From time to time, I get questions from people who stumble across the blog. Well, stumble isn't exactly accurate as www.enrollmentmarketing.org has the number one natural search ranking in Google!
I received the following note from a new higher education practitioner in the world of enrollment marketing. As I found her question and comments to be quite insightful, I asked her permission to post her question and my response:
Hello Tim,
I found your Higher Education Marketing and Enrollment Management blog online, and I hope you don’t mind my e-mailing you a question. While I have a background in marketing and public relations, I am somewhat new to the higher education recruitment and marketing arena.
I’m researching up-to-date data regarding online higher education marketing trends, but I’m puzzled. I’ve found a number of articles citing statistics from around 2004-2005-2006 that essentially say that surveyed potential college students are interested in using such marketing tools as IM, online chats, online Q and A bulletin boards, social media, etc. to get information about colleges….but when I scout around and look at university web sites for examples of their IM, online chats, bulletin boards, etc., I’ve not found many that are used very often. At least, they don’t seem to be used as often by students/potential students as one might expect.
For example, I was checking out University of Virginia’s web page, because they have a lot of interactive online connections (Twitter, YouTube, blogs, Facebook page, etc.). But, when I look closer at those who are posting comments and interacting, it seems to be mostly people already connected with the university (current students, faculty and staff, etc.). Even the blog ‘for undergraduate applicants’ didn’t have very many comments per post, and most of them seemed to be “I’m waitlisted—how long until I find out if I’m accepted?” Their blog on financial aid and student life for prospects (while updated fairly regularly) was quite neglected by posters.
Is this because people responding to surveys tend to overestimate their interest? Or, is it because so many tools seem to go against the desire for anonymity that so many young people want on the internet these days (a lot of tools require people to create user IDs, enter in names/e-mail addresses, which later are posted or can be used by the universities to re-connect with the prospects)?
Or, is the point that university marketers are catering to surfers and not interactors? Or, is enrollment marketing online like those online grocery stores that came out when the internet first started doing business—it sounds good in theory, but people just have preferences that will outweigh the novelty and convenience?
Do you have any ideas?
I appreciate any insight you might have. I see that you’re a consultant, so I hope I’m not overstepping any business boundaries by asking an off-hand e-mail question like this. Thanks for your time.
And my response …
Hi Penny,
Thank you for your interest in my blog.
In my work and research, what I also often see is schools getting wrapped around the axle chasing the latest technology to connect with students. This type of approach has a lot to do with how schools are applying channels such as Twitter and Facebook; most aren’t doing a very good job, applying the same recruitment playbook from the last 20 years only in a different medium.
This isn’t to say that technology shouldn’t be utilized;
rather there are a lot of ways to get your message out. For example, you could
put up flyers on street poles, use sidewalk chalk, or advertise on the sides of
buses. I was once asked to hang a banner
off the side of a Georgia Tech building that simply included the acronym of our
facility, GLCC.
The point is to understand how these initiatives help you move a performance needle related to your business or enrollment objectives. Online and social channel adoption should be driven by strategy and the social participation profile of your desired audience.
Often we start with the hot new tool first.
Tim
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