REVIEWING 2014 TRENDS TO JUMP START 2015 Date of first visit: Segment your visitors by when they first interacted with your school’s website. Traffic Source: Filter your visitors

REVIEWING 2014 TRENDS TO JUMP START 2015

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Digital Marketing for Higher Education

TABLE OF CONTENTSANALYTICS ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 Conducting Cohort Analysis with Google Analytics ................................................................................ 5 It’s Time for Higher Ed to Plan the Move to Universal Analytics .......................................................... 8 Using Analytics Tools to Better Understand Market Segments in Higher Ed ................................10

ORGANIC SEARCH ............................................................................................................................................14 Local SEO for Higher Ed Recruitment ......................................................................................................15

PAY-PER-CLICK ...................................................................................................................................................18 PPC for International Student Recruitment ............................................................................................19 PPC Conversion Rates in Higher Ed ..........................................................................................................25

Social .....................................................................................................................................................................28 Could Snapchat be the Next Big Trend in Student Marketing? .........................................................29 Higher Education Presidents with Social Media Presence .................................................................33 Using Social Proof in Recruitment Marketing ........................................................................................37

LEAD GENERATION ..........................................................................................................................................40 The Potential of Gamification for Student Recruitment ......................................................................41 7 Tips to Improve the Effectiveness of your Lead Generation Forms .............................................44 3 Steps to Lead Nurturing for Increased Enrollment ...........................................................................47

CONTENT .............................................................................................................................................................50 Student Personas & Behavior-Targeted Content .................................................................................51 How to Leverage Original Content ...........................................................................................................54

BRANDING & WEBSITES .................................................................................................................................64 TV Advertising for Branding & Lead Generation in College Recruitment .......................................65 6 Ways to Get Better Conversion Results from Your Higher Ed Website .......................................68 15 Ways to Reduce Your Higher Ed Website Bounce Rates ..............................................................71

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Welcome to Higher Education Marketing’s Best Blogs of 2014 eBook.2014 has been a very exciting year in higher ed digital marketing with lots of interesting develops in tools, trends and techniques. We have been blogging regularly about these topics in analytics, SEO, PPC, social media, lead generation, content marketing, and branding and have collected our most popular blog posts in 2014 in this ebook for you. Our criteria for “most popular” was to select the posts that received the greatest number of readers over this period. This includes some 2013 posts that have still been so popular in 2014 that we had to include them here.

We hope you enjoy this collection and can find a few ideas to help you improve your 2015 marketing efforts and results. Please be sure to drop us a line with any questions you have and we will be very happy to get back to you.

Regards,

Philippe TazaCEOHigher Education Marketing

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AnalyticsOver the last year, higher ed marketers have begun to truly embrace analytics as a critical component of how they manage their marketing programs. Working with search engine analytics and social media analytics is a regular task in most marketers’ day, applying growing sophistication and a keener focus on tracking marketing effectiveness and ROI through data. Of course, analytics is still not for the faint hearted as analytics tools regularly reinvent themselves including their terminology and functionality, but our higher ed community’s expertise is growing rapidly with training, conferences, and online resources, all helping to raise the bar.

The concept of big data has entered the mainstream of higher education management, driven by the broad requirements of enterprise resources planning systems, student information systems, learning management systems, and content management systems. Marketing analytics provides the tools marketing managers need to speak the same language as their senior management uses to discuss performance results across their institutions.

Google’s Universal Analytics was finally released from beta this year and is redefining how web traffic is tracked. Most social media tools now provide their own analytics tools to assist users track usage and engagement. Analytics driven marketing has arrived and knowledge and skills with these tools has become a prerequisite for marketing success.

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Cohort analysis, sometimes referred to as longitudinal analysis, focuses on the behavior of cohort groups (a group of people who share similar characteristics or behavior) within a predefined timespan. For a web intelligence team, cohort analysis usually involves clustering web audiences/visitors by the time period (i.e. week, month or year) in which they first interact with your web ecosystem. The key benefit of cohort analysis comes from allowing analysts to compare and analyze the retention and engagement of different user groups (e.g. prospective students, alumni, current students and staff members etc.) to make sure that changes made during each period have a positive impact.

For example, if your school considers webpage views as a core engagement metric when looking over analytical data for the last couple of months, you might find that the “Month 2” cohort has consistently remained more engaged and viewed more pages per visit than other monthly cohorts. Looking at cohort retention in the same manner, you can say that the “Month 2” cohort remained intently loyal to your school’s website.

In the recent update, Google introduced new segmentation features for Google Analytics that make it easier to isolate and analyze subsets of visitors or app users (or cohort groups). Previously, Google Analytics was not supporting cohort analysis as a standard feature, since segments were always based on individual visits.

Note: There is a 90 day limit to the user segment and in the cohort analysis, which I am sure will change with time. Keep an eye on the Google Analytics help site for the latest information.

CONDUCTING COHORT ANALYSIS WITH GOOGLE ANALYTICS

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CREATING COHORTS IN GOOGLE ANALYSIS:

To create a new cohort, Click the + New Custom Segment button. Next, you will be able to name your cohort and choose form the five different types of segments.

Demographics: Filter your visitors by demographics information, i.e. age, gender, language, location, etc.

Technology: Filter your visitors by their browser, screen resolution, browser version, operating systems, etc.

Behavior: Segment your visitors by how often they visit and interact with your school’s website, i.e. number of visits, days since last visit, transactions and visit duration.

Date of first visit: Segment your visitors by when they first interacted with your school’s website.

Traffic Source: Filter your visitors by how they discovered your website using medium, campaign, source and keywords.

If you want to add filters, click on the condition option under Advanced. This will allow you to add up to 20 filters. You can even make it sequential via the Sequences tab.

Once you have created your first cohort, you can preview the results and test it to make sure it works properly.To demonstrate, let’s create a cohort of the visitors who first visited your school’s website between September 1st and September 30th through Facebook (referral medium).

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Step 1: Click on the “Date of First Visit” tab and enter the applicable date range, i.e. Sep 1, 2013 to Sep 30, 2013.

Step 2: Enter “referral” under Medium and “facebook” under Source, then preview the results.

Cohort analysis is less prone to selection bias compared to case-control analysis. Two criteria must be fulfilled when conducting any type of cohort analysis:

1. Analysis must take place over a meaningful period of time.2. All the members of the cohort should be analyzed over the predefined period of time.

Cohort analysis is considered a highly effective form of observational analysis (substitutes for true experimental analysis). It can help your team to identify moments when engagement on your school’s websites decline and facilitates decision making processes to eradicate bottlenecks that may have resulted in these drops. In the recent update, Google really changes the way people perform cohort analysis using Google Analytics.

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IT’S TIME FOR HIGHER ED TO PLANTHE MOVE TO UNIVERSAL ANALYTICS

About a year ago, we published a post introducing Universal Analytics, (UA) describing what it is and some of the implications of its use in higher education marketing. Flash forward to May 2014 and Universal Analytics is now officially out of beta, has roughly equivalent feature parity to classic Google Analytics and a clear upgrade path is available. There is still not a hard deadline from Google on when you must upgrade to UA, but they are making it pretty clear that everyone will have to make the move at some point in the near term. If you doubt Google’s resolve on this, please note that classic GA is no longer available for use with new website properties. (See Google’s Universal Analytics Upgrade Center for details on their upgrade timeline.)

So if you haven’t begun thinking about how and when to make this move, it is time to start!

Many higher ed institutions have made the move to UA but there is still very little publicly available information about their experiences. I’m quite sure there will be lots of papers and presentations about this topic on the higher ed web conference circuit this summer and fall but for now it is still pretty limited.

There is quite a bit of conversation on this topic out there in the larger web world from individuals who have made the change from sectors outside higher ed whose experiences we can learn from.

1. Upgrade complexity to Universal Analytics is closely related to the overall complexity of your web ecosystem, including the number of domains, pages and amount of custom tracking you have set up under your current, “classic” analytics.

Universal offers a whole new world of user centered tracking across multiple devices but the bad news is that since it is based on a completely different method of tracking your sessions, all of your current custom tracking, including event tracking, call tracking and cross-domain tracking, have to be updated to work under UA. You will also have to make sure that any 3rd party tools like CRMs, shopping carts, etc. that currently plug into your website will also operate under UA. Given this complexity, give yourself lots of time to plan, learn about, implement and test UA before you make the transition.

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2. Some consensus is emerging from web managers that the best upgrade strategy is to run Universal Analytics in parallel with classic Google Analytics on your site for some period of time to ensure everything is configured properly before you fully commit to UA.

Once you switch over to UA there is no going back, so you need to make sure you have everything in place and operating as required before you switch over or you’ll lose the data and reporting you have come to rely on. UA operates on a completely different data set from classic GA so it will take some effort to migrate any tracking elements that you had customized in GA.

When announcing that UA was officially out of beta, Google provided one case study of a “successful” upgrade to UA. Rather coincidental to our interests, it was Beckfield College, a private college from Florence, Kentucky, who migrated to GA over the last year. It provides some particular insights into how the new capabilities of UA can be leveraged to improve your marketing ROI.

For those of you who are looking for resources to help plan the move to UA there are lots available. I have included a number of links below of helpful online posts and resources about UA that you might find useful.

If you are looking for more of a more directed learning experience on UA, you might want to sign up for Stephane Hamil’s upcoming course on Tag Manager and Universal Analytics from Cardinal Path Training, beginning on May 24.

We’d love to hear from any of you who have made the transition to Universal Analytics about your experiences with the process and the new analytics software. What were your greatest challenges? What has surprised you the most about the functionality and capabilities of Universal Analytics?

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USING ANALYTICS TOOLS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND MARKET SEGMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Good marketing is all about segmentation. If you truly understand your market and communicate effectively with them you will be successful in whatever your goals or “conversion events” might be. The higher ed marketplace is no different in this respect, it is just really complicated by the wide range of programs, approaches and types of people it serves. This post provides a few organizing concepts and examples to try and help make it a bit simpler for higher education marketers to understand their digital market segments and improve their overall effectiveness (and results!) through analytics.

So let’s review the four basic types of market segmentation and showcase how two tools, Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer, can be used to analyze those different segments of traffic on your website. The four basic types of Market Segmentation are: 1) Geographic 2) Demographic 3) Psychographic 4) Behavioral

1 GEOGRAPHIC MARKET SEGMENTATION

Geographic segmentation breaks down your web traffic by geographic criteria – countries, states/provinces, regions, counties, cities, neighborhoods, or even zip/postal codes. The report below, from Google Analytics, shows a distribution of website visitors from the state of Texas to an anonymous college’s website over a 1 month period.

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If you are a College or University marketer with a high priority to recruit students regionally, this simple type of analysis can make your marketing planning and recruitment human resource allocations much simpler.

2 DEMOGRAPHIC MARKET SEGMENTATION

As you know, demographics are statistical characteristics of your site visitor population. Demographic segmentation involves things like age, gender, family size, income, occupation, education, religion, race and nationality. In this example, Google Analytics is used to report visitor behavior, based on the language settings used on their computers.

International student recruitment is a very important part of revenue generation for many colleges and universities. This type of analysis can be very useful to marketing planning and optimization of your site, as you work to develop a relationship with these foreign language speaking, prospect students.

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3 PSYCHOGRAPHIC MARKET SEGMENTATION

Psychographic segmentation examines markets according to lifestyle, personality, and values. Psychographic segmentation is often studied in parallel to demographics as people within the same demographic group often have very different psychographic profiles. In simple terms, they represent an individual’s interests, activities, and opinions, including attitudes and cultural touchstones. In the Google Analytics report below, a community college’s microsite mobile traffic is examined to reveal local student smart phone preference. Over 66% of the mobile device traffic is from an Apple operating system. So in this market, Apple is clearly winning the brand battle for the hearts and minds of the college student.

Understanding student popular opinion toward and use of Apple, Android and Blackberry systems can be very important in setting priorities in the future development of internal college mobile apps and campaigns. Just for the record, in the writing of this post we’ve had a lively discussion in our office over the question of “is mobile operating system a psychographic or a behavioral segment”. I personally believe, that in this case, it is psychographic because it seems that these days, your selection of smart phone OS is as much a political statement of your support to Apple, Google and to a lesser extent RIM, rather than simply the purchase of a product. Let us know how you feel about this question and we will report back with your feedback in a future post.

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4 BEHAVIORAL MARKET SEGMENTATION

Behavioral segmentation typically divides people into groups according to their knowledge of, attitude towards, use of, or response to, a product. In the higher education digital marketing context, we use web analytics to break-down the range of all visitors (prospective students, existing students, staff, parents, alumni, etc.) into a number of discrete channels. Each channel is then analyzed and a virtual profile is created to deal with each channel. These profiles can be developed into personas that give you a starting point in terms of deciding what content, navigation and layout to present to each of the different personas for optimal conversion results.

