Social Media & Mobile Marketing: Recruitment Strategy Opportunities

Social Media & Mobile Marketing: Recruitment Strategy Opportunities
NAGAP Winter Institute for Advanced Graduate Professionals January 20-21 , 2011 Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Part I: Social Media
Connecting like-minded people with current events and stories…

The social media “Groundswell”…
“A social trend in which people use technology to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.”
Groundswell, Harvard Business Press, 2008

What’s in the Groundswell…
Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn
Wikipedia
Rate My Professor
And a host of other sites

Online adults in the United States… Data from Forrester Research Technographics® surveys, 2010
How people use social media…
Creators………………. 23%
Conversationalists…… 31%
Critics…………………..33%
Collectors………………19%
Joiners………………….59%
Spectators……………...69%
Inactives……………….. 19%
Groups overlap… thus the high total percent

Social Media traffic… Jan 1, 2011 http://www.hitwise.com/resources/data-center.php
1. Facebook……………63.25%
2. YouTube…………….19.20%
3. MySpace……………...2.53%
4. Yahoo! Answers……… .98%
5. Twitter…………………. .97%
12. LinkedIn……………… .23%

Is “Social Media” a marketing tool?
Yes… an indirect one
Social media allow potential students to listen to people talk about their experience with you
Social media allows people to ask questions about the value of your degree and get “experience answers” from your students
Monitor and influence social media discussions

To make social media work…
Clear responsibility to someone…
Update frequently
Monitor what’s happening
Beware of censorship
Prominent links from official website
Monthly activity reports
Participation rate
Topics of interest

Case Study: University of Phoenix
Build online communities that allow current and future students to…
“ interact, keep up with and explore the world of University of Phoenix.”

From a home page link… http://www.phoenix.edu/students/online_communities.html

The primary page… 66,437 liking it

Active, critical “Discussions” page…

Complaints about faculty…

Complaints about financial aid…

YouTube: 2,398 subscribers, 593 friends…

UPhoenix degree is “not worthy”?... 429 comments on LinkedIn

Other examples: Ball State University, Walden University, UT: McCombs School of Business

Ball State FB for Online Students http://www.facebook.com/ballstateonline

Open discussions at Walden… http://www.facebook.com/waldenu#!/topic.php?uid=6514736316&topic=4715

Monitor & reply in 24 hours… http://www.facebook.com/waldenu#!/topic.php?uid=6514736316&topic=15129

Create a YouTube presence… http://www.youtube.com/user/utmccombsschool

Twitter requires frequency… http://twitter.com/#!/utexasmccombs

Blogs are social media… http://www.hbs.edu/about/connect/

Program specific mash-ups… http://www.mgt.ncsu.edu/mba/news/social/

People will be critical…
No university is Disney World
“ Walled gardens” are gone

Responding to critical content…
Perfection isn’t expected… don’t claim it
In most cases, don’t respond immediately
Monitor the response of your community
Best defense is from students and alumni
Identify yourself as an “official” person
Offering to fix a problem is fine

UVA… comments to FB English dept update
Negative:
“ When I was an English major at UVa, before switching…, I noticed that the only things the English department… seems to like are 1) itself 2) its own professors' voices and 3) worthless instructional methods, all tinted with a heaping dose of irrelevance.”

UVA… comments to FB English dept update
Positive:
“I was an English major at UVa… and I had exactly the opposite experience. I wonder if the difference lies in attitude. If you see literature as 'irrelevant' one wonders why you decided to become an English major in the first place. Kudos to the department for continuing to adapt its approaches to changing times.”

Stay up to date…

Forrester blogs… http://blogs.forrester.com/category/social_media_marketing

Pew Internet research reports… http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Adults-and-Social-Network-Websites.aspx

Part II: Mobile Marketing
Instant access…
All the time, from anywhere

How small will things get? http://bit.ly/d9ihtP

Key Strategy Question:
Why should I put scarce resources into mobile marketing?

