Engage in a discussion about how leading institutions are applying social technologies to attract new students, engage and retain their existing student population, and inspire and re-connect with alumni.

1. Social Strategies for Successful Student
Engagement
James Davidson
VP Digital and Community Strategy
7Summits

2. “A new class of company is emerging – one that
uses collaborative technologies intensively to
connect the internal efforts of employees and to
extend the organization’s reach to customers,
partners and suppliers....”
Social Media is Disrupting Business
McKinsey Global Institute
“The Social Economy: Unlocking value and productivity through Social Technologies” July 2012

3. Where Value is being Created

4. Today’s Agenda
•Introduction
•Social Business and Community Concepts
•Group Brainstorming
•Wrap Up
First Last Name
Title

5. Introduction

6. 7Summits At A Glance
COMPREHENSIVE CAPABILITIESSOCIAL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
EXTERNAL AND INSIDETHE ENTERPRISE
INDUSTRY FOCUS
Consumer
Education
Financial Services
Healthcare
High Tech
Manufacturing

7. Select Education Clients

8. Social Business and
Community Concepts

9. From: To:
The Biggest Shift in a Generation
Re-shaping the way you engage students, faculty, staff and partners
• Hoarding Information
• Web Sites/Portals
• Management
• Email / Newsletters
• CRM
• Baby Boomers
• User Interfaces
• Noise
• Desktop
• Information Sharing
• Integrated Social Sites
• Engagement
• Collaboration
• Social CRM + Communities
• Gen X / Millennials
• User Experience
• Insights
• Mobile / Access Anywhere

10. • Social media is the default state 1
• Rely on user-generated content to
make life decisions 1
• They absorb and manage
information differently than other
generations1
• Universities that create their own
open communities have a much
greater degree of credibility 2
Millennials / GenX Insights
Sources: 1Bazaarvoice. 2 Onlinecolleges.net

11. Higher Education Trends
Recruitment / Admissions
• A typical prospective student
now receives 12-18 emails
from 2-4 year public/
private institutions. 1
• CRM is a top priority for
4-year public/private
schools1
• 75-90% of 2-4 year
institutions spend less than
25k annually on their
institutions website1
Student Success / Faculty
• 4-year universities are
experiencing very high
attrition — up to 50% in
some cases. 2
• Higher Ed IT is seeking
to consolidate platforms
(Intranet, websites, portals,
etc). 2
• Classroom delivery models
are shifting to incorporate
more online/digital
Alumni / Advancement Mgt
• Use of accurate data to
drive alumni outreach
strategies is one of the
biggest needs to improving
Alumni Relations 3
• Alumni Relations frequently
find themselves without
the support, resources or
staff needed to perform
effectively 4
Sources: Noel Levitz 1 ACT 2 Hartford 3 Council for Aid to Education 4

12. Communications Misaligned
Prospects / Students / Alumni
E-mailPrint Phone Social Media Mobile
Communication Channels
Academic Institution
Decrease in effectiveness

13. The Gap and Opportunity
Online
Community
Opportunity?
Facebook LinkedIn
Student lifecycle continuum
Prospective Student Qualified Prospect Accepted Student Enrolled Student Graduate Alumni
Personally Social Professionally SocialAcademically Social

14. Online Communities 101
Social Networks vs. Online Communities
The primary purpose of social networks & online communities is different
Social Network Online Community
Business
Objectives
Primary Purpose
Relationships
E.g. Facebook E.g. Rate My Professor

15. Key Community Elements
Philosophy: “Bottom Up” vs. “Top Down”
Profiles: managing identities
(organizational and individual)
Relationships: following/
connecting with others
Presence: knowing when
others are available
Reputation: identifying experts
and advocates
Curated: administratively
controlled content libraries,
reference materials
User-Generated: organically
created content; appropriate for
more dynamic behaviors
Collaborative: collaboration
around specific cases /
initiatives
• Content types:
• Discussions, Documents,
Blogs, Polls, Ideas, Cases,
Files
• Web 2.0/3.0 Effects:
• Comments, Sharing,
Thanking, Liking, Tagging,
Rating, etc.
People Places Content

16. Common Use Cases for Online Communities
Collaborate on
documents/initiatives
Stay informed –
relevant campus
news and updates
Facilitate peer support
and self service
Share and
discuss
Tap into collective experience
(crowdsourcing)
Generate and capture
knowledge, exchange ideas
ENGAGE
CONNECT
SHARE
Find and connect with faculty
and students (expertise ID)

17. Online Community Case Studies
17
Student lifecycle continuum
Admission Community Student Support Community Learning Enablement Community Alumni Community

