Beyond Virtual Tours: Let Prospective Students Experience Your Campus Culture Digitally
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Campus visits are effective because they allow prospective students (and parents) to experience campus culture first-hand, but websites are often prospects’ first introduction to a school. This presentation will demonstrate how schools can go beyond the typical virtual tour and showcase campus culture digitally to attract students. Key Takeaways: 1. Identify your campus culture - Bring stake holders into the conversation to define your culture. (Current Students, Parents, Alumni, Faculty) 2. Own your campus culture - Embrace the unique differentiation of your campus culture - Trust your community to help create, identify and share your culture 3. Implement your culture into an effective digital channel - choose a channel you can execute on seamlessly and consistently. Use analytics to measure your success and to adjust your methods.
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Beyond Virtual Tours: Let Prospective Students Experience Your Campus Culture Digitally
- 1. NEACAC 2015 Beyond the Virtual Tour: Let Prospective Students Experience Your Campus Culture Digitally 2015
- 2. HELLO! Christopher Downs Director of Product Development, Quadlyfe Michelle Adams Executive Director of Communications and Marketing, Saint Anselm College, Manchester NH
- 10. School Culture
- 11. Connect
- 12. Mediums
- 17. 5. Actionable Steps 1. Identify Culture 2. Identify Channels 3. Evaluate Channels for capability 4. Pick One Channel 5. COMMIT TO IT!!!! 6. Use Analytics
Editor's Notes
- Teens Today Slide Culture of the next generation
- Every institution has a distinctive character and culture- history, size, geographic location, academic focus, religious or state affiliation, and residential life are a few of the areas that help to define it, but ultimately your culture is the kind of place your college is, and everyone at the college, from students and faculty to dining staff, facilities and administration, participates in it. So, when we talk about defining a college or university brand, what we really are trying to do is to encapsulate the culture of your school- the brand comes from the reality of the experience of being on your campus- your culture.
- At Saint Anselm, we worked with brand consultants in 2012 to define our unique position in the marketplace and our personality. What came out of that is a distillation of our culture, as defined by all of our constituents- students, faculty, staff and alumni: http://www.anselm.edu/Faculty-and-Staff/Communications-and-Marketing/Anselmian-Brand/Anselmian-Positioning.htm http://www.anselm.edu/Faculty-and-Staff/Communications-and-Marketing/Anselmian-Brand/Anselmian-Personality.htm
- Of course, we have brand standards, colors, fonts, “look and feel” that contribute to a consistent cohesive image: www.anselm.edu/brand But most importantly, having a defined culture and a defined brand allows us to create this. This is what it’s like to be Anselmian: https://youtu.be/yGcQC1M8sXo
- So why are videos like this important for recruiting high school students? In order for a prospective student to visualize him/herself as a student at any institution we have to translate culture visually and textually through communication channels that are reaching these kids. We have to present content that represents academic, residential and social life on campus, as well as the character of the college, in an authentic, relatable way voice and image. We have to tell individual stories that make students say “I could be friends with that person” or “I want to be like that person” The emphasis is not on what WE can offer, but on what YOU will experience- will you fit in here? Does this look like a fun, happy environment to you? Do you like her dress? Do you like what he just said? Does it resonate? And ultimately: Is this a culture you like and want to be part of? THAT is your value proposition, and that’s what you have to connect students to- not the facts and figures about the benefits of a college education. Those are important, but secondary to the emotional connection formed by experiential stories. When a high school student decides to attend one institution over another, they are deciding to live and learn in one environment, to have one experience, to be part of one culture over another. It’s all about fit, but if you DON’T communicate your culture in these ways, you run the risk of prospective students not discovering it until it’s too late. In the age of global media, the rate of stealth applicants- applicants that you first find out about when they send in their applications, who get ALL their information about the college online- is increasing at an alarming rate. At Saint Anselm, the percentage of applications is X%. That means that if what you have out in the digital space about your school’s culture is not there or not compelling, you have lost the opportunity to communicate that culture to a prospective student and likely lost that student. Stealth applicants don’t visit campus and you don’t have the opportunity to show them in the physical space, what being a student is like. All they see is what is online, so your digital presence is more important than ever. It seems odd, because in higher ed, we have tended to think of technology as the enemy of culture, that culture can’t be conveyed digitally, that being on campus is the best and only way. But in the 21st century, showcasing your culture online is the most important use you can make of technology. Experiences Moments First Person Views
- Technology slide (Chris) Show of hands: websites, mobile websites, virtual tour , social media Channels and Activity does not equate to results Transition into content
- Delivery slide (Chris) Marshall McLuhan, the father of media theory, known for predicting the World Wide Web almost thirty years before it was invented, coined the phrase: “The medium is the message” He meant that the way content is delivered matters to how it is perceived- today, it’s important that content be delivered in dynamic formats that demonstrate an experience to teenagers that they want to have and can see themselves having- which means via web, social media, streaming and video. We have to take the message to the mediums that appeal to this generation. * First Person *The Selfie – photo and video! Touch design icons as language Mobile first (Google new SEO rankings) Peer to peer User generated content Students as best content creators
- *Experiences *Moments *Multiple senses
- Transition to Michelle : “How do we capture these moments?” Folks who are already part of your school’s culture are your best brand ambassadors- they are living it every day. Student profiles should form a significant part of your outreach- they are examples to prospective students. The more dynamic and accessible the content, the better. A profile with a photo is good- a profile with a video is better. A fully interactive profile that can be accessed via mobile device is best. Additionally, 18-22 year olds are probably sharing lots of their lives at your school online. So, user generated content is your friend in trying to show your school’s experience in the digital space- it’s authentic, immediate, and pithy. Social media has created a “sharing” network that means that your culture can reach exponentially more prospects if it’s out there by and for current students. Obviously all schools need to supervise content that is going out over official networks, but the benefit of taking the time to encourage participation and to monitor it is (cost benefits analysis) well worth it in terms of what you gain by reaching prospective students. Don’t be too scared to engage with it because it is not fully controllable- if you have read the news lately, colleges and universities have received a bad rap for lack of transparency (a longstanding tradition). WAYS TO MANAGE SOCIAL MEDIA. Don’t discount Facebook and Twitter just because they are not the latest thing- parents are a significant audience on those outlets, and even though they are not where the conversation/user engagement is necessarily happening on a minute-to-minute basis, they are still places that parents and students expect to look to get information about the school culture. Examine new social media outlets to determine their usefulness to you and proceed bravely, but make sure to determine what you can handle, in terms of resources available to you- if you have a lot of video on hand, commit to YouTube content. If you have great student profiles, commit to posting a “students of the month” on your outlets. If you DON’T have something, don’t expect content to generate itself. Never leave a dead feed.
- Chris My Story College search Chose from non authentic campus experience Experienced Saint Anselm Culture first hand and I transferred So my frustration led to changing virtual tours a medium where culture is void To put videos, audio images But this is only 1 channel there are many more
- Michelle Bring stake holders in to the room Identify Channel Evaluate channels based on what you can execute on consistently Pick channel and commit to it : never leave a dead feed, follow through don’t be afraid to fail Commit to it and execute Use analytics to measure success, gain insights, adapt messaging and content