The use and best practices of social media in college admissions. Presentation includes data from a survey of incoming college freshman on how they used social media during the college search and how it affected their decisions to attend a school and get involved on campus.

1. Will Patch
Manchester University
IACAC Congress 2017 @will_patch

2. It’s not that difficult, right?

3. If you think…
Managing is the same as having a personal account
Posts can be written on the fly
It’s easy to go viral
Brand standards don’t apply
I won’t need math

4. Who is this guy anyway?
Manager of 10 institutional accounts
6 years managing social media
Coordinate with 75+ other accounts
Work with Content Specialist
Team of 13 students

5. The team
Invest in people first, not tools
Students – Hire them, train them, empower them
Marketing – Show them that you want to learn
Photographer/videographer – Buy them coffee, learn how to work together
Faculty – Build relationships

6. Manchester’s social success
1,272 undergraduate, 32 graduate, and 294 PharmD students
Over 265,000 followers across 10 accounts
In 2016:
~12,000,000 impressions
~595,000 engagements
Average of 216 interactions/post
Social media hub with aggregator (www.manchester.edu/hub)
Survey of first year students – Fall 2016

7. 2016 survey results
Followed us during their college search
Found it helpful during their search
Followed us prior to deciding to apply

8. 2016 survey results
Most popular networks (asked for top 3):
83% 67% 57%

9. 2016 survey results
Felt like they would
fit in on campus
Were influenced to
attend Manchester
Were influenced to get
involved on campus
Most
Effective
Least
Effective

10. 2016 survey results
OurViewofMU
Student run Instagram
Different host each week
Entirely up to them

11. 2016 survey results
Followed account
Less impactful in driving involvement
on campus or deciding to enroll than
our primary account.

12. 2016 survey results
What do students want to see more of?
Campus events
Study abroad
NCAA athletics
What do students want to see less of?
College tips/hacks
First year experiences

13. Think your content works?
Prove it!

14. First: Know your goal
Followers
How many people follow you?
Impressions
How many people view your content?
Engagement
How many people click, like, favorite, share, or screenshot your content?

15. Measuring Followers

16. Measuring Impressions and Engagement
on Instagram

17. Measuring Impressions and Engagement
on Twitter

18. Measuring Impressions and Engagement
on Facebook

19. Measuring Impressions and Engagement
on Facebook

20. Measuring Impressions and Engagement
on YouTube

21. Measuring Impressions and Engagement
on Snapchat

22. You should be asking
“So what?”

23. Making sense of numbers
Engagement Rate, Conversions, ROI, and Natural Audience Ratio
Know what it is you want to know
Engagement Rate – Measures how engaging your content is
Engagements per impression
Conversions – Those who saw a post and took your call to action
Clicks per impression
ROI – Return on Investment, actions per post or call per action per $ spent
Varies by need
Natural Audience Ratio – Comparison between accounts, competitor analysis
Followers per enrollment

24. An example
You have an engagement campaign to drive people to a landing page. You
spend $5 to boost the post and drive more impressions. The post makes
2,500 impressions and engages 250 people including 70 link clicks.
Engagement Rate: 10%
Conversions: 2.8%
ROI: 14 web hits/$1

25. Another Example
Your school starts a new Instagram account and it has 1,000 followers
already. Your boss wants to know if that is good or not.
What information could you collect?
Your school enrolls 10,000 students. Your rival, Overrated University,
enrolls 7,500 students and has 1,200 followers. A school with the same
enrollment, Lookalike College, has 800 followers.
Your NAR – 0.1
Overrated NAR – 0.16
Lookalike NAR – 0.08

26. Content with your content?
Keep track of content type and timing
Quality over quantity
We decreased posting by 42%
Increased engagements by 177%
Good content takes time

27. The answer to all of these goals is…

28. Get creative and original

29. Share and interact

30. Reuse content

31. Crowdsource content

32. Go multichannel
182,000 impressions and
7,000 engagements

33. Most importantly: Tell a story

34. How do you know what is killer content?
Know your audience
Insights and analytics on each account
It doesn’t matter what you want to say and how, it matters what they
want/need to hear and how
Differentiate your messages, imagery, and even content
Test, test, test

35. Audiences
Twitter – Students, media, schools
Instagram – Students
Snapchat – College students
Facebook – Parents, alumni, community
YouTube – Students, mostly male
Pinterest – Women, skews parents
LinkedIn – Alumni and parents, professional

36. Where to invest your time
1. Videos (80% of students watch college videos)
2. Authentic student content
3. Student blogs (40% of students look for student blogs)
Focus group your content – only 28% of students find content relevant

37. Testing content
Determine parameters, text or visuals
A:B testing – run two different samples with randomized groups
Testing matrix – run a set of text samples with visual variations

38. Testing content
Engagement Rate
SoftLanguage
DirectCTA
IndirectCTA
Offsite photo 2.9% 1.4% 0.7% 2.0%
Equipment 2.0% 1.6% 2.7% 2.2%
On site photo 1.4% 3.2% 1.0% 2.5%
2.3% 2.5% 1.6%

39. New developments

40. Facebook Live
Start the video from the page – but advertise in advance
Have a good connection and a power cord
Well viewed and interactions can be time coded

41. Facebook 360 photos
Take a panorama or use a special 360 photo app
Uses scrolling or phone accelerometer
Post as a normal photo and it will be recognized
Tip – Make sure that you complete the circle

42. 360 video
YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook
Easiest is using a 360 video camera

43. Snapchat and Instagram stories
Find creative ways to share content in a coherent story
Use students
Events, FAQs, or even original stories

44. Keep learning
LinkedIn groups
HigherEdLive
CASE
Chegg/TargetX/NRCCUA – Social Admissions Report
Follow other schools
Ask questions!
Session F6