am–12:00 pm Session 3: Lead Follow up – The Mystery Shopper
12:00–1:00 pm Lunch
1:00–2:45 pm Session 4: Implementation – Creativity, Process, Search, Social Media
2:45–2:30 pm Quick Break
3:00–3:30 pm Session 5: Using the SUNY Brand
3:30–4:00 pm Wrap Up
4. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by2
The Intead Team
Michael Waxman-Lenz
Co-Founder, CEO, International Education Advantage
Michael’s 25-year career spans activities in technology, academia and doing business around the
world. He has lived and worked on three continents and has traveled to more than 40 countries.
Prior to co-founding Intead, Michael spent ten years in various senior executive functions at the
Digital Media Division of American Greetings Corp. (AG), rising to General Manager. Michael joined AG when
the company purchased Eagents.com, an internet start-up where he was among the first employees.
In the 1990s, prior to the tech boom, Michael lived in Central Asia for five years and managed a Belgian
venture capital fund. His previous work experience includes stints as a management consultant in Ernst &
Young’s international division and as an economist at the Institute of International Finance (IIF).
More recently, Michael taught as an adjunct professor at Baldwin-Wallace University and
John Carroll University.
His academic credentials include earning a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a Masters Degree from
Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), as well as studies at the University of Konstanz in Germany and Kingston
Polytechnic in London. He has completed executive education courses at Harvard Business School,
Stanford Business School and Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Business.
Benjamin Waxman
Co-Founder, COO, International Education Advantage
Throughout the past 25 years, Ben has focused on helping institutional non-profits and for-
profit organizations with complex services sell to educated professionals. Where students are
making significant decisions about where to invest their time and money, Ben’s work helps
them differentiate one academic institution or program from another. His work in corporate marketing,
branding and communications for a range of industry clients in education, healthcare, finance, technology,
management consulting, and publishing, help him develop creative and influential messaging for a variety
of audiences. He applies his knowledge of marketing trends, technology/web-based tools and social media
to all engagements.
Ben brings to projects the drive and talent to evaluate ambiguous situations, develop a workable plan and
implement it. His clients value his eye for business development opportunities and persuasive, diplomatic style
useful in attracting prospective partners. Also useful is his extensive experience building internal and external
relationships and overseeing and motivating global virtual teams. He is accustomed to working with high-
level decision makers.
Ben has traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East and taken business trips to Canada, Mexico, Hong
Kong, and China. Ben participates and presents at international education industry conferences including
AIRC, NAFSA, ICEF and EAIE.
Lisa Cynamon Mayers
Academic Advisor, International Education Advantage
Lisa has spent over 15 years working in undergraduate admissions and college counseling and now
provides guidance on the application and admissions processes for Intead.
Upon graduating from Washington University in 1999, Lisa worked at the university as a Senior
Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions for three years. Throughout Lisa’s years of graduate study
at Case Western Reserve University, she worked with the admissions office on special projects, including
interviewing prospective students and revamping the campus tour program. For the past eight years, Lisa has
worked as an independent college counselor, guiding American and international high school students and
their parents through the U.S. college admissions process.
Lisa was a keynote speaker at the 2008 Inside Ivy Conference in Seoul, South Korea, organized by Princeton
Review Korea and Road to College. As a speaker and published writer on the subject of college admissions,
Lisa has been able to advise countless students and parents.
5. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 3
http://info.intead.com/icef-workshop-materials
Miami Workshop, December 2013: Participant Materials
Free resources to enhance your digital marketing
88 Ways to Recruit Inter-
national Students
Building and Manag-
ing Your International
Network
Boarding School’s
Guide to Internet Mar-
keting
Language School’s
Guide to Internet Mar-
keting
Managing International
Alumni Relations
Learning SEO from the
Expert
The Complete Guide to
European Social Media
Marketing
How to Master Face-
book Marketing in 10
Days
88 Ways to Recruit
International Students
Managing International
Alumni Relations
Building and
Managing Your
International Network
Learning SEO from
the Experts
Boarding Schools’
Guide to Internet
Marketing
The Complete Guide
to Social Media
Marketing in Europe
Language Schools’
Guide to Internet
Marketing
How to Master
Facebook Marketing
in 10 Days
http://info.intead.com/icef-workshop-materials
Miami Workshop, December 2013: Participant Materials
Free resources to enhance your digital marketing
88 Ways to Recruit Inter-
national Students
Building and Manag-
ing Your International
Network
Boarding School’s
Guide to Internet Mar-
keting
Language School’s
Guide to Internet Mar-
keting
Managing International
Alumni Relations
Learning SEO from the
Expert
The Complete Guide to
European Social Media
Marketing
How to Master Face-
book Marketing in 10
Days
Free Resources to Enhance Your Digital Marketing
Get them here: info.intead.com/reading-materials
E-books from Intead:
Other reading material to download from intead.com:
College Branding: The Tipping Point
By Roger Dooley
The Digital Advantage: Using Digital Tools
for International Student Recruitment
By Michael Waxman-Lenz
and Lisa Cynamon Mayers
Five Ways to Boost Your
Cross-Cultural Agility
By Laura Curnutt Santana
A Marketer’s Template for Creating
Buyer Personas
By Hubspot
6. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by4
Intead Blog and Podcasts
Intead Recruiting Intelligence Blog
At Intead we understand the factors driving academic
institutions to seek international students. Our Recruiting
Intelligence blog addresses the various factors that
contribute to a successful program of international student
recruitment and enrollment. We consider marketing, branding,
international student services, and additional factors that lead
to institutional and student success.
Intead Insights
Our team constantly searches the web for the best research
reports on academic issues, global marketing and international
student recruitment. We select one report per week and
highlight a few key findings and summarize the essence of the
report with a few selected charts. We will always direct you to
the original source of the report and give you access to the
entire report if possible.
We have two objectives with Intead Insights:
1. We want to learn as much as we can about global
education and the many related topics. It’s a form of our
own professional development that in the end, serves you,
our client, better.
2. We want to make you dangerous. We know that your
email inbox is full and you have limited time. We are your
research team bringing the most fascinating, useful and
productive insights to your attention so that you can use
them to your advantage.
Intead Podcasts
In our 20–25 minute Intead Podcasts we interview leaders
in international higher education, marketing, branding and
related fields. Tune in during your commute to learn from the
best and brightest in the industry. Available on iTunes and the
Intead website.
services.intead.com
/blog
Sign Up to Receive:
services.intead.com
/insights
intead.com
/intead-podcasts
9. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 7
Persona Development Worksheet
Attributes Persona A Persona B
Job Role Prospective Student Parent / Agent
Role in Decision
Making Process
Academic Strength
Financial Strength
Age
Location
Influencers
Sources of information
Main goals
Motivations
Challenges/Frustrations
Buyer Role Type
Interaction Preferences
Watering Holes
Other
10. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by8
Intead hears from many clients
that developing fresh content for
social media can be an ongoing
challenge. We can help. And we’re
giving it away.
WhyEducationMatters.org
highlights the critical importance
of education by displaying current
and historic quotes about education
against a background of compelling
photographic images.
We invite you to contribute a quote
of your choice to respond to the statement: Why Education Matters. Your contribution can reach,
and potentially inspire, thousands of viewers. If you have a good background photo, we welcome
that as part of your submission.
Our goal is to collect 1,000 quotes regarding the value of education from around the world.
In fact for every quote we use we will donate $2 to The Malala Fund, in honor of the
incredible Malala Yousafzai.
“The Malala Fund’s solutions
are grounded in inspired
innovation: they are girl-centric
approaches to education that
support the Fund’s goal of
creating a world where every
girl reaches her true potential.”
We have been inspired by Malala. She
exemplifies why education matters.
Intead offers this content in different
sizes for use on your website and
social media.