Further micro-segmentation of your channels can be researched using A/B testing, (the example below is from Google Website Optimizer), on content, messaging and calls to action, allowing visitor behavior to further indicate which of your communications lead to the most desired outcomes or conversion events for each segment and when to further split your messaging into tighter segments. I‘ve only touched on a few examples here, revealing the tip of the segmentation iceberg. We’ve looked at a few default reports, to demonstrate how readily available this type of analysis is to you, within your existing resources. Once you master the basics of segmentation, the sky is the limit in terms of what higher level segmentation strategies you implement and the analyses you develop to track their performance. But that is another topic (or two)! I do hope to have demonstrated that using these (free) tools even in the most basic ways, can lead you down the road to improved marketing effectiveness.

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Organic SearchThe search engine optimization of your website remains a critical piece of your recruitment marketing. SEO practice in 2014 experienced a number of important changes that impact your rankings on search engines. Google implemented two significant algorithm changes, aka the Panda and Pigeon updates. The Panda update was implemented to penalize sites with shallow or low quality content. The Pigeon update, though not a penalty-based update, reinforced the importance of local search factors, placing more emphasis on useful and relevant local content.

Google has continued in its efforts to ensure that quality content drives search engine rankings. Fresh, relevant, high quality content is highly valued by the algorithm. Rich media of all formats produces best results. Having a well-designed responsive site that produce a lean and fast mobile version is currently a strong ranking factor. This year Google experimented with and then ultimately dropped Authorship as a ranking tool. Longer form blog content that is 1000-2000 words is now reported as optimal.

Inbound links remain a highly ranked factor but Google has forced more care to be placed on their relevancy. Bad links can actually hurt your rankings. Inbound links from syndicated content on social media channels is one strategy currently in favor to drive rank. A recently cited statistic states that the average website now receives an average of over 20% of its traffic from social media channels. Social media signals, particularly if from Google + can also positively affect your ranking position.

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LOCAL SEO FOR HIGHER ED RECRUITMENT

Colleges and universities actively recruit students through search locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. A well rounded search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for your website will provide a solid foundation for your organic search engine rankings across all levels but further refinements are required if you really want optimal performance.

I think it is fair to say that local search is getting more complex and harder to do. Part of this is simply due to increasing competition in higher ed but Google is also causing it due to their on-going efforts to refine their search algorithm to provide better local search results. The explosion of mobile usage and subsequent mobile search seems to be fundamentally shifting the balance of search factors towards a much more local focus. Google is working hard to better interpret and better provide for local search intent. The recent Hummingbird and Venice updates of the Google algorithm included changes that appear to push even more general non-branded, non-geo related searches to local search results. So with all of this going on, how should a post secondary education institution proceed to optimize for local search results?

First of all I would recommend that you must get your general on-page and off-page optimization into shape as the main priority. Review these previous posts for a refresher on how to do that if needed. Once you have done that, you can take your SEO to a deeper level by applying some of the tactics below.

Here are a some of the general tactics to include in your overall SEO efforts that will positively affect your local SEO results:

Keyword Research - Be sure to include local keywords in your primary keyword research. For example, if you are promoting a program targeting prospects in Toronto, or in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) or Ontario in general, then you must include those geographically specific words in your keyword strategy.

On-Page Optimization – Include your city, region or province/state keywords in your overall page optimization plan for your site. Put these same terms in page metatags, page titles, H1s, content and internal site links. Give each separate campus location a unique page and fill it with unique content. Put a standard address footer on every page of your site, indicating its location. Google really likes structured content so use Schema Local Markup and put a Keyhole Markup Language file on you site for best effect.

Here are more specific tactics you can use to optimize for local search:

Claim Your Locations – Claim and verify your campus locations on services like Google + Places, Yahoo! Local and Bing Maps. Make sure you fill out 100% of the fields and use exactly the same information across each.

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Ryerson University G+Places Page

Acquire Citations – Get listed across local directories, again using exactly the same Name, Address and Phone number (NAP) data as you are using in Google Places. Academic directories like Braintrack and Schools Training provide an opportunity to further reinforce each campuses’ unique address.

Get Reviews on Google Places – The Google algorithm definitely appears to favors positive reviews on G+ Places. Develop a strategy to encourage students with very positive comments to post them on Google Places. If you are not already checking Google Places start now and monitor it for sentiment. Put your best “reputation management” practices in place and manage this like any other public social media platform. Developing reviews is probably the most difficult tactic to implement but is very important for good results.

Optimize your Profiles on Social Media – Make sure you are using the same location data across all of your social media profiles. Register an account with location based platforms like Foursquare,

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Yelp and Gowalla to claim your location and build local “geo” related content and references. Add Pinterest Pins to content on your Pinterest account to highlight campus features and location.

