Social Media Trends in U.S. Higher Education

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Design Approaches U.S. Higher Education Trends in Social Media

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Design Approaches #HigherEdCH @patrickjpowers

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• Introductions

• Prospective Students

• Colleges and Universities

• Common Traits/Trends of Success

• Discussion

AGENDA

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Patrick Powers @patrickjpowers

• Personal

• Work Experience

•5 years journalist

•9 years in higher education

•Former director of digital marketing

and communications at Webster

University

• Speaking

•CASE Social Media and Community

•AMA Symposium on Higher

Education

•Adjunct Professor

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Exist | Organize | Strategize | Target | Evolve

STAGES OF MATURITY

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THE PROSPECTIVES (and their parents)

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Facebook

YouTube

Instagram

Twitter

Snapchat

Google+

Vine

Pinterest

Tumblr

LinkedIn

20% 40% 60% 80%

Which social media channels do they use?

15% 30% 45% 60%

ParentsSeniors

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51%OF U.S. HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS SAY

THEY HAVE VISITED A COLLEGE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

51%

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37%OF U.S. HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS SAY

THEY FOLLOW A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY ON TWITTER

37%

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THE INSTITUTIONS

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Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Pinterest

Google+

Tumblr

Vine

25% 50% 75% 100%

What are the most commonly used tools in advancement?

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Is there a disconnect?Institutions HS Seniors Parents

Facebook 95% 75% (-20%) 55% (-40%)

Twitter 82% 39% (-43%) 15% (-67%)

LinkedIn 76% 5% (-71%) 7% (-69%)

YouTube 68% 73% (5%) 31% (-37%)

Instagram 42% 49% (7%) 12% (-30%)

Pinterest 26% 18% (-8%) 9% (-18%)

Google+ 26% 31% (5%) 19% (-7%)

Tumblr 9% 14% (5%) 3% (-6%)

Vine 9% 24% (5%) 4% (-5%)

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THE TOP 10 TRENDS & TRAITS

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Success in social media still begins with planning.

1

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Have an approved strategy

Have an approved, resourced roadmap

25% 50% 75% 100%

Best-in-class Average

Mature social media communities in the U.S. …

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http://mstnr.me/IowaStateSM

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You must define success if you are ever going to achieve it.

2

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Goal

Strategy

Measurable Objective

KPI

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Goal Increase alumni engagement.

Strategy Design visual content that encourages alumni to attend an on-campus lecture.

Measurable Objective

Get 50 people to open the link; 20 people to attend the lecture.

KPI Total reach; Click-throughs; Click-through conversion rate; RSVPs; Attendance count

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Goal Influence yield of admitted students

Strategy Leverage popular platforms to generate excitement about choosing Fordham

Measurable Objective

Reach 90 percent of admitted students; Prompt 100 pieces of content; Attract 150

new followers

KPI Total reach; Content count; Follower count

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58%OF ADMITTED STUDENTS OPENED THE EMAIL INVITATION; 3 PERCENT

CLICKED THROUGH TO THE SITE

58%

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282ADMITTED STUDENTS POSTED

PHOTOS AS PART OF THE CAMPAIGN

282

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200+NEW FOLLOWERS ON TUMBLR AND

INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS

200+

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Recognize the need for balance in how you communicate.

3

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20%

40%

60%

80%

College Website Email from College College Planning Site Facebook Post from College Tweets from College

Seniors 2013 Seniors Parents

What college search resources do they find most influential?

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Seniors

2013 Seniors

Parents

25% 50% 75% 100%

I'll opt for Facebook I'll opt for the Website

If I have to choose between looking at the website or Facebook page …

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Email is still not dead.

3a

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More successful than some social media

More successful than all social media

Less successful than social media

Other

13% 25% 38% 50%

10%

13%

31%

46%

Compared to social media, how successful is email in meeting your advancement goals?

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Give them a reason to like you and stay out of the way.

4

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18%

35%

53%

70%

Clicked "Like" Asked to Join a Group Both Neither of These Options

Seniors 2013 Seniors Parents

What have they done on a college Facebook page?

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53%OF U.S. HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS SAY THEY WERE

CONCERNED ABOUT PRIVACY ISSUES WHEN LIKING OR ASKING TO JOIN A GROUP ON A

SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNEL.

