Reaching Students And Parents Through Social Media

C. Grant & Company Marketing Communications Reaching Prospective College and University Students, Parents, and Inﬂuencers Through Social Media Marketing

How Far Has Your School Taken Social Media? 2

A Few New Recruitment Realities Admissions departments know the era of print (search pieces, viewbooks, advertising) has changed but most still struggle with how to convert to web-based strategies --Print advertising opportunities are declining --Traditional advertising effectiveness is declining Parents are the key inﬂuencers in the Christian college choice Most colleges and universities have focused their social media marketing on students, even as growth of Facebook, Twitter has been driven by parents/adults --Admissions counselors “get” some elements of social media--they’re users (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, texting) --They’re not as comfortable with social media for adults (e.g. blogging, Twitter) The continued growth of college search sites, forums, and blogs has overwhelmed admissions staff; monitoring and contributing to websites requires more staffing than the typical school can allocate --These include collegeprowler.com, unigo.com, communiversity.com, campusbuddy.com, ratemyprofessors.com, collegeblender.com, stuvu.com, youtube.com/edu, theuniversityreview.com, yourcampus360.com...and counting 3

We can help. 4

About Us We have extensive experience in higher education research and promotion We are the leading ﬁrm in social media marketing for Christian publishers We have built social media programs to reach teens as well as parents We customize our services to work seamlessly with existing recruitment programs and admissions staff 5

What Others Say “Our relationship with C. Grant and Company was the start of something new and important for our organization. Through asking critical questions, C. Grant and Company helped us see ourselves as others see us…” – Dr. Niel Nielson, President, Covenant College “We are grateful for the study of alumni giving at Wheaton College conducted by C. Grant and Company. We found their ﬁrm to be professional, thorough and responsive. Their approach was innovative and immensely helpful.” – Dr. Mark Dillon, Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Relations, Wheaton College “C. Grant and Company provided very helpful consulting work for JBU. They helped us strategize and develop new approaches for some key areas in our student recruitment marketing program. As a result, we re-engineered our campus tour allowing us to increase our overall effectiveness with these contacts. This translated to increased yield. We were able to implement a number of other ideas that had very positive effects in our results. They are experts in this ﬁeld.” – Don Crandall, Vice President for Enrollment Management, John Brown University 6

Our Distinctive We bring a new perspective and best practices in marketing and research from the Business, Non-Proﬁt, and Ministry markets to Christian Higher Education. As a ﬁrm with expertise in marketing as well as research, we know how to develop research with real-world application and how to create communication programs that integrate traditional and social media marketing elements. 7

Our Services Research/ Advertising Online Reputation and Search Engine Management Optimization Digital Audit Social Media Optimization 8

Our Services Digital Audit: Evaluation of web presence in online and constituent-generated media, including websites (student, parent, education, school search, and related), blogs (inﬂuencers and general), search engines, and online reviews. Social Media Optimization: Generating awareness for schools and school programs through social media, blogging, reviews, and other non-search engine related vehicles. Research/Online Reputation Management: Analyzing student, alumni, and parent website posts and reviews to gain insight into constituents; tracking and responding to online posts, reviews, and articles related to school programs, faculty, sports, and other relevant topics. Advertising and Search Engine Optimization: Increasing web traffic to websites through improved coding and keyword content and through online advertising placement and Adwords campaigns. 9

Typical Marketing Tasks Work with school’s marketing group to develop strategy that integrates social media marketing with media relations, recruitment promotion, and existing marketing efforts Create, design and execute innovative social media and web advertising campaigns to build opt-in subscriber lists, build group membership, and effectively build brand awareness and encourage web visits and campus tours Create measurable objectives and regularly report 10

Primary Social Media Objectives Reach prospective parents and other inﬂuencers such as pastor and youth leaders through new social media avenues Expand the reach of existing social media programs in reaching prospective students Mobilize alumni to assist in student recruitment through social media 11

Social Network Optimization Map Student and Parent Blogs Web Expert College Articles Search Sites College MySpace Review and other Sites/ networking Forums sites Blog Twitter Postings (Parents) School Facebook School Website Page/Group 12

Our Higher Education Web Marketing Checklist 13

Reaching Students, Parents and Inﬂuencers: Sample Work from Other Markets 14

Social Networks 15

Eblasts and Banner Ads 16

Blogs and Online Newsletters 17

Blog Posts/Tours/Contests 18

MicroSites/Landing Pages 19

Expert Articles 20

Other Social Networking Sites 21

Our Capabilities Marketing Strategy Blogging/Content Development Brand Strategy Literary Representation Advertising and Promotion Identity/Logo Development Media Relations/PR Event Marketing Social Network Marketing Website Design Broadcast Advertising Web Games Direct Mail Video Production Web Marketing 22

About Us Founded 2001 by Christopher Grant, former Vice President, Advertising at Christianity Today, International, Senior Vice President, Marketing at ServiceMaster and Vice President of Marketing at Zondervan (HarperCollins) Full-service integrated marketing and research ﬁrm (website here) Office located in historic building in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, IL 23

The “&” Our experienced team has held professional titles including: Director of Media Relations, Wheaton College Columnist, Chicago Sun-Times Media Group Marketing Manager, Amoco VP of Marketing, ZonderKidz (HarperCollins) Art Director, SpringHill Camps Adjunct Writing Faculty, Wheaton College Co-owner, Gap Digital Recording Creative Director, Tyndale House Adjunct Marketing Professor, Calvin College Consultant, Douglas Shaw & Associates Senior Associate Editor, Leadership Journal Author, “An Educator’s Guide to the Internet” (Simon & Schuster) and “A Rookie’s Guide to the Internet” (Radio Shack) Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University Senior Director, Corporate and Internet Communications, Zondervan 24

Partial Client List Zondervan Pioneer Clubs Baker Publishing Willow Creek Association City of West Chicago, IL Muskoka Woods Wheaton College Associated Agencies John Brown University Heartland Alliance for Meisner Aircraft Pine Cove Human Needs and Human Center for Student Missions Jossey-Bass Rights ServiceMaster Redeemer Church/NYC Raging Waves Waterpark Aramark Sandy Cove SpringHill Camps MicroTek Kanakuk Kamps Leadership Network Tyndale House Publishers TH Hilson Company Covenant College Wheaton Eye Clinic LeaderTreks Mount Hermon Camps and Conferences TruGreen Glocal.net Forest Home 25

Thanks Contact: chris@cgrantandcompany.com www.cgrantandcompany.com

Reaching Students And Parents Through Social Media

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