WhyEducationMatters.org
Powerful Social Media Content,
Free from Intead
11. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 9
Digital Orientation Planning Tool Sample
Digital Orientation Planning Tool
Step 1: Define IT Platform/Support
Step 2: Define Target(s) For Digital Orientation Plan
Step 3: Collect Content
ExistingContentSources:
NewContentCreation:
TranslationResource:
2 current int’l students to create video testimonials; consider
webinar with international professor in local language
Admissions brochures videos; orientation materials
Current international studentsand professor
Hosting:
ITResource:
EmailDistributionEngine:
University website under International Students tab
University admissions email system
Internal IT staff
TargetCountry:
TargetAudience:
TargetResults:
China
Increase YIELD from 15% to 20% (admitted enrolled)
Admitted undergraduate students
DigitalOrientationPlanningTool(Sample)
12. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by10
Digital Orientation Planning Tool Sample
Step 4: Design Micro‐Site
Step 5: Define Email Marketing Plan
WebsiteDesignResources:Marketing communications staff/IT support
MarketingGoal:
PrimaryAudience:
SecondaryAudience:
Tactic:
ContentToBePromotedviaEmail:
TrackingPlan
Undergraduate students in China
Parents of undergraduate students in China
Drive increased enrollment (yield) by engaging admitted
students with valuable content and driving them and their
parents to the university website
4‐week email marketing campaign starting with admissions
letter to int’l students pointing them to micro‐site with digital
orientation content in local language
Classroom experience, safety, academics, international
student social life
Email engine to track open and click through rates. Online
registration form for downloadable Chinese language PDFs
(sharable with parents) to help capture student email
addresses and track engagement
DigitalOrientationPlanningTool(Sample)
13. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 11
Student retention begins in, and sometimes before,
the first week of class
Student retention begins in, and sometimes
before, the first week of class
Published October 16, 2013
http://monitor.icef.com/2013/10/student‐retention‐begins‐in‐and‐sometimes‐before‐the‐first‐week‐of‐class/
For many educators, the memory of the last student intake and last orientation is never far
away, especially with a new school year recently underway in many parts of the world. How
would you rate your school’s effort at welcoming new international students and helping
them settle in? What are you thinking of improving for your next intake?
These are not small questions. There is an increasingly clear relationship between an
effective orientation – and related services that encourage incoming international students
to reach out and connect with new friends – and the level of engagement students achieve
with their school and their new community throughout their studies. This level of
attachment has been shown in turn to be an important factor in student performance,
retention, and even in the student’s interest in remaining on in the host country to pursue
career or immigration opportunities after graduation.
We have looked at issues and strategies around student retention in previous posts,
including features on data‐driven enhancements to student support services as well as the
impact of culture shock. But for many educators, it seems the path to dealing with these
issues – including better retention rates – begins in the first week of class, or perhaps even
before.
Preventing homesickness
A recent paper published in the Journal of American College Health – “Homesickness and
Adjustment in University Students” – notes that many new post‐secondary students will
suffer intense homesickness.
“The transition to college or university can be an exciting new experience
for many young adults. For some, intense homesickness can make this move
difficult, even unsustainable.”
“Homesickness – defined as the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated
separation from home – carries the unique hallmark of preoccupying thoughts of home and
attachment objects. Sufferers typically report depression and anxiety, withdrawn behavior,
and difficulty focusing on topics unrelated to home.”
“For domestic and international university students, intense homesickness
is particularly problematic. It can exacerbate preexisting mood and anxiety
disorders, precipitate new mental and physical health problems, and
sometimes lead to withdrawal from school.”
The report’s authors, Dr. Christopher Thurber, a psychologist at Phillips Exeter Academy,
and Dr. Edward Walton, a professor in pediatric medicine at Oakland University,
recommend a number of preventative strategies based on their research in the field:
14. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by12
“Provide orienting information… The more that incoming students know about what
to expect and where to find supports and resources when they arrive, the less
anxious they will feel.
Plan for how and when to maintain connections with home [via] letters, email, video
chats, phone calls, and in‐person visits.
Initiate social contacts prior to the first day of school… Social networking websites
[such as a dedicated Facebook page or chat room] can be healthy tools for
connections between new and returning students or among groups of new students.
For international students, cultivate host‐country friends as well as homeland
friends… Establishing a friendship group of predominantly homeland friends
impedes acculturation and is usually associated with more intense feelings of
missing home.
Educate new and returning students about the peer and professional supports that
are available on and around campus. All students should know where to find
resident advisors, dormitory affiliates, health centre staff, and mental health
professionals.”
To this we would also add:
Arrange for your institution’s psychology department to give a workshop(s) to staff
on how to discover tell‐tale signs of depression or anxiety in advance, and what to
do to ensure the student receives help. Include intercultural sensitivity training for
staff (and consider extending this to students both domestic and international).
Pay special attention to international students who arrive late (due to visa delays,
personal issues, etc.) and might have missed the formal orientation programme.
Expanded support services
The importance of strong orientation and support services targeted to new international
students is looming larger in schools and campuses these days, partly because many
international programmes have realised steady enrolment growth in recent years.
“Even at colleges where the raw numbers aren’t jaw‐dropping, foreign students’ increased
presence is felt,” says a 2011 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “International
students, or those from particular countries, are no longer showing up in onesies and
twosies… As a result, what might have previously been ascribed to the personality or
learning style of an individual student is beginning to coalesce into noticeable patterns,
although international educators are quick to say that it’s not always possible – or
appropriate – to generalise across country or cultural groups.”
And along with that growing presence on campus, the profile of today’s international
students is noticeably different than it was even a few years ago. Undergraduate enrolments
are growing quickly – this is particularly the case in major destination countries such as the
US, where undergraduate enrolments have grown twice as fast as graduate enrolments over
the past few years – and students are coming from a greater range of countries than in the
past.
As The Chronicle reports, American educators are responding with new or expanded
support services.
“A growing number of colleges have instituted peer‐mentor programmes. At
American University, current international students act as small‐group
leaders during orientation, sharing their own experiences of acclimating to
campus life. Colorado State University’s peer advisers, about half of whom
are American, reach out to incoming international students, introducing
15. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 13
themselves by email and offering to answer questions before the semester
even begins.
Other institutions have variations on the peer‐adviser theme. Rice
University stations ‘international liaisons’ in each of its residence halls to
serve as informal resources to foreign students, who can drop by their
rooms with questions or concerns. George Mason pairs participants in its
Access programme, which pairs provisionally‐admitted students who work
to improve their English while taking college courses with honours students
who live on adjacent floors.”
Institutions, in the US and otherwise, are also looking at how to improve the effectiveness of
their orientation programmes. For some, this means paring orientations down to the basics
in order to help avoid information overload for newly arrived students. For others,
orientation takes place in extended sessions before the beginning of the school year or even
in for‐credit courses taken in the first semester of study.
The University of Toronto, for example, offers Green Path, a dedicated 12‐week summer
preparation course for students from China. Participants get a chance to polish their English
and to get a jump on social connections and academic preparation for the school year ahead.
The programme’s focus on Chinese students, however, can be seen as both a strength and a
challenge given the strong interest many international students have in connecting with
students from other cultural backgrounds.
“The instinct to form cliques around nationality is something Green Path administrators are
keen to guard against,” reports Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper. “The ‘GPers’ all hail
from China, often speak Mandarin to each other, and grow tight‐knit after 12 weeks
together… At the same time, instructors constantly urge them to break out of that bubble
and go exploring.”
The University of British Columbia, meanwhile, offers a two‐week summer orientation
programme called Jump Start for new international and Aboriginal students. As the Globe
and Mail report outlines:
“Starting with a pick‐up at the airport, the programme’s two intensive
weeks mix academic lectures with workshops on living independently and
plenty of social events, like talent shows and dancing nights. Many
universities offer events like these, but stretching them over two weeks and
getting professors involved remains rare, not to mention costly, which may
help explain why few schools have followed suit. The programming is free,
but students are asked to pay up to CDN 1,240 for room and board.”
“Students insist it was worth it. ‘It helps a lot, for real,’ says Giulio Sucar Pregnolato, 18,
who came to UBC from Sao Paulo, Brazil to study biomedical science. ‘It removes the sense
that you’re alone in a huge pond of other people. You just feel inserted more.’”
