SSATB 2012 Chicago

Social is SexyCourting Admissions’ Target Market in Today’s

Ever-changing Online Social Scene

Brendan Schneider, S E W I C K L E Y A C A D E M Y

Travis Warren, W H I P P L E H I L L , I N C.

Friday, September 2010:30 - 11:45

What is Sexy?

Full-Pay,Mission-Appropriate

Students

Social is Sexy but...

there is more to it.

Markets are now conversations.

Conversations that are changing all the time...

Markets are now conversations.

Conversations that are changing all the time...

FLICKR / STUCKINCUSTOMS

That said.

FLICKR/MARCP_DMOZMarkets were Markets

FLICKR/ROOTOLOGYMarket-leaders

FLICKR/LAWRENCE_EVILIndustrial Interruption

W H I P P L E H I L L

Power swung so decisively to the supply side that market became a verb: something you do to customers.

“One problem: there is no demand for messages. The customer doesn’t want to hear from business, ... The message that gets broadcast to you, me, and the rest of the earth’s population has nothing to do with me in particular. It’s worse than noise. It’s an interruption. It’s the Anti-Conversation.

That’s the awful truth about marketing. It broadcasts messages to people who don’t want to listen. Every advertisement, press release, publicity stunt, and giveaway engineered by a Marketing department is colored by the fact that it’s going to a public that doesn’t ask to hear it.”

Networked Markets

New revolution in Marketing enabled

by the Internet.

6. “The Internet is enabling conversations among human

beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media”.

C L U

E T

R A

I N

(c) gapingvoid.com

15. “the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court”

C L U

E T

R A

I N

elcome to Blank School. It is my hope that by exploring our web site, you will discover the countless opportunities available at Blank to young men who are in pursuit of academic excellence, sound character development, and athletic and artistic training at the highest levels.

Since our founding in 1900, Blank has been a leader in the education of boys. Our traditional approach to education provides our talented and diverse student body with the tools necessary to be successful leaders, thinkers and innovators in today’s world. While we are proud to send our students to the finest universities and colleges, our focus remains on the development of the whole boy. At Blank, our goal is to prepare our students to be good men as much as it is to prepare them to be exemplary scholars.

W

94. “networked conversations may appear confused, may sound

confusing. But, they are organized and have better tools, more new ideas,

no rules to slow them down”

C L U

E T

R A

I N

E X A

M P

L E

1

29

FLICKR / MARCP_DMOZ Markets were Markets

Markets are now conversations.

Conversations that are changing all the time...

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization

( S E O )

RelevanceAuthoritySocial Signals

Pittsburgh Private Schools

Inbound Marketing

Personas

Keywords

SEOOn-PageOff-Page

Content

Personas

Keywords

SEOOn-PageOff-Page

Content

Referrals.

How many of your website’s visits came from a

search engine last month?

How many people visited our site?

0

3,000

6,000

9,000

12,000

Feb 1

Mar 1

Apr 1

May 1

Jun 1 Ju

l 1Aug

1Sep

1Oct

1Nov

1Dec

1Jan

1Fe

b 1

Source: Eagle Hill School (August 2007 - February 2008) O M N I T U R E

0

3,000

6,000

9,000

12,000

Feb 1

Mar 1

Apr 1

May 1

Jun 1 Ju

l 1Aug

1Sep

1Oct

1Nov

1Dec

1Jan

1Fe

b 1

Total

Unique

Visits from Google

0

750

1,500

2,250

3,000

Feb 1

Mar 1

Apr 1

May 1

Jun 1 Ju

l 1Aug

1Sep

t 1Oct

1Nov

1Dec

1Jan

1Fe

b 1

Eagle HillProctorFountain Valley

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

2006/07 2007/08

Web Inquiries

O M N I T U R E

The Long Tail

head long tail

So, if this was google what would it look like?

private  scho

ols

private  scho

olbo

arding

 sch

ools

inde

pend

ent  s

choo

lsprivate  ch

ristia

n    sch

ool

prep

 sch

ools

best  priv

ate  scho

ols

private  ca

tholic  sch

ools  

boston

 priv

ate  scho

ols

california  private  scho

ols

chicag

o  private  scho

ols

colorado

 priv

ate  scho

ols

private  girls

 sch

ool  

private  bo

ys  sch

ool

private  ca

tholic  sch

ool

private  scho

ol  hoc

key

private  scho

ol  swim

ming

private  scho

ol  le

arning

 disab

ility

private  scho

ol  trou

bled

 teen

s

The Long Tail

head long tail

With SEO we exposed the long tail to Google.

Facebook

Google

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

2006/07 2007/08

Web Inquiries