The combined effect of these tactics should help your site rank higher for local searches and drive more local traffic. Google Analytics should then be used to track the visitor behavior of this local search generated “segment”. With better understanding of their search intent and needs you can continue to optimize your site for better recruitment performance on the local front.

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Pay-Per-ClickIn 2014, the search marketing market place has evolved and changed in a number of ways. Legislative changes and pressure on the for-profit sector in the US produced some decreases in PPC spending. Overall higher ed PPC spending has been flat or grown only slightly. Based on various reports, growth appears to have come from higher ed institutions who have not previously been in the PPC market place, entering the marketplace due to competitive pressure for prospective student leads. Generally falling enrolment rates have produced a more competitive environment for new students for all types of institutions including private, public and for-profit.

Increasing competition on both branded and unbranded terms has resulted in generally higher cost-per-click rates, driving up overall costs to schools. As the use of mobile devices for information gathering on higher ed options continues to increase, mobile PPC offers new access to target audiences, and continues to grow in overall volume. PPC advertising on social media channels, like YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn has increased in 2014, again with particular focus on mobile. Recent reports indicate an upswing in search market share by Bing, with generally lower PPC costs and approximately equivalent conversion rates to Google search. PPC platforms continue to innovate, providing increased bidding flexibility, broadening their search, display and retargeting advertising options.

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PPC FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT RECRUITMENT

Increasing competition for a shrinking supply of local prospective students has led many colleges and universities to expand their recruitment targeting to the potentially lucrative international student market. Institutions seek the diverse perspectives that come with multiculturalism while ensuring that incoming international students have the necessary qualifications and financial resources that are the best fit for their school. The past decade has seen a sharp rise in student mobility alongside greater opportunities for schools to access these prospects independently and directly via internet channels. But how to reach them? Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing on search engines and social media platforms is proving to be an effective and cost efficient method for lead generation in foreign markets, but without the right preparation it’s easy to blow large sums of money with little return on investment.

For many, PPC advertising is the cornerstone of a solid digital marketing strategy, and marketers love it because you only incur expense when the target has expressed interest. Essentially, you bid on keywords relevant to your ad, which will then appear in sponsored links whenever a visitor enters one of these keywords. Even if nobody ever clicks your ads, the fact that they are popping up on the screen as a result of relevant search engine activity can mean millions of impressions and invaluable brand awareness. Students overseas are even more dependent on search engines to discover potential higher education institutions because they are less exposed to traditional channels, and are more likely to search something like “top Canadian university” rather than seek a particular location or school. PPC advertising is a great way to gain access to your most qualified prospects in diverse regions of the world since they are already actively seeking a place or program of study.

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WHY USE PPC FOR INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT?

The geo-targeting capabilities of PPC marketing for higher education means you can deliver finely crafted messages to highly targeted prospective students, tightly focused by location, language and keyword. Bidding strategy, budget and scheduling can be specifically nuanced to reach the leads most likely to convert. Paid ads on search engines are the most prominently displayed, and when combined with a strong organic SEO strategy it is possible to dominate the upper half of the first search results page for maximum visibility.SEO and PPC

Another often overlooked benefit of PPC is keyword testing, as comparing the effectiveness of various keywords and messaging can be accomplished faster through PPC success metrics than with any other method. Keywords are the foundation of search advertising, ensuring your college is exposed to the right audience depending on what information they are actively seeking. You are likely very familiar with which keywords prospects are using to search your school domestically, but unique cultural and language considerations add an extra layer of complexity for international PPC.

KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET

Before even beginning keyword research, you should have a good idea of which markets to target, typical priorities and search behaviour for those students, and how visible and popular your brand is in each market. Consider whether your college already has a strong presence in a particular region and can leverage word-of-mouth referrals from current international students or alumni. Certain programs are often more popular in particular regions - for instance, in the vast nation of Russia, promote hospitality or engineering programs where those respective industries are the bigger local economic players. Tools like Google Trends can help identify searching patterns for web users around the world.

While ideal prospective students can come from anywhere in the world, it’s advisable to initially focus your efforts on one or two target markets and grow from there. Understand that PPC marketing can involve a long sales cycle and that visa processing times vary greatly by country, so manage expectations and ad placement timing accordingly.

It goes without saying that applying your North American messaging to worldwide campaigns isn’t likely to be your best bet, so take some time to research the cultural norms of your target market. Consider your relative brand strength, competition and user constraints. Even if you begin with a similar base strategy as your home market, translated to the local language, your PPC campaigns should become increasingly diverse and tailored as you gain more knowledge of search patterns and what does and doesn’t work.

