Social Strategies for Successful Student Engagement

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


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


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?

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Val

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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

[email protected]

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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