53%

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Students will always be better at content.

5

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106 Likes, 6 comments 57 Likes, 5 comments

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Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember.

6

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“The human brain can process entire images that the eye sees for as little as

13 milliseconds”

-MIT Neuroscientists

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Photo

Link

Album

Video

Status

23% 45% 68% 90%

0.02

3%

4%

4%

87%

Most shared posts from Facebook pages worldwide, March 2014

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13%

25%

38%

50%

Instagram Twitter Facebook

23%27%

30%

23%26%

23%

33%30%

17%

42%

27%

12%

Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014

U.S. Teens “Most Important” Social Network

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13

25

38

50

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

4.13.4

2.6

1.8

1.2

6.15.8

5.3

4.9

3.8

9.08.2

7.05.5

3.6

12.010.8

10.09.0

6.2 12.211.510.49.48.46.15.34.63.62.3

12-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64

U.S. Instagram Users, by Age, 2012-2016 (millions)

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More and more people are going mobile.

7

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“As social audiences access more and more social content through

mobile devices, consumption habits trend toward succinct content with

strong imagery and design.”

-Ogilvy blog

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71%OF U.S. HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS SAY THEY HAVE LOOKED AT A COLLEGE

WEBSITE ON A MOBILE DEVICE.

71%

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15%

30%

45%

60%

Nearly all the time If no access to a desktop Rarely

Seniors 2013 Seniors Parents

How often do they use mobile devices for web browsing?

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In order to foster experimentation and creativity, get comfortable.

8

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Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Pinterest

Google+

25% 50% 75% 100%

Most successful All others

Which type of social media do you use?

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Success in social media often starts at the top.

9

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CMO

CIO

CEO

15% 30% 45% 60%

Best-in-class Average

Executive-level engagement in best-in-class communities

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No

Yes, on Twitter

Yes, on Facebook

Yes, on a blog

Yes, on LinkedIn

Yes, on another channel

15% 30% 45% 60%

Does the leader of your institution use social media?

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Measurement is the best way to demonstrate a positive ROI.

10

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“I was tweeting with an alumnus before I was going to a trip to California, and I didn’t know that [he was] a senior manager at NASA Ames Research Laboratory, and he invited me to tour [it]. And when I went there, I met the director of NASA Ames, and that resulted in the University of Cincinnati becoming a Space Act Agreement University, which opens the resources and facilities and funding from NASA up to our faculty and students. So that started because of a Twitter interaction.”

Social Media Report: OverviewJune 1, 2013 - May 31, 2014

Build Brand Awareness

Posts Subscribers Reach Impressions

246 21,667 ! 70% 179,963 702,687

Increase Audience Engagement

Engagements Engagements per Post Engagements per Subscriber

1,656 6.73 0.08

Drive Traffic to Enrollment

Referrals Inquiries Undergraduate Applications Graduate Applications

6,057 " 41% 17 5 ! 100% 9 ! 100%

Total number of referrals to the Webster website from social media.

Requests for information, RSVPs and applications from social media referrals.

Number of undergraduate applications coming from social media referrals.

Webster's social channels grew 70 percent over the past year with little sign of slowing down. Facebook continues to dominate the social media scence when it comes to building awareness. It possesses the largest network of Webster subscribers (9,534) with Twitter coming in second (6,865).

Total number of unique users reached across all social media platforms.

Facebook rules when it comes to audience engagement, netting nearly 32 engagements per post. The next highest platform was YouTube where each video posted averaged just over 5 engagements per post. Facebook accounted for 92 percent of Webster's total social engagements.

The most social traffic to the Webster website came from Facebook (90 percent), so it is no surprise that Facebook also leads when it comes to inquriies and applications. There was a significant decrease in the year-over-year referrals, most likely due to changes in Facebook that keep users logged in.

Number of graduate applications coming from social media referrals.

Total number of Facebook posts, tweets, pins and videos uploaded by Webster.

Total number of Facebook fans, Twitter followers, YouTube subscribers, etc.

Total number of unique users reached across all social media platforms.

Total number of likes, comments and shares across all social media channels.

Average number of engagements — likes, comments, shares — per post.

% of subscribers who have engaged with Webster-generated content.

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Thank you.

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Questions?

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