Transcript Efficiency Tips & Tricks

When Alexander Met Facebook
Scott P. Shields
MoCPA Past-President &
Coordinator of Residential Life Operations
What do these have to do with each other?
Marketing & Student Retention
Alexander Astin: Student Involvement Theory
 For student growth to take place, students need to actively
engage in their environment.
 The amount of student learning and personal development
associated with any educational program is directly
proportional to the quality and quantity of student involvement
in that program (the more a student puts into something, the
more he or she gets out of it).
Student Event and Service Awareness
 Students can’t come to your event of utilize their services if
they don’t know about it.
 The frustrating part: Getting their attention with so many other
distractions.
Student Involvement and Retention
 Uninformed students lead to unsuccessful or frustrated
students.
 Frustrated and unsuccessful students lead to lower retention
numbers.
Student Event and Service Awareness
 Old Adage: The Marketing Rule of Seven – A prospect needs to
see or hear your marketing at least seven times before they
take action and buy from you. You need to break through:
 The Noise
 May not need your product
 Price too high (need to value your product)
 The don’t know you
 That number may be as high as 25 today!
Today’s Implications for Student
Involvement Theory
 An involved student is a successful student.
 The effectiveness of any educational policy or practice is
directly related to the capacity of that policy or practice to
increase student involvement.
 The trick is getting them involved.
 Our goal today: Learn how to best utilize the marketing tools
available to us to catch their attention!
The Marketing Plan
Marketing Plan Goals
 Make the information easy to understand
 Format messages to where customers will best receive the
information as defined through each communication medium
 Give customers the opportunity to choose their preferred
communication method
 (Res Life) Promote incoming freshmen to live in campus
housing
 (Res Life) Increase students desire to re-contract
Marketing Plan Goals
 Increase current student enthusiasm for and engagement with
your department
 Reduce email communication dramatically
 Provide marketing and communication resources for
professional staff, student staff and student leaders
 Potential: Leverage text messaging capabilities
Accomplishing our Goals
Brand Your Department

Develop a similar look to all
publications: websites,
official flyers, electronic
communications.
The Look
Accomplishing our Goals


Branding considerations

Keep elements of your school’s look.

Don’t micromanage your marketing
(i.e. RA program flyer)

Know that some changes may meet some
resistance, but solicit feedback before
final decisions to aid buy-in.
Possibilities include:

Standardized email signature lines

Required daily nametag usage

Approval required on some publications
before publishing.
Managing an over-used tool in e-communication
Email
Diversify Your Approach to Email
ESSENTIAL EMAILS
OPT-OUT EMAILS
 Official departmental business
(assignments, billing, judicial,
check-in/out, breaks, departmentwide satisfaction surveys, etc.)
 Programming/Event information.
 Departmental processes (Room
Selection, Class Registration.)
 Emergency departmental crisis
response.
 Marketing contests and
promotions.
 Secondary survey opportunities.
Managing Opt-Out Emails
 Everyone is signed up initially.
 For Consideration
 What lists should there be?
One opt-in list only?
One per building?
 Who should manage opt-out emails?
 What kinds of opt-out emails need approval?
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 57% OF PEOPLE TALK MORE
ONLINE THAN IN REAL LIFE.
Social Media
Social Media Facts
 The 18-24 year old demographic was the fastest-growing
demographic on Facebook in 2011 with over 74% growth.
 Ninety-eight percent of students are on Facebook, over 30%
use Twitter (these numbers are climbing daily), and nearly all of
them use YouTube on a daily basis.
 College students average over 100 minutes a day on social
media - over twice as much time than any other demographic.
 Social media is where students are and we must go to them to
be successful.
1 in 13 people on Earth have a Facebook account.
Facebook
Facebook Tips for Best Practice
 Best leveraged by posting as minimally as possible (ideally no
more than two times daily).
 Balance factual and promotional messaging with engaging
social media content.
 No one is forced to follow your page. Therefore it is important
to stay relevant and maintain interest through strategized
communication.
Facebook Tips for Best Practice
 Optimal post time on Facebook is between 1-3pm, with
engagement rates 18% higher on Thursday and Friday than any
other days of the week. Saturday and Sunday posts are found to
get the most likes.
 The key is to engage and interact with customers through
humor and interest stories in this platform – not for “push
marketing.”
Facebook Tips for Best Practice
 Be direct in your requests and fans will listen. The most
effective keywords are “post,” “comment,” “take,” “submit,”
“like,” or “tell us.”
 Ask questions at the end of a post using the words “where,”
“when,” and “should” to drive engagement.
Walk the Fine Line
 Post enough to stay visible without annoying you fans.
 The average Facebook post lifespan is 3 hours, and is
considered “alive” when it occupies the newsfeed, receives a
continuous stream of engagement, and grows more than 10%
per hour.
Northwest Residential Life Facebook Page
 Two pages: “Residential Life” & “Find Your Bearcat Roommate.”
 2015 “Likes” as of June 1, 2013.
 826 new Likes since June 1, 2012 (2300 in our halls).
 Vast majority of growth came late summer – fall (freshmen).
 65 votes in a “Light up the Halls” poll.
 Most liked post to date: “It’s official… Maryville is getting a
Jimmy John’s!” received 143 likes.
Northwest Residential Life Facebook Page
85 Likes
Facebook Management
 Main page: Increase interactive content with pictures, contests,
and increased staff participation.
 Secondary pages for specific target populations.
 Discussion Questions:
 Should we mandate a page per hall.
 If yes, who manages these pages?
 If yes, what consistencies must be in place?
 If yes, what content goes on these pages vs. the main Residential Life page?
Remember: Marketing Trends Change
 Current trends (Mid-2013)show students are slowly moving
away from Facebook.
 If you have a high school – college age student… It’s your fault!
1 billion + tweets are sent every three days.
Twitter
Twitter Facts
 Twitter is a social-networking resource used for micro-blogging.
 Participants utilize the tool to provide updates that must be
presented in 120 characters or less.
 Users may choose to act as a “follower” to actively receive
updates from other accounts.
 It is estimated that 40% of Twitter users don’t tweet, but
instead use it to keep up to date.
 84% (Oct. 2012) of colleges and universities tweet.
 73% of Americans trust information and advice from Twitter.
Northwest Residential Life’s Twitter Page
 Twitter.com/NWMO_RESLIFE
 135 followers
 Interesting tidbit: Res. Life at
Mizzou is following us!
 No current plans to mandate
individual hall Twitter
accounts.
Twitter Tips for Best Practice
 Considering that the Twitter audience is more amenable toward
receiving multiple messages throughout the day than our Facebook
audience, at least 2 Twitter-only posts a day (weekdays) should be
the norm.
 Twitter posts between 1-3 EST Monday through Thursday receive the
most clicks.
 In order to best communicate through this method, there should be a
variety of pushed messages (i.e. “Don’t forget to sign up today”) and
interaction with other users.
 Messages should be succinct (120 characters or less), accurate,
innovative, intentional, relevant and dynamic.
A few thoughts about…
YouTube
YouTube Tips
 Create content that addresses your audience’s needs. Your goal
should be to create videos that are helpful, valuable, and
compelling to your clientele.
 Video Variety
 Range in professionalism, length, comedy, etc. to reach different target groups.
 The goal is to get an audience to your YouTube site and let them choose which
videos interest them.
 Video Views
 Allows tracking of views to help you lean what works, what doesn’t.
4 Colleges That Do Social Media REALLY Well
 Twitter – Harvard University
 125,000 followers
 Active all day, every day
 Keeps posts simple, featuring students/faculty as well as articles from the
student newspaper
 Facebook – University of Florida
 445,000 Likes
 They talk sports, share photos, and make sure students know about upcoming
events on campus.
4 Colleges That Do Social Media REALLY Well
 Google+ - Johns Hopkins University and Colorado State
University
 Offers the change to alter search results for users who follow certain pages.
 Pinterest – Ole Miss
 DIY dorm residence hall projects
 Tailgating ideas
 Ole Miss fashion
Let’s go to the Spreadsheet!
Marketing Calendar
Evaluation Tools
 Likealyzer
 Google Analytics
 Facebook Insights
 Search for more!
Your 60 Second Takeaway
Q&A
When Alexander Met Facebook
Scott P. Shields
MoCPA Past-President &
Coordinator of Residential Life Operations
Northwest Missouri State University