Your college has had decades to learn how to market to prospective students and their parents. As a result you’ve adopted proven strategies and technologies, which up till now have been filling the seats and generating revenue.
However, as Bob Dylan sings, “the times - they are a changing”
You now face a new generation of prospective students that are different than any others that came before them. They don’t listen to radio, read news papers, watch live TV like the generations before them. They have a new assortment of communication tools and services that have changed their behavior.
In the admissions profession, we are “between times”. Today we invest in the same old marketing and communication channels because - well that's what we know! And, for the most part, they still appear to be working. Or are they:
- GM announced 18 months ago they were switching 50% of their 3 billion advertising campaign online
- Major newspaper chains like The Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia's newspapers have filed for bankruptcy
- TV channels are struggling to find their audience as behaviors change to "watching on demand" via the Internet
And research by Pew Internet found nearly 5 years ago that teens regarded email as "old peoples' communication tools", preferring at the time Instant Messaging, Texting and now Social Media sites like Facebook to communicate.
Today, we have new Internet marketing, communication and engagement channels available to us that are lower in cost, yet have the potential to deliver the same results.
So in these “between times”, call on us to help you find the right balance. There are 6 ways we can help! Start where you feel is best for your organization!
- Webinars
- Social media audits
- Social Media strategies
- Campus wide Facebook strategies
- Fan Page and Social Media Makeovers
- Facebook applications
Webinars
We pull together industry experts to introduce emerging trends and ideas and find industry professionals who are leading the way to share their expertise with you. Our Webinars are designed to give you the steps and identify the tools you will need to replicate others success. Your staff has had limited access to social media training. Make sure you give them the time to pick up proven ideas!
Social media audits
What social media are you, faculty, staff and students using today? Do you know what people are saying about you on Twitter, Facebook, Yelp and other Social Media sites? We’ll conduct an audit to give you an overview of where you stand today and compare that to your nearest competitor. Then we’ll give you 5 steps we think you’ll need to take to match the expectations of your audience.
Social Media strategies
You need an army of content producers to develop a successful social media strategy. We’ll show you how to assemble students, faculty, alumni, staff and fans to create content and distribute content in their networks to help build your brand, increase participation and contributions. Our 150 page workbook includes over 40 forms and charts that will outline your on going social media strategy.
Campus wide Facebook strategies
You have a problem. Every group and organization on campus are creating Fan pages. You need a strategy to build a common brand, take advantage of a unique URL structure and link all of the pages. In our opinion, Facebook is your online yearbook. Ten years from now, you will be able to find the Fan page for the baseball team and see stats, video, photos and comments from all participants. You need to build the strategy to move in this direction today!
Fan Page and Social Media Makeovers
In Kevin Costner’s movie, Field of Dream’s he heard a voice that told him, “Build it and they will come”. We’ll it might work in the movies but not in reality. Your admissions team was probably excited to see the initial burst of activity on their admissions fan page, but now, they need to take it to the next level by using FBML, graphics, adding a Welcome page, photos and building more engaging activities to the page. If they don’t, they risk being taken off someone’s shortlist!
Facebook applications
We are enormously excited about the opportunity you have with Facebook applications. You have the ability today to essentially create a sub community in Facebook that allows your prospective students to; 1) communicate to prospective students’ and their parents’ wall, 2) let prospective students connect with students and alumni. Facebook applications are your new communication and marketing channel!
Consultants
Allan Kuenn
Site Pro Specialties founder, Al Kuenn, has been successfully managing online advertising campaigns since 2001. He is considered by many to be a PPC Guru and an AdWords Expert. In addition to being a certified Google Advertising Professional, Al is an experienced Bing PPC Campaign manager, and is also successfully managing a number of Facebook advertising campaigns. In fact, Site Pro Specialties is proud to be a Facebook Beta Test partner. Mr. Kuenn is a PMI Certified Project Manager and has a Marketing Degree from the University of Toledo. Al has been successfully working in the Information Technology business since 1985.
Brad Kleinman
Brad's firm has been involved in helping both organizations develop and execute their Facebook strategy. While founding WorkSmart e3Marketing, Brad was the eMarketing Consultant for the Key Entrepreneur Development Center at Corporate College, a division of Cuyahoga Community College. After several years of working with the college, he accepted a full time position as Associate Director of the Entrepreneur Center and was responsible for over 50 programs a year, including the eMarketing programming he implemented at the college which continues to train hundreds of people a year in the topic of eMarketing. Brad eats, sleeps and breathes Facebook!
Jeff Wallace
Jeff was one of the early pioneers in online communities. In 1998 he was working with organizations around the world to help them develop successful online communities designed to increase their customer base, engage customers and keep them coming back. He is also a trained and experienced public relations, business management professionals, with a passion for photography. He is constantly thinking outside the box to find innovative ways organizations can reach their goals using social media and Internet strategies. Jeff is a featured speaker on Facebook and social media.
Don Philabaum
Don is one of the early pioneers in building online community. Don founded a company in 1995 that built over 300 alumni online communities that connected and engaged millions of alumni worldwide. Don is the author of "Internet Dough", "Engage Customers Online", "Alumni Online Engagement", "Create a NET-Centered College Campus" and numerous white papers including "Facebook for the Executive Suite". Over 2,000 people have attended webinars where he presented the latest Linkedin & Facebook strategies.
Questions?
800-805-9413
phyllis@internetstrategiesgroup.com