The answer…
Website experience shapes brand perception…

Growing expectation…
A “mobile friendly” online experience

Tales from the Research… 1
Pew Internet & American Life Project “ Mobile Access 2010” http://bit.ly/cqxi6D

Mobile phone use, 2009 to 2010
80% of adults (18+) owned mobile phones in 2010… no change from 2009
Take a picture…. 66 to 76%
Send & receive text messages… 65 to 72%
Send & receive email… 25 to 34%
Access the Internet… 25 to 38%
Send & receive instant messages… 20 to 30%
Record video… 19 to 34%

“Young adults” 18 to 29…
Heavy use of “mobile” in many areas…
Send/receive text messages… 95%
Take a photo.. 93%
Access Internet… 65%
Send/receive email… 52%
Use social networking site… 48%
Still low…
Purchased a product… 20%

Tales from the Research… 2
“ Mobile User Experience Is Miserable” Jakob Nielsen: July 2009 Alertbox http://bit.ly/2LgE4j

Main mobile problems in 2009…
4 major problems
Small screens
Awkward input
Slow downloads
Poor design for mobile
All improved in 2010

Reason for optimism…
Task success was higher at sites designed for mobile access…
64% task completion at “sites for mobile”
53% task completion at regular websites
Larger screen = more success
Regular cell phones… 38% success
Regular smartphones… 55% success
Touch screen phones… 75% success ◄

State of Mobile Marketing
Best uses for “mobile”…
Your regular website is not obsolete

Mobile tasks: recruitment
Find academic program list
Register for a campus visit
Inquire about enrollment… if simple
Check application status
Pay an enrollment deposit

Mobile App vs. Mobile Website
Mobile App
Different apps for different devices
How will people find your app?
Not easy to update
Higher performance possible/Easier use
Mobile Website
Access from any mobile device
Can find using “search”
Easy to update
Will perform as well as you build it/Not great right now

Make things easy in mobile…
“ As you go to site XYZ it will automatically create a single-column, mobile-friendly view that has navigation scaled to produce videos or slideshows so users won’t have to pinch or scan or scroll or download an app for everything.”
Robert Z. Samuels, director of mobile product development, New York Times

The NY Times on mobile…

Build a new mobile site?
“ Mobilize, don’t miniaturize”… anon.
“… the mobile context is so different from the desktop one it deserves direct consideration vs. just mangling down a full-size site.”
Drew Stevenson, University of Minnesota, 2010

Don’t start people here… the iPhone trap

Case Study: Mobile Marketing for Graduate Recruitment
University of Tulsa, Collins College of Business

Patience is often required…

Major program areas at the start…

Specific areas of study available…

Faculty and courses highlighted…

Faculty details & contact info…

Making an inquiry… name first

Phone is optional…

Starting date… FT or PT?

Email and print response…

Don’t ask unless you use it…

Alternative inquiry… one step

Texting…
Ongoing communication for those who opt-in to receive it
Recruitment events
Important news updates
Rules similar to email:
Must opt-in
Easy to opt-out

A short summary…
Strategy: prepare now to give future students mobile access
Identify key tasks for future students that are “mobile friendly.”
Give resource priority to mobile site over mobile apps if you must
Ability in mobile will influence perception of your brand

Stay up to date…

Mobile Marketing Association… http://mmaglobal.com/policies

Mobile Marketing Handbook http://www.mobilemarketinghandbook.com/

Mobile Marketer http://www.mobilemarketer.com/

Mobile in Higher Ed blog http://www.dmolsen.com/mobile-in-higher-ed/

Jakob Nielsen Usability Report… http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/

Thank You! Bob Johnson, Ph.D. President Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC Marshall, MI 49068 248.766.6425 [email_address] Customer Carewords Website Research www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com

Social Media & Mobile Marketing: Recruitment Strategy Opportunities

by Bob Johnson on Jan 20, 2011

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Social Media & Mobile Marketing: Recruitment Strategy Opportunities — Presentation Transcript

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