These examples suggest a new idea about orientation is taking shape – one that starts early,
even before the student’s arrival on campus, and lasts longer than was the case for
orientations past.
They also suggest that formal orientation sessions are increasingly seen as an important
part of a broader process, one that includes ongoing information and support services for
new students to help ensure they have every opportunity to connect with fellow students,
the larger community, and even the country in which they have chosen to study.
16. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by14
Digital Tools
Free/Freemium Tools
MailChimp helps you design email newsletters, share them on social networks,
integrate with services you already use, and track your results. It’s like your own
personal publishing platform.
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos
anywhere. This means that any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically
save to all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website. Dropbox also
makes it super easy to share with others, whether you’re a student or professional,
parent or grandparent.
HootSuite is designed for professionals who want to drive more value from their
social media activities: manage campaigns, engage with customers and collaborate
internally, all from one secure web and mobile dashboard. Try it free, and choose
from three plans tailored to meet your needs.
Google Analytics provides powerful digital analytics for anyone with a web
presence, large or small. It’s one of the most powerful digital analytics solutions
available – and it’s free for anyone to use.
Paid Services
SurveyMonkey is the world’s most popular online survey tool. It’s easier than ever to
send free surveys, polls, questionaires, customer feedback and market research. Plus
get access to survey questions and professional templates.
Hubspot all-in-one marketing software helps you optimize your website to get
found by more prospects and convert more of your prospective students into
enrolled students.
A/B Testing is a method of website optimization in which the conversion rates of
two versions of a page – version A and version B – are compared to one another
using live traffic. Site visitors are bucketed into one version or the other. By tracking
the way visitors interact with the page they are shown, you can determine which
version of the page is most effective.
17. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 15
Intead Index
Free decision tools for
international student recruiting
There are a lot of vendors and tools out
there—we know it is hard to choose and
evaluate. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could ask
a member of your team to analyze all those
options by specific criteria so you could make
an informed decision?
Intead has done the work for you: The
Intead Index is a set of indices that provides
you with the information you need to make
informed decisions about international
student recruitment strategies. Our staff
has worked inside college admissions
offices and understands the challenges
of sorting through this information.
We research, analyze, and compile the
information for you—you make the
good decisions.
Sign up here: info.intead.com/intead-index
I N D E X
for International
Marketing Enrollment
20 LinkedIn Groups International
Tour Providers
Social Media
Tools
Seminars
Conferences
23. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 21
88 Ways to Recruit
International Students
A comprehensive survey of
recruitment ideas and practices
Successfully implementing a comprehensive recruitment strategy is complex,
and on an international basis, even more so. This book provides a wide range
of tactics you can use to build a robust strategy.
~ David L. Hautanen, Jr.
Former Director of Admission / Director International Recruitment and Strategic Initiatives,
Northeastern University, Massachusetts
Executive Summary
Let’s first look at the big picture of attracting
students. Marketing traditionally has had two distinct
components: brand marketing and direct marketing.
Universities have, in most instances, an institutional
separation of these functions as well. While the
marketing department tends to be in charge of the
overall branding campaigns (e.g., billboards, TV, and
radio), the admissions department manages the direct
marketing (e.g., high school visits and college fairs).
The email direct marketing also tends to be based
within the admissions department.
Holistic student enrollment marketing must embrace
both components and aim to strike a financially
responsible balance. Our handbook explores
development of branding and marketing, particularly
those elements that have been made possible with
recent advances in technology and social media.
Direct marketing, whether offline or online, has the
distinct advantage of allowing you to tie your results
directly to the marketing expense. You can calculate
the “direct” Return on Investment (ROI).
The challenge here is that we do not know every one
of the factors that influenced the final enrollment
decision. Selecting a university is a complex decision.
Students’ friends and parents as well as institution
websites play a critical role. So how do you calculate
the all-inclusive return?
Due to size and fragmentation, brand marketing in
international markets is even more difficult than in
the US market. And even in the US, most universities
focus on a limited geographic radius. Nevertheless,
the internet and social media make it feasible and
critically important to include a consistent brand
building effort in your marketing. You can’t afford to let
US News World Report determine your international
brand perception. Your material – well conceptualized,
crafted and disseminated – should shape the
perception and position of your institution.
