Jacksonville State University and Merit
28
Webinar HOW JACKSONVILLE STATE WENT FROM ZERO TO MERIT ROCKSTAR IN 14 DAYS FLAT
-
Upload
chelsie-cliff -
Category
Education
-
view
43 -
download
0
Transcript of Jacksonville State University and Merit
Webinar
HOW JACKSONVILLE STATE WENT FROM ZERO TO MERIT ROCKSTAR IN 14 DAYS FLAT
BUFFY LOCKETTE Director of Public Relations Jacksonville State University
BRIAN GROUDINE Account Development Manager Merit
JENN CONNALLY Client Success Manager Merit
AGENDA FOR TODAY’S WEBINAR
EVALUATING AND SELECTING MERIT
JACKSONVILLE STATE’S CHALLENGE
IMPLEMENTATION AND GETTING STARTED
INITIAL RESULTS FROM EARLY LAUNCH
PLANNING FOR WHAT’S NEXT
ABOUT JSUPublic university in Jacksonville, AL
8,693 students (87% undergrads)
45 degree programs
“Friendliest Campus in the South”
JSU TIES: Transformative, Innovative, Engaged for Success
THE CHALLENGE“JSU must become a well-known gem rather than a hidden gem. Letting people know how special we are is not bragging, it is simply good strategy.”
John Beehler, President Jacksonville State University
President wanted more strategic communication about success.
Trustees were asking for more stories about student success.
JSU had the stories, but struggled to connect them to audiences.
How could we make our stories
MORE RELEVANTand proactively connect them to our target audiences to get our messages of student achievement and success out there?
Communications and admissions saw how some other institutions were using Merit and the puzzle began to come together…
JSU called Merit for a demo, which showed us
PEER INSTITUTIONSand how they were easily taking content they had already created, and using Merit to personalize it for every student and distribute it to targeted audiences.
ENABLING US TO DO MORE“Merit measurably increases our ability to share student news and achievements to key stakeholders and influencers in a fraction of the time.”
Buffy Lockette, Director of Public Relations Jacksonville State University
MASS PERSONALIZATION
TARGETED DISTRIBUTION
ENGAGEMENT AT SCALE
REPUTATION MARKETING
Hometown Newspapers
High Schools
Students & families
State Legislators
Merit reaches critical audiences by connecting every student’s story to…
After the demo, JSU knew it finally had an answer for how to scale up storytelling efforts and connect student success to more stakeholders and audiences.
INVESTING IN MERIT
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION FEEUnlimited use, unlimited users and contributors. Access to the Merit application to create and publish stories of student success to branded institutional and personal Merit pages, and email stories to students and parents. Live customer support via phone and email.
SELECTED DISTRIBUTION CHANNELSHometown newspapers & media networkState legislators & government networkHigh schools & high school networkAthletics & optional separate athletics account
ONE-TIME IMPLEMENTATION FEECovers account setup and configuration, user training, dedicated client success manager to co-develop a comprehensive success plan and acheivement calendar, consultation on launch plans and ongoing strategic support.
Pricing for Merit has three components:
$Varies by size
$2,000 per channel per year
$3,000 on-site $1,000 virtual
BUILDING SUPPORT FOR MERITShared Merit internally with enrollment and marketing teams
Compared cost against what it would take to build these contact lists ourselves and create/deliver targeted messaging about individual students without something like Merit
Looked at other marketing initiatives we were spending on that we really couldn’t show were working, or working well
Decided to start with a more limited version, evaluate initial results, and add more distribution networks later if warranted
OPTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Quick Start: Accelerated implementation focused on immediate usage and quick results, bypassing broader campus rollout
Phased Approach: Standard, 90-day implementation with extensive support from Merit team. Educate campus stakeholders, create a longer-term content plan, develop launch collateral, import all students into Merit
Within the first two weeks after the contract is signed, we will have a kick-off meeting with internal stakeholders to educate them about Merit and how it can benefit their department. We will also determine which members from each team will participate in the working group.
KICK OFF WORKING GROUP 1ST UPDATE
15 DAYS 60 DAYS 15 DAYS
90 DAYSEducate stakeholders &
identify the Working GroupTogether, we draft your plan for success with the Working Group
Merit collaborates with the members of the Working Group on a plan for success based on our work with over 500 colleges and universities. The success plan will identify the programs, initiatives and achievements your teams want to highlight, as well as who will be involved in making that happen from each department.
Together, we publish your first Merit update
Based on your success plan, together we select the first program, initiative or achievement that you would like to showcase and together we publish it through Merit and measure the results.
PHASED IMPLEMENTATION
Using existing assets from your websit or brand toolkit, we setup and configure your Merit account and brand your page with photos and your logo.
SET-UP TRAIN & PUBLISH RESULTS
4 DAYS 8 DAYS 2 DAYS
14 DAYSConfigure Merit page settings and branding
Limited training focused on how to craft and publish first achievement
A quick webinar-style training focuses on how to draft a particular type of acheivement in Merit, and how to add students to that achievement. During the training, we also configure certain student communication templates in Merit on-the-fly. At the end of the training, you’re ready to send that first achievement.
Review results with Merit 24-hours post-publish
Within 1-2 days, a review call with a Merit client success manager will help you see and interpret your results. We’ll review data Merit collects and compare it with your own benchmarks and your peers.
QUICK START IMPLEMENTATION
JSU took the quick-start approach and started with:
DEAN’S LIST & GRADUATIONThese two acheivements recognized the greatest number of students with the least amount of effort.
The first two Merit acheivements generated
INSTANT RESULTSThe personalized, positive nature of Merit’s content drove student engagement, social shares and online views. Merit helped JSU crank out hundreds of press releases about student success that reached their hometown newspapers in communities all over Alabama and the US.
2,424 STUDENT STORIES
529 LOCAL NEWSPAPERS
71% STUDENT ENGAGEMENT W/ PAGE
76% STUDENT EMAIL OPEN RATE
34,000 ONLINE STORY VIEWS
684 PRESS RELEASES
78% STUDENT CLICK RATE
1,500,000 SOCIAL MEDIA IMPRESSIONS
2 MERIT UPDATES
JSU saw immediate results from Merit, including outreach from local reporters and “buzz” on campus from students excited to be recognized.
PROMOTING MERIT ON CAMPUS
Story on home page of JSU website
Notice in JSU campus email newsletter
Announced Merit in social channels
Joint press release with Merit
Pitched JSU student newspaper
High Schools
State Legislators
NEXT STEPS FOR JSU:Expand distribution networks: add in high schools and state government reps
Build out an editorial calendar of achievements
Involve other campus stakeholders in identifying and drafting acheivements
Continue to strategically promote Merit across campus and to students
WELL WORTH IT FOR JSU"Merit directly supports JSU’s institutional goal to ‘engage students and tell more stories about student success' set forth by President Beehler. The results have far surpassed our expectations."
Tim Garner, Chief Marketing Officer Jacksonville State University
WHAT ABOUT MERIT AT YOUR CAMPUS?
WELCOME NEWEST MERIT CLIENTS
CONTACT US FOR A DEMO
CUSTOMIZED QUOTE
SELECT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
START GETTING RESULTS
Getting started is simple:
