Recruitment Marketing Campaigns

Alternately titled:

Where Are The Kids These Days?

Who am I?

• I’m Alex!

• I plan and execute social media for Simmons College

• I also run stupid long distances (occasionally marathons)

What are we going to talk about?

• Building a strong brand voice that will resonate with your future student body

• Leveraging social media platforms to reach different audiences

• Techniques for interacting with applicants through social media

Finding your voice

• This can be difficult

• Followers are seeking authenticity

• There’s a difference between voice and tone

• What do you want your brand to sound like? A peer? An expert?

• Be an authority, but also be personable

• Adjust your voice depending on the platform

Teen use of social platforms

Data source: Piper Jaffray, 2014

Reaching the right people

• There are 60.3 million U.S. Instagram users in 2015

• 11.4 million Instagram users are 17 or younger

• 16.4 million users are ages 18-24

• 19.4 million users are ages 25-34

Data source: Ad Week, 2015

We found the kids! What next?

• So we should focus our recruiting efforts on the platforms they’re on, right?

• Next steps: Finding them!

• Targeted advertising on Twitter is a good start

• Respond in a timely manner to any questions on social media

Have them use a hashtag

• Hashtags are a good way for students to connect with each other and you

• Once students visit campus, for tours or an larger admissions day, they use #SimmonsVisit

…and remind them to use it!

• Once students received admissions packets, we encouraged them to post to Twitter and Instagram

• We used #admittedtosimmons – allowed us to congratulate them on their achievements

In review

• Go where the kids are (Instagram, Twitter)

• Engage with them early (on tours, college visits, etc…)

• Include relevant social media information throughout the application process

• Respond!

• After they’re accepted, continue engaging to ensure yield

Questions?