Throughout this text, we mention a great number of
recruitment solutions, non-profit organizations and
for-profit companies that provide services and
connections to assist with international student
recruitment. We do not endorse and we are not
sponsored by any of these groups for this publication.
How Alumni Can Help
with International Recruitment
1. Direct recruitment activities
such as interviewing candidates
2. Identifying new business targets
3. Internship placement
for foreign and domestic students
4. Hosting receptions
for parents of high school students
5. Help at education fairs
Source: University of Michigan,
http://cob.umd.umich.edu/693401/
24. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by22
Student Counselors
and Agents
Building and Managing
Your International Network
Once again, Intead has produced a thoughtful analysis of an important
development in international education. This monograph will be useful to
any institution considering an agency-based recruitment strategy, as well as
institutions that are already on this path.
~ Mitch Leventhal, PhD
Former Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs, The State University of New York System
Executive Summary
Agent recruitment has an air of picking the easy
and cheap way to find students as opposed to the
typical US domestic student recruiting process of
visiting high schools and attending college fairs. Our
research shows that successful recruiting via agents is
neither easy nor inexpensive. Building, supporting and
managing an agent network requires initial investment
and ongoing commitment and resources.
In interviewing more than 50 professionals in this field,
we found those adding this recruiting channel had
deliberate strategic and practical reasons to do so.
Here we highlight the advantages and value of
agent recruiting:
• Consistent presence in the country with local
representatives and offices versus fly-in/fly-out
admissions officers
• Local cultural understanding of the education
tradition and an ability to convey the complex
US admissions process
• Language facility and ability to communicate
with students and parents
• A successful, well-designed and managed agent
recruiting channel requires:
◆ Ongoing support internally and externally
◆ Thoughtful selection, evaluation and monitoring
of the partner agencies
◆ Consistent and repeated training of agents
◆ Direct personal interaction and communication
via as many channels as possible (visits in-country,
visits by agents to the institution, email, phone,
video conferencing)
◆ Consistent evaluation of results
◆ Fair and prompt compensation to agents
Global
Training
Transparency
Communication Optimize
Best Practice
Students
India
China
Trust
Marketing
Channels
Guidance
Overseas
Enrollment
We interviewed 50 professionals
(partial list):
Ron Cushing, University of Cincinnati
Joseph DeCrosta, Duquesne University
Andrew Eisenhardt, Drexel University
Tony Littlefield, Washington College
Krista Northrup, SUNY
Debbie Thorne, Texas State University
Sara Tully, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Charles Wilkerson, Tennessee Tech University
25. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by 23
June 2, 2014
OMG: In China, This Language Teacher Has Swag
By Debra Bruno
Jessica Beinecke gets this reac-
tion a lot: She’s walking down the
street in a Chinese city, and she’ll
be recognized by one of her 400,000
Weibo followers or even one of the
40 million who have watched her
videos. With platinum blonde hair
and big blue eyes, the young woman
who has taught Americans how to
say “twerk” in Mandarin and stu-
dents in China how to talk about
“House of Cards” stands out.
“They’ll say, ‘Eh? Bai Jie?’ And
then we’ll take a selfie,” says the
27-year old Ohio native who takes
learning a language to a whole new
level.
Ms. Beinecke, known to her
Chinese fans as Bai Jie (..), has made
a name for herself since 2011 with
her bright, funny and short expla-
nations of English slang – includ-
ing “twerk,” “swag,” “freaking out,”
“awesome,” and “life hack,” as part
of a daily Voice of America online
video program called OMG Meiyu,
or OMG American English.
She says she chose her name in
college to sound a bit like her giv-
en name. Directly translated, bai
means white and jie means “clean”
or “pure,” she says. Step aside, Justin
Bieber.
Apart from her work with OMG
Meiyu, Ms. Beinecke also has two
new sites she developed herself and
launched in January: Crazy Fresh
Chinese, which teaches Chinese
terms to English speakers, and Bai
Jie LaLaLa, which like OMG Meiyu
teaches English expressions to Chi-
nese speakers.
