This document provides guidance on creating effective digital content for digital natives. It discusses knowing the target audience of Gen Z and millennials, the power of social media marketing, and creating authentic stories through strategic storytelling. Some key points include using always personalized and dynamic content, creating social influencers like student publishers, and choosing quality over video quality by focusing on depth of content. It emphasizes controlling your own narrative, being authentic and succinct, and not doing videos just because others are. The overall message is that content strategy is about managing stories to reach your intended audience.

1. Achieving the
‘AHA’ Moment
What Digital Natives Need
from EDU Stories Brian Connelly
Senior Consultant
Brittney Dunkins
Director of Content Strategy

2. #CONVERGEPRESENTS

3. A digital expert.
A visionary storyteller.
Hey there. How’s it going?
Meet your PRESENTERS.

4. The Premise
Digital natives need authentic stories.
HOW CAN EDU
DO IT RIGHT?
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE:
Stats on Digital Natives
GETTING SOCIAL:
The Power of Social Media
CREATING YOUR STORY:
The Art & Science of
Storytelling (Video + Beyond)
WRAP UP:
Q&A, Resources & Case
Studies

5. KNOW YOUR
AUDIENCE.
What We Know About
Digital Natives

6. Gen Z & Millennials WHAT WE KNOW.

8. -Simon Sinek, Leadership Consultant

10. Digital Natives WHAT WE KNOW.

11. Digital Influencers WHAT WE KNOW.

12. Brand Belonging Study IBM.
Download the full report:
https://www-935.ibm.com/services/ibmix/brand-belonging/

13. Brand Belonging Study IBM.
Belonging experience drivers, which top-performing brands combine in a
strategic way to create more relevant, impactful experiences.
Download the full report: https://www-935.ibm.com/services/ibmix/brand-belonging/

14. Doing it Right.
ü Know your audience
ü APC: Always Personalized Content (what’s in it for me?)
ü Dynamic Content: Live-streaming Video, Digital Radio/Podcasts and Mobile Ads
ü Create your own social influencers (Student Publishers)
ü Augment your social media presence (SEO, contextual, retargeting)
ü New and Next: Virtual reality, Augmented reality, and Chatbots… OH MY!

15. GETTING
SOCIAL.
The Power of Social
Media Marketing

16. American University
1B users each month
6B hours of video
$0.10-$0.30 average
cost per view
88% of 19-29 yr. olds
Photo, video, carousel
$1/day impressions
$5/day engagement
90% users <35 yrs. old
Photo, video, carousel
$1/day impressions
$5/day engagement
61% are 30-64 yrs. old
Sponsored content, In-
mail, lead gen, video
$10/day minimum
85M monthly users
Link, text, display
$0.10-$0.30 average
cost per view
LEAD GENERATION BRAND AWARENESS

17. NEW AND NEXT:
INSTAGRAM STORIES
Facebook reported that over 200 million users are viewing
Instagram Stories every day.

18. Reach 166 million users who open the app an
average of 18 times daily
• When students use Snapchat during a
college search, they:
ü Follow the school
ü Watch stories
ü View student snaps
• In 2017, Snapchat beat Instagram,
YouTube and Facebook for social
accounts used daily.
Free Resource: http://convergeconsulting.org/2017/07/20/snapchat-self-serve-colleges-universities/
NEW AND NEXT:
SNAPCHAT SELF-SERVE

19. 315,000 impressions in first run

20. With over 100 million registered users, you can leverage programmatic display to target Spotify mobile app
(both iOS and Android) audio inventory in the United States.
NEW AND NEXT:
PROGRAMMATIC SPOTIFY

21. Reach the 328 million users seeking news
and the latest trends.
ü Amplify your brand through
promoted video ads.
ü Run pre-roll or mid-roll ads that
align with videos your students
are watching.
ü Utilize insights of current
followers to develop lookalike
audiences.
NEW AND NEXT:
TWITTER VIDEO

22. Brands and VIDEO.
42% of online shoppers use video for pre-purchase research
64% use YouTube to find products
4 out of 5 admitted college students watched a video during
their college search
YouTube is the #1 social platform in introducing new products
and driving conversions.
AOL Platforms, 2014
Google Consumer Survey, 2015

23. Social and ADMISSIONS.
55% use Facebook to review school background
31% use hashtags to search for specific info about colleges
More than 30% use Instagram and Twitter
More than half of all admitted students use social media
expressly for college search.

