Mythbusting Admissions

9 June 2016

Michael Stoner President, mStoner

Michael.Stoner@mStoner.com @mStonerVT

Gil Rogers Director of Enrollment Marketing, Chegg

gil@Chegg.com @GilRogers

Today’s Agenda

1. About this study

2. Myths and realities

3. Suggestions for action

4. Discussion & questions

#mStonerNOW

Myths? Or realities?

#mStonerNOW

1. Prospects hang on admission officer’s every word.

2. The higher your institution’s ranking, the more impressed teens are.

3. Social media is an awesome channel for engaging teens who don’t know our institution.

4. Admission officers don’t understand how teens use their phones.

Myths or realities?

#mStonerNOW

5. Search works. Really.

6. Facebook is dead to teens.

7. Teens love it when you contact them on social media.

Myths or realities?

#mStonerNOW

Prospects hang on an admission officer’s every word.

#mStonerNOW

Admission officers said teens value a conversation with admission officers at a college…

before deciding to apply

after deciding to apply after applying after being

accepted

71% 79% 77% 72%

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75%said college fairs are not that influential in deciding where to apply

66%said college reps visiting their school were not that influential

Only 45% of teens value a conversation with admission officers at a college.

#mStonerNOW

• Gut feeling about campus & students: 79% • The tour: 78% • Student tour guide: 71% • Admission officer’s presentation: 45% • Organized meeting w/current students: 40% • Sitting in on a class: 28% • Overnight stay: 29% • Athletic event: 24%

Teens pay attention to …

#mStonerNOW

The higher your ranking, the more impressed teens are.

#mStonerNOW

Admission officers think teens check US News & value rankings …

before deciding to apply

after deciding to apply after applying after being

accepted

72% 20% 14% 11%

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What teens say …

⅔ indicate rankings are extremely useful when researching colleges

say that rankings are influential when deciding where to enroll77%

16%

#mStonerNOW

Social media is an awesome channel for engaging teens who don’t know your institution.

#mStonerNOW

never heard of heard of, not considered

email 18% 29%

phone call 12% 23%

social media 30% 26%brochures & pamphlets 33% 12%

text messages 4% 5%

virtual event 4% 5%

Of all these ways to reach teens, admission officers think social media works well …

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prefer social as the first point of contact

Half of teens use official social media for the college they’ve applied to. But (only)

They use official social media as an information source that informs their decisions. They prefer to engage with current students.

4%

#mStonerNOW

70%

say that social media conversation influences

their decision about where to enroll

research decide where to enroll

Facebook 10% 33%

Twitter 4% 15%

YouTube 7% 8%

Instagram 5% 15%

Snapchat 3% 7%

#mStonerNow

Admission officers don’t understand how teens use their phones.

#mStonerNOW

of admission professionals say teens primarily use smartphones to research colleges

73%

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What teens do on their phones what admission officers

think teens do what teens say they do

visited a .edu website using mobile browser 87% 81%

texted w/ a college rep 65% 14%

took a virtual tour 73% 33%

submitted an application 50% 35%

scheduled a campus visit 83% 40%

asked questions on social media 74% 13%

live chat with a college rep 36% 7%

#mStonerNOWimage source: Instagram,#collegemail

Search works. Really!

#mStonerNOW

Admission officers believe that communications from colleges that teens hadn’t previously heard about will have some influence on their decision to apply to those colleges.

believe it will have “some effect.”

23%73%

believe reaching out to teens who haven’t heard of their colleges will

have a “big effect”

OMG! HaHaHaHa! !!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!

#mStonerNOW

21%

of students say it made any difference to them (and that’s down from

24% in 2014).

59%

of students with GPAs 3.6+ read less than half of their unsolicited mail

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Facebook is dead to teens.

#mStonerNOW

⅓ Fewer than ⅓ of admission professionals believe students use Facebook when deciding where to enroll.

#mStonerNOW

of teens say they use social media when

deciding where to enroll

67%⅔of teens used Facebook when researching college; half used it to research colleges they applied to

Facebook YouTube Instagram Twitter Pinterest

20%

46%48%

62%

67%

14%

31%28%

49%

60%

6%

19%

41%

58%

2012 2013 2014

Social media reality = fragmentation!

#mStonerNOW

Teens love it when you contact them on social media.

#mStonerNOW

Admission officers believe …

said teens were open to being contacted through Facebook72%

said are open to contact through Twitter71%

said teens were open to contact through Instagram50%

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of teens prefer social media as an initial form of contact.

4%

75%more than 75% say they are interested in talking to admissions on a social channel

But teens say …

#mStonerNOW

Some advice about reaching teens …

• Your website is really important. Make sure it’s responsive.

• Teens pay attention to your official social channels: they use them to learn about your institution, but may not engage with you there. So make sure they’re up to date and that there’s engagement happening.

• Teens use their mobiles to engage with friends. Not you. In general, they’re not interested in texts or other communications with colleges, especially those with whom they don’t have a relationship.

#mStonerNOW

Some advice about reaching teens …

• But: It’s OK to text teens or reach out to them on a social channel—as long as they reach out to you on that channel first.

• Teens use apps like Snapchat to engage with friends, not with you.

• There’s no silver bullet for connecting with teens. Don’t get caught up in a technology arms race.

• Don’t be everywhere until you can be awesome everywhere you are.

Download the white paper about this research: mstnr.me/AdmissionsMyths