Tumblr for Arts Schools Admissions – Tips from University of the Arts
Before I dive into the post I have to say my biggest pet peeves in marketing are: 1. Marketers try to join every social network under the sun and 2. Marketers disregard their unique brand and business situation when evaluating which platforms “make sense” to participate in. Although Tumblr has been around for a few years it [...]
7 Ideas to Improve your New Facebook Timeline Page
When March 30th arrives, Facebook Pages will change forever. Well, knowing Facebook’s track record, things will probably change again. But, at the end of the month, Pages will have the new Timeline design. While some schools have taken the leap of faith, a few schools are still hanging on to their current pages. While you do have [...]
5 Hidden Costs of “Free” Social Media Marketing
social media is a bit more like a free puppy rather than getting a free lunch.
Admissions Web Marketing at University of Nebraska
It’s always great to see colleges doing great online marketing. Whether you have followed Emerson’s acceptance hashtag (#ec2016) to welcome admitted students on Twitter, or the University of Iowa’s “I got accepted into IU” Facebook celebratory post, it’s always inspiring to see fellow marketers “walking the talk” and engaging with students in interesting ways. The other day I [...]
Is Your College Measuring What Matters in Social Media?
It’s not easy managing the growing number of online social outlets today. With limited time and shrinking budgets it’s important now more than ever for universities to be smart with their social media strategy. Prioritizing social media efforts begins with measuring activity and deciding what outlets have the best return on investment. In the fall [...]
What can Higher Ed learn from the Brand New Conference?
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Brand New Conference, a series of talks focused on the creative side of branding. Although the target audience was advertising and marketing agencies (not higher ed practitioners) I was blown away by the people who spoke and their passion and understanding of what makes a good brand [...]
5 Reasons Colleges Can Do Social Media Themselves
Last week I was on a call with the director of marketing at a college where he explained the trouble he was having managing the school’s “social media.” He stated he was interested in hiring a consultant or agency to help him manage the admissions/marketing presence and was thinking about drafting an RFP to pay someone [...]
College Recruiting from the Teen Perspective (Part Two)
This is the second part of the TeensTALK recap from the Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference. In Part One, we discussed a few themes the panel found to be important during the college admissions process. In short, the students identified and expressed their approval of personal methods of recruitment. For Part Two, we are highlighting the [...]
College Recruiting from the Teen Perspective (Part One)
Last week, I was lucky enough to attend the 16th annual Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference in Chicago. Over the three-day conference, I sat in on both round table discussions and presentations led by higher education professionals. Surprisingly the event that resonated the most, wasn’t done by a professional, but by recent high school students. I’m referring [...]
Admissions Marketing – What’s Here vs. What’s Next
For the past few weeks, I’ve been summarizing the 2011 Noel-Levitz marketing and student recruitment research that is extremely important to the higher ed market. After reviewing their reports last weeks our CEO, Michael Staton, pointed out something: Focusing on what is true today is not going to help schools position themselves to take advantage [...]
Online Expectations of Prospective College Students
Noel-Levitz just published more research on the current state of online expectations of prospective students and parents. We already covered a summary of best practices in recruitment and marketing trends here, but wanted to update a new blog to dive deeper into the digital aspects of the recruitment experience.
Using Current Students in College Marketing
According to best practices from the Noel Levitz 2011 Admissions Marketing Report using current students to engage with prospective students is one of the most effective ways to recruit students. We absolutely agree with these findings, and believe student connectedness and community is a vital part in the recruitment process.
Admissions Marketing: Out with the Old in with the New?
The world of marketing and communications has grown to be quite complex over the past two decades, especially due to divergent communications technologies. Because of this, higher ed. marketers are faced with a tough job keeping up with all the new channels as well as completing a never-ending to-do list. Add in a shrinking budget and [...]
Intentional Purgatory – the new place for Marketing and Communications
Marketers, you are now in “Intentional Purgatory.” I call it this because you’re now in a box just made for you – a box that people “intend” to get around to looking at, but most likely never will in any way that will command their attention for your message.
Facebook Page Admins: Changes to Page Width
Hey there friends. As one of Facebook’s Preferred Developer Consultants, we just received an update notifying us of upcoming design changes for all Facebook Pages. We wanted to bring this news to you hot off of the press. It specifically has to do with upcoming changes to a Page’s Width, along with new dashboard changes [...]
Anatomy of a Facebook Page
Over a third of the colleges in the United States have a Facebook Page to assist in their campus’ marketing efforts. For those who are just getting introduced to the concept of a Facebook Page, and the marketing goals it can help you achieve, here’s a look into the anatomy of a Facebook Page.
7 Ways Colleges Can Use Foursquare
After reading Michael and Seth’s thoughts on Location-Based Services and Higher Ed and as a response to Foursquare’s new Campus Rep program outreach, a couple of ideas came to mind for colleges campuses using Foursquare to engage their students with the school. Here are my ideas from a student point-of-view.
Calculating the Value of Your Facebook Fans in Higher Ed: An Introduction
This article is part one of a larger series on Calculating the value of your Facebook fans as a college or university. Introduction What are the people who “Like” your institution’s Facebook Page worth?
Multiple Social Media Tools: Overwhelming but Okay. Actually, a Must.
There is no such thing as “duplicating your effort,” there’s only “multiplying your presence.”
How to: Add a static FBML tab to your Facebook page
Facebook Pages are a great way to greet your students and fans on Facebook, especially if you’re a large institution with a lot of different people looking for you online. But what if you want to customize your page further and add content specific to you? You can add applications and tabs to Pages the [...]
Unofficial Facebook Class Groups and Copyright Infringement
Third-party marketers who are hungry for your incoming freshman and their attention can try to hijack your brand on Facebook and other social media sites. That seems obvious; I know, you’re thinking “What can we do about it? It’s inevitable.” It’s worth investigating. Before exploring how we can help, let’s tak about the proliferation of Facebook Pages and Groups that represent your brand, but are not created by you or an official representative of your institution.
Scale your Communications using Social Networking
In the past, you were limited by the amount of paper you could afford. Publications could only hold so much. Brochures and newsletters could only cover aspects of your institution that would be of interest to a large number of individuals.
Facebook Highlights Applications Over Pages and Groups
Internally, we had mixed feelings about the new Facebook layout, with most of us having warm feelings about the change. But one thing we all were able to agree on is their preferential treatment of applications. I’ve gone on record numerous times saying that 2010 will be the year of Facebook apps. And it feels [...]
Branding in Higher Ed: The Battle of Waterloo
Six months ago, the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada began transitioning over to a new branding identity. Marketing surveys had shown that the University of Waterloo was perceived as a “regional” university despite having highly ranked Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics departments. The school needed to market their campus as a cutting-edge and competitive [...]
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