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This study was conducted to determine how students utilize digital media, including websites, & social media when researching colleges and universities to apply to for admission. It provides marketers insight into the media habits of college students, and is especially beneficial for content marketing agencies and marketing personnel within the The study provides interesting insights for marketers related to how students shop for schools, what people and other factors influence them, what types of devices they use, and more.
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Content Marketing
SurveyStudent search habit study
Survey conducted by
Survey Overview
AUDIENCE
Sample Size: 876 Respondents
Age: 18-20
Education: Last year of high school to first or second year of college
Gender: Random – even split
Ethnicity: – random
Geographic: all across the United States
BREAKDOWN
45.5% Just completed high school
51.1% Male
48.9% Female
100% 18-20 years old
PURPOSE:
To gain insight into the habits of college age students, in regard to how they search for colleges & ultimately arrive at their school of choice
Study conducted via surveymonkey.com
Insights
Top 5 Promotional Factors
73.9% - Word of mouth
50.8% - School’s website
45.6% - Private campus visit
43.6% - Direct mail
43.3% Rankings
Significance:
Website # 2 factor in decision making process
Word of mouth #1 (social media effective here)
Top 5 Website Features
87.7% - Majors & Minors
68.9% - Photos of campus
64.9% - Program descriptions
60.3% - Residence life
59.2% - Class descriptions
Significance:
Important to have solid academically focused content
Imagery and campus life important (visual content)
Insights
Site Visit Frequency
33.3% - 2 to 4 visits
24.6% - 5 to 10 visits
21.0% - 0 to 1 visits
12.9% - 10 to 20% visits
8.2% - 20 or more times
Significance:
66.7% visited 5 or more times
Theory: reputation of school may have impact on # visits
Quote
“Varied greatly between schools. For example, I applied to Dartmouth after only visiting the website once, but I read every single page of Deep Spring's site.”
Significance:
Website content may be of greater importance for school’s with a less recognizable brand.
Insights
Describe the most important feature you want to see?
“I want it to look visually appealing. If the college website doesn't look like they spent time making it appeal to prospective students, or the personality of the website doesn't match my own personality, it puts the school farther down on my list.”
“The pictures of the college should convince me and also I need day to day update of the campus news on their website.”
“An up to date 'picture' of what student life is like (classes, social media, student clubs, etc.)”
“The website should be professional looking and easy to navigate, the most important thing I think should be ability to easily access information on classes and majors.”
“social media conveying the school's spirit”
“I would say the most important feature on the website is making the school seem welcoming. Have pictures of people having fun.”
“Thorough and exciting descriptions of academic programs and courses”
Insights
Top 5 Characteristics (of school)
52.7% - Academic reputation
51.8% - Financial aid/scholarship
51.4% - Academic programs
51.1% - Cost/tuition
42.4% - Proximity to home
Significance:
These are the most important topics and will typically be the first / most frequently visited pages
Devices used
61.7% - Laptop PC
49.6% - Desktop PC
35% - Smartphone
26.2% - Laptop Mac
16.6% - iPad
Significance:
PC is still more prevalent than Mac for laptops
Mobile devices are increasing significantly as search tools, so optimize site for mobile
Insights
Top 5 Personal Influences
84.4% - Parents
71.0% - Friends
34.4% - High school guidance counselor
33.0% - High school teachers
29.8% - Siblings
Significance:
Important not to lose site of these influencers when designing university marketing strategy
56.4% Used Social Media For Search
87.2% - Facebook
28.7% - Twitter
21.1% - University run blogs
18.2% - Google+
Honorable Mention:
Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube
All visual mediums
Insights
Top 4 Decision Impact
77.0% - Facebook
19.1% - Twitter
15.8% - University run blogs
15.4% - Google+
Honorable Mention:
Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube
Again…all visuals
Top 5 Social Media Activities
76.0% - “Likes” Facebook
45.4% - “Comment” Facebook
18.2% - “Share” Facebook
15.1% - “Retweet” Twitter
10.4% - “Photos” Instagram
Significance:
Hmmm? Any recurring theme stand out?
There are those visuals appearing again with Instagram
Insights
“I found the College of William and Mary's blog helpful and friendly at a time when I was stressed about my college search, and this ultimately played a role in my deciding to apply to the college.”
“Their twitter account tweeted about an award that the university received for excellence in a particular field.”
“Seeing how quickly one of my colleges made a Freshmen group for accepted students was lovely and made me feel excited about that university.”
“UVA's Facebook page and blog helped me know that their Early Action decisions would be coming out early, and I was accepted.”
“An experience I can think of was when I contacted an admission contact person on Facebook and we spoke online for sometime on how to apply for Berea college.”
“Looking at the Facebook problem solving page, seeing how students work together to reduce confusion on campus and class scheduling.”
“Social media sites allowed to me get in contact with other students my age who were already enrolled at the college or thinking about it.”
Quotes About Social Media
