Social Strategies for Successful Student Engagement
James Davidson VP Digital and Community Strategy 7Summits @jdavidson | #hesummit
“A new class of company is emerging – one that uses collaborative technologies intensively to connect the internal efforts of employees and to extend the organization’s reach to customers, partners and suppliers....”
Social Media is Disrupting Business
McKinsey Global Institute “The Social Economy: Unlocking value and productivity through Social Technologies” July 2012
Where Value is being Created
Marc Benioff Chairman & CEO
Today’s agenda
• Introduction • Social Business and Community Concepts • Group Brainstorming • Wrap Up First Last Name
Title
Foundation Pres – PowerPoint Template – 16x9 FY14.pptx
Introduction
7Summits At A Glance COMPREHENSIVE CAPABILITIES SOCIAL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
EXTERNAL AND INSIDETHE ENTERPRISE
INDUSTRY FOCUS
Select Education Clients
Social Business and Community Concepts
From: • Hoarding Informa-on • Web Sites/Portals • Management • Email / Newsle;ers • CRM • Baby Boomers • User Interfaces • Noise • Desktop
To: • Informa-on Sharing • Integrated Social Sites • Engagement • Collabora-on • Social CRM + Communi-es • Gen X / Millennials • User Experience • Insights • Mobile / Access Anywhere
The biggest from to shift in a generation Re-shaping the way you engage students, faculty, staff and partners
• Social media is the default state 1 • Rely on user-generated content to
make life decisions 1 • They absorb and manage
information differently than other generations1
• Universities that create their own open communities have a much greater degree of credibility 2
Millennials / GenX Insights
Sources: 1Bazaarvoice. 2 Onlinecolleges.net
Higher Education Trends
Recruitment / Admissions • A typical prospective student
now receives 12-18 emails from 2-4 year public/ private institutions. 1
• CRM is a top priority for 4-year public/private schools1
• 75-90% of 2-4 year institutions spend less than 25k annually on their institutions website1
Student Success / Faculty • 4-year universities are
experiencing very high attrition — up to 50% in some cases. 2
• Higher Ed IT is seeking to consolidate platforms (Intranet, websites, portals, etc). 2
• Classroom delivery models are shifting to incorporate more online/digital
Alumni / Advancement Mgt • Use of accurate data to
drive alumni outreach strategies is one of the biggest needs to improving Alumni Relations 3
• Alumni Relations frequently find themselves without the support, resources or staff needed to perform effectively 4
Sources: Noel Levitz 1 ACT 2 Hartford 3 Council for Aid to Education 4
Communications Misaligned
Prospects / Students / Alumni
E-‐mail Print Phone Social Media Mobile
Communica=on Channels
Academic Ins=tu=on
Decrease in effec-veness
The Gap and Opportunity
Online Community
Opportunity? Facebook LinkedIn
Student lifecycle continuum
Prospective Student Qualified Prospect Accepted Student Enrolled Student Graduate Alumni
Personally Social Professionally Social Academically Social
Online Communities 101 Social Networks vs. Online Communities
The primary purpose of social networks & online communi-es is different
Social Network Online Community
Business Objectives
Primary Purpose Relationships
E.g. Facebook E.g. Rate My Professor
Key Community Elements Philosophy: “Bottom Up” vs. “Top Down”
Profiles: managing identities (organizational and individual)
Relationships: following/ connecting with others
Presence: knowing when others are available
Reputation: identifying experts and advocates
Curated: administratively controlled content libraries, reference materials
User-Generated: organically created content; appropriate for more dynamic behaviors
Collaborative: collaboration around specific cases / initiatives
• Content types: • Discussions, Documents,
Polls, Ideas, Cases, Files
• Web 2.0/3.0 Effects: • Comments, Sharing,
Thanking, Liking, Tagging, Rating, etc.
X
People Places Content
To Drive Student Loyalty • Call deflection and reduce call center costs • Students support each other • Help students / staff find answers • Create a feedback loop
To Drive Productivity and Performance • Increase transparency • Streamline communication • Improve collaboration • Find talent and expertise • Enable knowledge sharing • Reduce emails / unnecessary meetings
To Amplify Brand Message • Enhance advocacy • Enhance marketing channels • Targeted campaigns • Launch new degree programs To Deepen Relationships • Nurture competitive intelligence • Admissions enablement • Engage customers in curriculum development • Enable institutional programs
Institutions are adopting online communities across the institution to achieve measureable business results…
Common Use Cases for Online Communities
Collaborate on documents/initiatives
Stay informed – relevant campus news and updates
Make connections with content and peers
Share and discuss
Tap into collective experience of the students and faculty (Q&A)
Generate and exchange ideas
ENGAGE CONNECT
SHARE
Find and connect with faculty and student - perspectives and content
Online Community Case Studies
18
Student lifecycle continuum
Admission Community Student Support Community Learning Enablement Community Alumni Community
Admissions Community Demo
Video URL: h;ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANJ4ZjuEUhU
Business Value & Results
SOURCE: Jive customer survey, (November 2012)
30% Admissions team produc=vity
Admission counselors spent less =me chasing the student and more =me interac=ng with them increasing produc=vity 30%.