Thanks to such work, she’s got a
Chinese following that can reach a
certain level of fanaticism. One of
the top Google search terms under
her name is “Jessica Beinecke boy-
friend.” When her male followers
ask if they can be her boyfriend,
she says, she handles it accordingly:
“I just write, in Chinese, the words
for ‘ha ha,’ and put a smiley face and
just move on. I say, ‘thank you.’ It’s a
compliment.”
On the comments section for
her Voice of America videos, fans
offer English-language tributes such
as “Bai Jie is very lovely” and “I love
Bai Jie. Hope she was my girlfriend.”
This is not your mother’s lan-
guage instructor. Ms. Beinecke is
cheerful to a fault, throws in a goofy
giggle in the middle of her mini-les-
sons – which can be as short as 30
seconds – and seems to have an
unerring sense of what her follow-
ers might want to understand. For
Chinese-language students on her
Crazy Fresh Chinese site, that in-
cludes how to say “House of Cards,”
the popular U.S. television minise-
ries that explores the machinations
of Washington’s power struggles. As
part of those lessons, she dressed
up as the characters Frank Under-
wood, Claire Underwood and Zoe
Barnes and gave lessons on terms
like “Friends make the worst ene-
mies” and “conniving.”
Continues
Ms. Beinecke poses with fans in Beijing.
CHINA
26. ACADEMIC RECRUITING: Implementing Integrated Digital Marketing Presented by24
And in the 700 OMG Meiyu
broadcasts she’s made so far, she
offers English-language students
almost an urban dictionary of the
kinds of terms young people use,
like “get over it,” “wakey wakey,”
tough love,” fantabulous” and “my
bad!”
Young people are tired of lessons
that slog through statements like
“I have three people in my family”
and “we have a dog” and “we live in
a house,” she says. “It’s a little dry.
I kind of spice it up and give them
something to use. They can say
when they go to Starbucks, ‘Hey, get
me a zhong bei dou na tie – give me
a medium soy latte. It’s something
they can use in the moment. So I
think that’s what really connects.”
She is also developing a follow-
ing among U.S. high school and
college students. “The looks on their
faces when they learn there’s a word
for swag and twerk in Mandarin,
they instantly have this new con-
nection to Mandarin and they can
more instantly relate to a language
that they thought up to that point
was foreign to them,” she says.
Ms. Beinecke introduces twerk-
ing on her Crazy Fresh Chinese site
by giggling and announcing: “This
is the most important Mandarin
lesson you’ll ever have in your en-
tire life.” She goes on to repeat the
words dian tun wu, adding, “It lit-
erally means ‘electric butt dance.’
Oh yeah.” And then she dances a bit
with her arms in the air.
Recently in Beijing to talk about
the 100,000 Strong Foundation,
which encourages American stu-
dents to study in China, she also
visited a middle school in Beijing.
“This seventh-grade girl came up af-
terwards and very quietly said, ‘Bai
Jie, I drew this for you,’” she says.
“It was a really pretty cartoon of me
and under it in very pretty writing,
it said ‘Jessica.’”
Another student in Chengdu
drew a portrait of her in a hat with
big glasses, as an illustration of the
word “swag” (fan’er). “It’s on my wall
in a very narrow hallway,” she says.
“My boyfriend won’t let me hang it
out in a prominent place.”
She thinks her viewers feel close
to her because of the intimacy of her
shots: she shoots her videos with a
cell phone camera and talks directly
to the viewer. “It feels like we’re hav-
ing a one-on-one conversation. And
that’s on purpose,” Ms. Beinecke
says.
Her formula seems to be work-
ing. She says, “I just think young
people have so many similar inter-
ests, and for them to have an op-
portunity to connect in a real way
with those with similar interests, is
something I hope to provide every
day. And to do it in a way that also
addresses their attention span.”
Continued from previous page
Ms. Beinecke poses with a fan wearing a fake tattoo with the Chinese characters
for ‘swag’.