24. THE NEW VIEWBOOK
THE STATS:
• NMSU: 25%+ of users watching 50%+ of YouTube video ads with the 15+ second average watch time per impression
• McMurry: Facebook video campaign resulted in CPL of $69.98 (19.4% lower CPL than standard Facebook campaign)

25. THE NEW PROGRAM OVERVIEW
THE STATS:
• Reporting a 36.8% view rate with with 23.3% of impressions viewing 50%+ of the video
• Averaging $0.14 per view (3o seconds or more) with an in-stream YouTube ad

26. THE NEW TESTIMONIAL
THE STATS:
• 10.4% increase of average time on website in last 6 months compared to previous 6 months
• Increased landing page search campaign conversion rates from 5.5% to 10.9% in 2 months

27. THE NEW COURSE HIGHLIGHTS
THE STATS:
• Average $0.01 0
$0.02 per video
view
• 48%+ watching
more than 50% of
54 second video

28. THE NEW EVENT RECAP
THE STATS:
• NNU: Averaging $0.10 per 10+ second view on Facebook and $0.09 per 30+ second view on YouTube
• McMurry: Tracked 19 event registrations (and counting) at $1.65 per registration

29. DEMOGRAPHICS
• Education
• Career
• Parents
LOOKALIKE
• Prospects
• Current
Students
• Alumni
RETARGETING
• Website
• Intent-based
• Followers
AWARENESS
INTERESTS
• Groups
• Influencers
• Content
CUSTOM LISTS
• Prospects
• Current Students
• Alumni
INTENT
Leveraging video on SOCIAL MEDIA.

30. CREATING
YOUR STORY.
The Art & Science of
Strategic Storytelling

31. Big Data is not a strategy. It is just a lot of data. Automation is not a strategy. It is a
process done by machine. Hyper-personalization is not a strategy. It can be creepy.
Content is not a strategy. It is everything. Social media is not a strategy. It is all
media. Innovation is not a strategy. It is a fancy word for new ideas. Bots is not a
strategy. It is a software that runs automated tasks.
Alberto Brea, Executive Director, Engagement Planning OgilvyOne
Worldwide
A strategy is not about big words.
It is all about choices.

32. 3,441 views
NORTHWESTERN
SEGAL INSTITUTE

33. CHOOSE QUALITY OVER…QUALITY.
Lesson No. 1
NO STATE-OF-THE-ART EQUIPMENT NEEDED.
THE DEPTH OF YOUR CONTENT IS WAY MORE CRITICAL THAN THE
QUALITY OF THE ACTUAL VIDEO.

34. “Advanced placement
classes were like
Pokémon to me.”
-YesReneau
April 2016
601,381 views
HOW I GOT INTO HARVARD
May 2017
115,632 views
HARVARD IS NOT HEAVEN

35. USC CREATED
USCDORMS, A
YOUTUBE SERIES
ENCOURAGING
PROSPECTS TO
VOTE FOR THEIR
FAVORITE DORM.

36. 26,805 views
CATH IN COLLEGE
STANFORD

37. CONTROL YOUR NARRATIVE.
Lesson No. 2
IDENTIFY AND PARTNER WITH THE RIGHT BRAND AMBASSADORS AND
VLOGGERS TO SPEARHEAD YOUR CAMPAIGNS.

38. 257,056 views
C21 BOSTON COLLEGE

39. BE AUTHENTIC.
Lesson No. 3
SHOW REAL LIFE, REAL PEOPLE AND REAL CONVERSATIONS.

40. 171,418 views
CRIMSOM EDUCATION
ON NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

41. BE SUCCINCT.
Lesson No. 4
REALLY. EQUATE VIDEO TO YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH.

42. 2,952 views
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

43. VIEWS ARE NOT THE SOLE
BENCHMARK FOR SUCCESS.
Lesson No. 5
WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND ARE YOU REACHING THEM?

44. 475 views
NORTHWEST
NAZARENE
UNIVERSITY

45. DON’T DO IT JUST BECAUSE
EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT.
Lesson No. 6
CHOOSE TO MAKE VIDEOS BASED ON WHAT MAKES SENSE FOR YOUR
OVERALL MARKETING STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC CAMPUS VISION.

46. 20 views
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
ALUMNUS COVERS JIM MORRISON

47. University of Michigan SOCIAL REACH.
765,000+ followers
16,000+ subscribers
180,000+ followers
5,000+ followers
140,000+ followers
University of Michigan uses
Snapchat for outreach and to
showcase student life. They nail
the use of Snapchat Stories.
#UMSOCIAL also has a nifty
Monthly Recap of their
centralized social efforts.