Deposit Melt Overall accepted student summer melt decreased by 5% 5%
Electrical engineering saw almost double enrollment 2X Enrollment Numbers
Outbound Call volume
Admission counselors reduced outbound calls by 66% freeing up =me to interact with prospec=ve students in community.
66%
Reached ‘13 applica=on goal nine months early and acceptance goal five months early. 7000+ registered members and growing!
Applica=on and acceptance goal
Applica=on turnaround =me
Admission counselors spent less =me chasing documents down. We went from months to weeks!
Reten=on rate from accepted to deposit jumped from 30% to 38% in one year
Accepted to Deposit 8%
Representative Business Value for Online Communities
Online Community
Opportunity? Facebook LinkedIn
Student lifecycle continuum
Prospective Student Qualified Prospect Accepted Student Enrolled Student Graduate Alumni
Personally Social Professionally Social Academically Social
Admissions • Increase qualified students • Reduce traditional media spend • Enhance referrals / WOM • Streamline enrollment processes • Enhance reputation / perception • Increase enrollment (fill seats) • Reduce application processing time • Increase students starts
Students and Faculty • Improve student retention • Improve grades and satisfaction • Streamlined student onboarding • Improved graduation rates • Reduced support costs (self-serve) • Facilitate student / faculty
collaboration • Enable virtual study groups / peer
support • Crowdsource research and ideas
Alumni • Improved alumni engagement • Increased donations • Drive event participation • Drive student referrals • Facilitate student mentoring • Capture student success stories • Support professional networking
Group Brainstorming
Online Communities - Group Exercise Scenario
Scenario: Your institution is looking to launch an initiative to leverage an online community to improve engagement and collaboration with 1) Admissions 2) Students 3) Faculty / Staff and 4) Alumni audience(s)
Top goals for your online community initiative are to: 1. Streamline communication / facilitate sharing of information 2. Enable self-service and peer support 3. Streamline institutional processes and operations
As the project team, it is your job to begin the planning process and ensure your institution has thought through the strategy and plan to implement your online community
Today’s group breakout will focus on defining “who” we are targeting, and then prioritizing “what” the critical objectives are. Once defined, these objectives will provide the basis to identify “how” those objectives can be met (via online communities).
Strategies: HOW can social technologies engage your audience(s) while meeting your objectives?
Business Objectives: WHAT are the goals of your business?
Audience: WHO is the audience being targeted?
Sta
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Val
ue: M
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Technology: WHICH use cases, features and capabilities will enable you to accomplish your strategies, while meeting your goals, and engaging your target audience?
Focus on “What” first, “Who” and then “How”
1 2
3
Group Exercise #1 – Objectives / Opportunities
1. Identify WHAT specific "improvement opportunities" exist for your assigned area
2. Based on the initial list, prioritize them based on potential business impact
– Target 3 to 5 “overarching” themes
Examples: • Increase number of applications • Decrease marketing costs • Grow number of referrals • Increase school preference (#1 choice) • Improve faculty / staff productivity • Reduce student support costs • Grow revenue • Retain students • Decrease operation costs • Improve operation efficiency
10 Min
Group Exercise #2 - Audience Value
1. Based on the improvement opportunities/challenges, identify WHO are the key "audiences" that are impacted by that area, e.g.:
• Group 1# - Admissions: Prospective Students, Applicants, Parents, Influencers etc.
• Group #2 - Students: Undergraduate, Graduate Students, Adult Learners etc.
• Group #3 - Faculty / Staff: Professors, Advisors, Operational Staff
• Group #4 - Alumni: Undergraduate, MBA’s
2. Brainstorm specific value statements for each targeted participant. E.g.:
• “As a prospective student I can … Ask current students a question about my preferred degree program”
10 Min
3. Group Exercise #3 Strategies
1. Review Objectives and Audience(s) & value statements 2. Identify specific strategies and ways that "social technologies" could be
leveraged to drive value.
Examples: • Get questions answered quickly
• Network with students easily
• Connect with faculty and staff
• Engage two-way communications between peers
10 Min
Group Exercise #4 Tactics / Technology
• Review Objectives, Audiences and Strategies • Brainstorm ways you as a program owner can help implement your
proposed strategies using an online community • Brainstorm technology and community features that might address
their needs – High-level use cases
– Feature sets
• Prioritize key features / requirements – what is most important?
10 Min
Wrap Up
Groundswell Book Giveaway
Mention @7summitsagency with hashtag #hesummit to win a copy of Groundswell. And Need more help or a copy of the deck?
@jdavidson
7summitsagency.com
ü Full-service implementation partner strategy, user experience design, build
ü Experienced across the academic lifecycle – admissions, student and faculty engagement, and alumni relations
ü Deep community experience ü Over 100+ communities delivered ü Salesforce community experience
ü Award-winning work ü Forrester Groundswell award winner for our work Higher Education
ü Design awards in Higher Education ü Measurable business impact:
• MSOE Case Study • Penn Foster Case Study
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