Social Strategies for Successful Student

Engagement James Davidson

VP Digital and Community Strategy

7Summits

“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

Consumer

Education

Financial Services

Healthcare

High Tech

Manufacturing

Select Education Clients

Social Business and

Community Concepts

From: To:

The Biggest Shift in a Generation

Re-shaping the way you engage students, faculty, staff and partners

• Hoarding Information

• Web Sites/Portals

• Management

• Email / Newsletters

• CRM

• Baby Boomers

• User Interfaces

• Noise

• Desktop

• Information Sharing

• Integrated Social Sites

• Engagement

• Collaboration

• Social CRM + Communities

• Gen X / Millennials

• User Experience

• Insights

• Mobile / Access Anywhere

• 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

Communication Channels

Academic Institution

Decrease in effectiveness

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 communities 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,

Blogs, Polls, Ideas, Cases,

Files

• Web 2.0/3.0 Effects:

• Comments, Sharing,

Thanking, Liking, Tagging,

Rating, etc.

People Places Content

Common Use Cases for Online Communities

Collaborate on documents/initiatives

Stay informed – relevant campus news and updates

Facilitate peer support and self service

Share and discuss

Tap into collective experience (crowdsourcing)

Generate and capture knowledge, exchange ideas

ENGAGE CONNECT

SHARE

Find and connect with faculty and students (expertise ID)

Online Community Case Studies

17

Student lifecycle continuum

Admission Community Student Support Community Learning Enablement Community Alumni Community

Admissions Community Demo

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANJ4ZjuEUhU

MSOE Admissions Community Business Value & Results

SOURCE: Jive customer survey, (November 2012)

30% Admissions team

productivity

Admission counselors spent less time chasing the student and more time

interacting with them increasing productivity 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 time to

interact with prospective students in community. 66%

Reached ‘13 application goal nine months early and acceptance goal five

months early. 7000+ registered members and growing!

Application and

acceptance goal

Application

turnaround time

Admission counselors spent less time chasing documents down. From

months to weeks!

Retention 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 institution?

Audience:

WHO is the

audience

being

targeted?

Sta

ke

ho

lde

r V

alu

e:

My n

ee

ds

an

d in

tere

sts

are

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 operational costs

• Improve process 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, Graduate Students, Adult Learners

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

Group Exercise #3 – Strategies

1. Review Objectives and Audience(s) & value statements

2. Brainstorm strategies and ways that "social technologies" could be leveraged

to drive value while meeting your objectives and audiences needs?

Examples:

• Prospects get questions answered quickly

• Student blog to share project work

• Curate frequently asked questions for students

• Facilitate students and faculty networking

• Engage in two-way communications with peers

10

Min

Wrap Up

Groundswell Book Giveaway

Mention @7summitsagency with hashtag

#hesummit14 to win a copy of Groundswell.

And

Need a copy of the deck or have a question?

@jdavidson

james@7summitsagency.com

7summitsagency.com

Full-service implementation

Salesforce partner, strategy, user

experience design, build

Experienced across the academic

lifecycle – admissions, student and

faculty engagement, and alumni

relations

Deep community experience

Over 100+ communities delivered

Salesforce community experience

Forrester Groundswell award winner

for our work in Higher Education

Design awards in Higher Education

Measurable business impact:

• MSOE Case Study

• Penn Foster Case Study

7Summits Highlights