When Alexander Met FacebookScott P. Shields

MoCPA Past-President & Coordinator of Residential Life Operations

Marketing & Student RetentionWhat do these have to do with each other?

Alexander Astin: Student Involvement Theory

For student growth to take place, students need to actively engage in their environment.

The amount of student learning and personal development associated with any educational program is directly proportional to the quality and quantity of student involvement in that program (the more a student puts into something, the more he or she gets out of it).

Student Event and Service Awareness Students can’t come to your event of utilize their services if

they don’t know about it. The frustrating part: Getting their attention with so many other

distractions.

Student Involvement and Retention Uninformed students lead to unsuccessful or frustrated

students. Frustrated and unsuccessful students lead to lower retention

numbers.

Student Event and Service Awareness Old Adage: The Marketing Rule of Seven – A prospect needs to

see or hear your marketing at least seven times before they take action and buy from you. You need to break through: The Noise

May not need your product

Price too high (need to value your product)

The don’t know you

That number may be as high as 25 today!

Today’s Implications for Student Involvement Theory An involved student is a successful student. The effectiveness of any educational policy or practice is directly

related to the capacity of that policy or practice to increase student involvement.

The trick is getting them involved.

Our goal today: Learn how to best utilize the marketing tools available to us to catch their attention!

The Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan Goals Make the information easy to understand Format messages to where customers will best receive the

information as defined through each communication medium Give customers the opportunity to choose their preferred

communication method (Res Life) Promote incoming freshmen to live in campus

housing (Res Life) Increase students desire to re-contract

Marketing Plan Goals Increase current student enthusiasm for and engagement with

your department Reduce email communication dramatically Provide marketing and communication resources for

professional staff, student staff and student leaders Potential: Leverage text messaging capabilities

Accomplishing our Goals

Brand Your Department Develop a similar look to all

publications: websites, official flyers, electronic communications.

The Look

Accomplishing our Goals Branding considerations

Keep elements of your school’s look.

Don’t micromanage your marketing (i.e. RA program flyer)

Know that some changes may meet some resistance, but solicit feedback before final decisions to aid buy-in.

Possibilities include: Standardized email signature lines

Required daily nametag usage

Approval required on some publications before publishing.

EmailManaging an over-used tool in e-communication

Diversify Your Approach to EmailESSENTIAL EMAILS OPT-OUT EMAILS

Official departmental business (assignments, billing, judicial, check-in/out, breaks, department-wide satisfaction surveys, etc.)

Departmental processes (Room Selection, Class Registration.)

Emergency departmental crisis response.

Programming/Event information.

Marketing contests and promotions.

Secondary survey opportunities.

Managing Opt-Out Emails

Everyone is signed up initially. For Consideration

What lists should there be?One opt-in list only?

One per building?

Who should manage opt-out emails? What kinds of opt-out emails need approval?

Social Media

IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 57% OF PEOPLE TALK MORE ONLINE THAN IN REAL LIFE.

Social Media Facts The 18-24 year old demographic was the fastest-growing

demographic on Facebook in 2011 with over 74% growth. Ninety-eight percent of students are on Facebook, over 30%

use Twitter (these numbers are climbing daily), and nearly all of them use YouTube on a daily basis.

College students average over 100 minutes a day on social media - over twice as much time than any other demographic.

Social media is where students are and we must go to them to be successful.

Facebook1 in 13 people on Earth have a Facebook account.

Facebook Tips for Best Practice Best leveraged by posting as minimally as possible (ideally no

more than two times daily). Balance factual and promotional messaging with engaging

social media content. No one is forced to follow your page. Therefore it is important

to stay relevant and maintain interest through strategized communication.

Facebook Tips for Best Practice Optimal post time on Facebook is between 1-3pm, with

engagement rates 18% higher on Thursday and Friday than any other days of the week. Saturday and Sunday posts are found to get the most likes.

The key is to engage and interact with customers through humor and interest stories in this platform – not for “push marketing.”