18. Admissions Community Demo
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANJ4ZjuEUhU

19. MSOE Admissions Community Business Value & Results
SOURCE: Jive customer survey, (November 2012)
30%
Admissions team
productivity
Admission counselors spent less time chasing the student and more time
interacting with them increasing productivity 30%.
Deposit Melt Overall accepted student summer melt decreased by 5%
5%
Electrical engineering saw almost double enrollment
2X
Enrollment Numbers
Outbound
Call volume
Admission counselors reduced outbound calls by 66% freeing up time to
interact with prospective students in community.
66%
Reached ‘13 application goal nine months early and acceptance goal five
months early. 7000+ registered members and growing!
Application and
acceptance goal
Application
turnaround time
Admission counselors spent less time chasing documents down. From
months to weeks!
Retention rate from accepted to deposit jumped from 30% to 38% in one
year
Accepted to Deposit
8%

20. Representative Business Value for Online Communities
Online
Community
Opportunity?
Facebook LinkedIn
Student lifecycle continuum
Prospective Student Qualified Prospect Accepted Student Enrolled Student Graduate Alumni
Personally Social Professionally SocialAcademically Social
Admissions
• Increase qualified students
• Reduce traditional media spend
• Enhance referrals / WOM
• Streamline enrollment processes
• Enhance reputation / perception
• Increase enrollment (fill seats)
• Reduce application processing time
• Increase students starts
Students and Faculty
• Improve student retention
• Improve grades and satisfaction
• Streamlined student onboarding
• Improved graduation rates
• Reduced support costs (self-serve)
• Facilitate student / faculty
collaboration
• Enable virtual study groups / peer
support
• Crowdsource research and ideas
Alumni
• Improved alumni engagement
• Increased donations
• Drive event participation
• Drive student referrals
• Facilitate student mentoring
• Capture student success stories
• Support professional networking

21. Group Brainstorming

22. Online Communities - Group Exercise Scenario
Scenario: Your institution is looking to launch an initiative to leverage an online
community to improve engagement and collaboration with 1) Admissions
2) Students 3) Faculty / Staff and 4) Alumni audience(s)
Top goals for your online community initiative are to:
1. Streamline communication / facilitate sharing of information
2. Enable self-service and peer support
3. Streamline institutional processes and operations
As the project team, it is your job to begin the planning process and ensure your
institution has thought through the strategy and plan to implement your online
community

23. Today’s group breakout will focus on defining “who” we are targeting, and then prioritizing
“what” the critical objectives are. Once defined, these objectives will provide the basis to
identify “how” those objectives can be met (via online communities).
Strategies: HOW can social technologies engage your
audience(s) while meeting your objectives?
Business Objectives: WHAT are the goals of your institution?
Audience:
WHO is the
audience
being
targeted?
StakeholderValue:Myneeds
andinterestsare
Technology: WHICH use cases, features and capabilities will
enable you to accomplish your strategies, while meeting your
goals, and engaging your target audience?
Focus on “What” first, “Who” and then “How”
12
3

24. Group Exercise #1 – Objectives / Opportunities
1. Identify WHAT specific "improvement
opportunities" exist for your assigned
area
2. Based on the initial list, prioritize
them based on potential business
impact
– Target 3 to 5 “overarching”
themes
Examples:
•Increase number of applications
•Decrease marketing costs
•Grow number of referrals
•Increase school preference (#1 choice)
•Improve faculty / staff productivity
•Reduce student support costs
•Grow revenue
•Retain students
•Decrease operational costs
•Improve process efficiency
10
Min

25. Group Exercise #2 – Audience Value
1. Based on the improvement opportunities/challenges, identify WHO are the key
"audiences" that are impacted by that area, e.g.:
• Group #1 - Admissions: Prospective Students, Applicants, Parents, Influencers etc.
• Group #2 - Students: Undergraduate, Graduate Students, Adult Learners etc.
• Group #3 - Faculty / Staff: Professors, Advisors, Operational Staff
• Group #4 - Alumni: Undergraduate, Graduate Students, Adult Learners
2. Brainstorm specific value statements for each targeted participant. E.g.:
• “As a prospective student I can … Ask current students a question about
my preferred degree program”
10
Min

26. Group Exercise #3 – Strategies
1. Review Objectives and Audience(s) & value statements
2. Brainstorm strategies and ways that "social technologies" could be leveraged
to drive value while meeting your objectives and audiences needs?
Examples:
• Prospects get questions answered quickly
• Student blog to share project work
• Curate frequently asked questions for students
• Facilitate students and faculty networking
• Engage in two-way communications with peers
10
Min

27. Wrap Up

28. Groundswell Book Giveaway
Mention @7summitsagency with hashtag
#hesummit14 to win a copy of Groundswell.
And
Need a copy of the deck or have a question?
@jdavidson
james@7summitsagency.com
7summitsagency.com

29.  Full-service implementation
Salesforce partner, strategy, user
experience design, build
 Experienced across the academic
lifecycle – admissions, student and
faculty engagement, and alumni
relations
 Deep community experience
 Over 100+ communities delivered
 Salesforce community experience
 Forrester Groundswell award winner
for our work in Higher Education
 Design awards in Higher Education
 Measurable business impact:
• MSOE Case Study
• Penn Foster Case Study
7Summits Highlights