48. CONTENT STRATEGY
is the management of story.
CONTENT
is the shape of story.

50. 1. Storyboard.
Starting your video
JOURNEY.
Do it mainly to set goals (especially for multi-
use footage), define audiences, visualize shots
and gain buy-in for your idea.
Get to know the equipment, shots and talent
you need to get your video accomplished.

51. 2. Involve local talent.
Starting your video
JOURNEY.
Find the best stories via popular professors,
star students, student journalists and
community members.
Get into the local music scene and feature
young artists.

52. 3. Agency or in-house?
Starting your video
JOURNEY.
Laying out some internal groundwork (i.e. story
ideas and local subjects) can lower costs.
An agency can help smooth out major projects,
but a talented in-house staff can produce great
video vignettes for social.

53. 4. Film consciously.
Starting your video
JOURNEY.
Be judicious. Only film what is necessary, what
needs to be remembered, and what can be
repurposed tastefully.
If stakeholders ask you to film an entire event,
gently suggest an alternative (such as speaker
spotlights, record audio-only, or film an
abbreviated session with key takeaways).
Good audio is key. Don’t be caught without it.

54. 5. Edit organically.
Starting your video
JOURNEY.
Free your creative juices from a rigid
storyboard, and edit what feels best. There’s a
lot of nuance to video that is only stiffened by
structure.
Be transparent and set expectations for the
revision process to put a cap on subjectivity.

55. 6. Promote and distribute.
Starting your video
JOURNEY.
Orchestrate a distribution plan ready to execute
on when the video is complete (i.e. list servs, key
stakeholders, press releases, followers, etc.)
Generate buzz and encourage subscriptions.

56. THANK YOU. QUESTIONS?
@convergeorg
convergeconsulting.org
#convergepresents

57. “The most valuable lesson I've learned during my time producing content for Temple University is to be specific and
deliberate. Don't say "yes" to every video project that comes in the door without thinking through the overall
purpose and return it can generate. Most importantly: do your research. Who are you trying to engage with? What
kinds of videos are they watching? Where are they watching them? Use this information to create video content
that can be repurposed and tailored for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
At Temple, our video process involves not producing just one video, but assessing how many different ways we can
spin that video, often creating multiple versions that work for the variety of digital platforms we have. Our video
team and digital strategy team use tools like YouTube Analytics (free) and Simply Measured to really drill down the
metrics of each video we post to inform the decisions we make regarding the kinds of video we produce and why
we produce them to meet institutional goals.”

58. CASE STUDIES
& RESOURCES

59. Northwestern University Design Innovation: https://youtu.be/ELq71rgqAzk
YesReneau – How I got into Harvard: https://youtu.be/sAHE5cdOwXA
YesReneau – Harvard is not Heaven: https://youtu.be/pqefM_37sdg
USCDorms: https://youtu.be/73J-W424Kds
Cath in College – Stanford: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9E_7b2JdHHrN_r0har7ifA
C21 Boston College: https://youtu.be/7RF-cDH-Uy8
Crimson Education on New York University: https://youtu.be/bg1DWh4c35Y
University of Illinois: https://youtu.be/T05UrJ1iCG0
Northwest Nazarene University: https://youtu.be/TtAC2Z7ljeU
University of Michigan Ann Arbor: https://youtu.be/p07K-7ZKMbs
University of Michigan Monthly Recap: http://socialmedia.umich.edu/blog/may-2017-recap/
Featured Videos

60. FREE RESOURCE:
CONTENT STRATEGY
STARTER KIT
This kit includes four basic (and essential) templates to streamline
your content strategy efforts.
Download Now

61. FREE RESOURCE:
THE DIGITAL
ADVERTISING ROI
BENCHMARK
This ebook walks through how to calculate and apply a metric
called Breakeven Cost-per-Lead (CPL) to determine if your
campaigns are yielding a positive return.
Download Now

62. 34%
Increase in Program
Inquiries
(Over the course of 18
months)
67%
Increased Visitor
Engagement
(Converge published
content)
Converge offered a content strategy overhaul for American University’s digital marketing
and recruitment for nine graduate programs across the institution. We developed
personas, core messaging, web page content and design, recruitment communication plans
and email content, digital advertising, and an inbound blog content calendar to drive
inquiries, applicants and enrollments.
ENERGIZED BY DATA
INBOUND MARKETING FOR HIGHER ED
Washington, D.C.
American.edu