Facebook Tips for Best Practice Be direct in your requests and fans will listen. The most

effective keywords are “post,” “comment,” “take,” “submit,” “like,” or “tell us.”

Ask questions at the end of a post using the words “where,” “when,” and “should” to drive engagement.

Walk the Fine Line Post enough to stay visible without annoying you fans. The average Facebook post lifespan is 3 hours, and is

considered “alive” when it occupies the newsfeed, receives a continuous stream of engagement, and grows more than 10% per hour.

Northwest Residential Life Facebook Page Two pages: “Residential Life” & “Find Your Bearcat Roommate.” 2015 “Likes” as of June 1, 2013. 826 new Likes since June 1, 2012 (2300 in our halls). Vast majority of growth came late summer – fall (freshmen). 65 votes in a “Light up the Halls” poll. Most liked post to date: “It’s official… Maryville is getting a

Jimmy John’s!” received 143 likes.

Northwest Residential Life Facebook Page

85 Likes

Facebook Management Main page: Increase interactive content with pictures, contests,

and increased staff participation. Secondary pages for specific target populations. Discussion Questions:

Should we mandate a page per hall.

If yes, who manages these pages?

If yes, what consistencies must be in place?

If yes, what content goes on these pages vs. the main Residential Life page?

Remember: Marketing Trends Change Current trends (Mid-2013)show students are slowly moving

away from Facebook. If you have a high school – college age student… It’s your fault!

Twitter1 billion + tweets are sent every three days.

Twitter Facts Twitter is a social-networking resource used for micro-blogging. Participants utilize the tool to provide updates that must be

presented in 120 characters or less. Users may choose to act as a “follower” to actively receive

updates from other accounts. It is estimated that 40% of Twitter users don’t tweet, but

instead use it to keep up to date. 84% (Oct. 2012) of colleges and universities tweet. 73% of Americans trust information and advice from Twitter.

Northwest Residential Life’s Twitter Page Twitter.com/NWMO_RESLIFE 135 followers Interesting tidbit: Res. Life at

Mizzou is following us! No current plans to mandate

individual hall Twitter accounts.

Twitter Tips for Best Practice Considering that the Twitter audience is more amenable toward

receiving multiple messages throughout the day than our Facebook audience, at least 2 Twitter-only posts a day (weekdays) should be the norm.

Twitter posts between 1-3 EST Monday through Thursday receive the most clicks.

In order to best communicate through this method, there should be a variety of pushed messages (i.e. “Don’t forget to sign up today”) and interaction with other users.

Messages should be succinct (120 characters or less), accurate, innovative, intentional, relevant and dynamic.

YouTubeA few thoughts about…

YouTube Tips Create content that addresses your audience’s needs. Your goal

should be to create videos that are helpful, valuable, and compelling to your clientele.

Video Variety Range in professionalism, length, comedy, etc. to reach different target groups.

The goal is to get an audience to your YouTube site and let them choose which videos interest them.

Video Views Allows tracking of views to help you lean what works, what doesn’t.

4 Colleges That Do Social Media REALLY Well Twitter – Harvard University

125,000 followers

Active all day, every day

Keeps posts simple, featuring students/faculty as well as articles from the student newspaper

Facebook – University of Florida 445,000 Likes

They talk sports, share photos, and make sure students know about upcoming events on campus.

4 Colleges That Do Social Media REALLY Well Google+ - Johns Hopkins University and Colorado State

University Offers the change to alter search results for users who follow certain pages.

Pinterest – Ole Miss DIY dorm residence hall projects

Tailgating ideas

Ole Miss fashion

Marketing CalendarLet’s go to the Spreadsheet!

Evaluation Tools Likealyzer Google Analytics Facebook Insights Search for more!

Your 60 Second Takeaway

Q&AWhen Alexander Met FacebookScott P. Shields

MoCPA Past-President &Coordinator of Residential Life OperationsNorthwest Missouri State University