Using star ratings for academic program recruitment and digital marketing.

1. Counting Stars: Student Reviews, Structured
Markup and an Enrollment Edge
Seth Meranda
Director of Marketing & Communication
@smeranda

2. Concordia
University, Nebraska
Nebraska’s Nationally Recognized
Christian University
2,700 students enrolled
70+ undergraduate programs
25+ graduate programs

3. The Path to Online Reviews
1
Identifying the
Opportunity
2
Technologies and
Processes
3
Results and
Outcomes

4. Evolving Marketplace
A Digital World Transparency Generation Z

5. Where our Students Consume Content
Increase in time spent consuming digital
content on mobile devices in the last
seven years.
eMarketer
2010-2017
825%

6. How Students Find You
88% of seniors used search engines to find
college and university websites.
2016 E-Expectations Trend Report
Ruffalo Noel Levitz, 2016

7. Search Engines are Part of the Deep Dive
1
# High school students and their parents use
search engines more than site navigation to find
specific information within a college’s website.
2017 E-Expectations Trend Report
Ruffalo Noel Levitz, 2017

8. What People Say About You is Important
20% of students polled say online ratings and
reviews were the online channel that most
influenced their decision when picking a
college or career school.
The Digital Search for Education
G/O Digital, 2016

9. Where People Put Their Trust
+People trust academic or industry experts
or a person like themselves more than
they trust the CEO of a company.
Edelman Trust Barometer
Edelman, 2016

13. Positioning for Positive Click Through Rates
30% more clicks on search result snippets
with enhancements compared to their
plain counterparts.
How to Use Schema Markup for Better SEO
SEO PowerSuite, 2018

16. 1
Load review data
2
Review reviews
3
Publish reviews

17. Review Reviews

21. Rankings Impact

22. Results and Outcomes
88% traffic increase to academic program pages
from search

23. Results and Outcomes
555% increase to enrollment-focused conversions

24. Reviews Reinforce Brand Attributes

25. Leveraging Reviews

26. More Lessons Learned
Feed the Beast with Fresh Content Power of the Snippet

27. The Path to Online Reviews
1
Identifying the
Opportunity
2
Technologies and
Processes
3
Results and
Outcomes

28. Questions?
seth.meranda@cune.edu
@smeranda