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SEARCH ENGINE PREFERENCE

Although many consider PPC synonymous with Google AdWords, it should be noted that in many leading source countries, local search engines are far more popular than Google. Yandex in Russia, Baidu in China and Navar in South Korea all dominate their markets - there is a handy global search engine marketing guide here. PPC rules may vary significantly between search engines, including Bing and Yahoo. For example, to get on Baidu you’ll need a local presence with a Chinese domain website and a valid business certificate issued by the Chinese government, among other licenses.

But PPC also extends beyond search engines. Text placements on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube can also fall under PPC marketing and require individualized messaging that would appeal to each platform’s users. The rule of thumb is to target your prospective students on the websites they use, narrowing in on the postal codes where they live. The good news is that emerging markets tend to have lower keyword competition and so your budget should stretch farther.

MOBILE PPC

Internet penetration is spreading at an incredible rate throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and a majority of consumers in many of these countries are mobile-only. According to mobiThinking, 30 percent of the world’s mobile users are in top source countries India and China.

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The Google network accounts for nearly 70 percent of global search traffic and is generally the most convenient method for geo-targeting diverse regions. Their enhanced ad campaigns featuring various Extensions greatly expanded in 2013, many of which are particularly useful for mobile.

Popular Ad Extensions include:

� images (of campus, happy students, etc.) � reviews (student testimonials) � drop-down navigation (to program pages, etc.) � location (using Google Places and maps for locally targeted campaigns) � social (link to your G+ page) � communication (entering email for newsletter subscription or telephone call)

The Call feature is essential for mobile PPC to connect prospects already on their phones with direct access to a dedicated admissions line. There is much that could be said about specific mobile PPC best practices but result pages, keywords, competition and user intentions are all different on this platform. Be especially direct and concise, with large text and big buttons pointing to tailored calls-to-action like “Call Now.”

KEYWORD RESEARCH

Effective PPC campaigns start with choosing the right keywords, which demands further research when going international. For best results, seek guidance from someone with real experience in that country, going beyond basic translation to understand cultural subtleties and up-to-date searching patterns. This can apply to ad copy and landing pages also. Google AdWords offers the free Keyword Planner tool for searching keyword and ad group ideas, finding historical statistics, creating new keyword lists and choosing competitive bids and budgets.

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Identify phrases that are supportive to each other and the specific initiative. Competitor research is a start but as phrase competition is directly related to cost-per-click, consider more descriptive niche phrases that attract fewer overall searches but more highly targeted and qualified leads. Long tail keywords convert at higher rates but the key is to strategically research, identify and combine hundreds of long tail keyword phrases. Consider adding qualifying study terms, localizing place names, and keyword used by competitors.

CONNECT AD MESSAGING TO LANDING PAGES

The essence of PPC messaging is “short and sweet” with punchy calls-to-action that attract attention and deliver qualified prospects to your targeted landing pages. Ensure that your landing pages are aligned with the PPC copy, optimizing content with these keywords and ideally integrating the most relevant keywords in content strategy and development for organic search success. Include your unique selling proposition, relevant benefits, at least one prominent call-to-action and a request for information form.

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ALWAYS BE TESTING

PPC marketing is a continuous work in progress that should naturally evolve as you determine the optimal keywords, messaging and markets. Campaigns are easy to start and terminate so don’t hesitate to regularly try out new strategies emphasizing seasonality or targeted programs. A/B testing with Google Analytics is a best practice to compare keyword and messaging options and to experiment with which time of day, week and year brings the highest return on investment. Monitor your paid search traffic and goal conversion rate by country and region. While disappointing results can sometimes be attributed to messaging shortcomings, it is also true that not all countries convert equally. Analytics results can lead to surprising insights that may lead you to significantly redistribute your marketing investments.

Technological advances are making the far corners of the world more accessible than ever but the dizzying array of options out there can be overwhelming. Proceed at a manageable pace by enlisting the services of digital marketers to wade into the international waters at a budget that suits your school. Integrate PPC into your marketing mix by gradually expanding and continuously improving your focus. PPC for international student recruitment is still under-utilized by colleges and universities, which can mean a competitive advantage for early adopters.

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PPC CONVERSION RATES IN HIGHER ED

As PPC becomes mainstream in higher ed as a marketing tactic, colleges and universities who have not used it in the past are seeing their competitors get out ahead of them in competitive keyword markets. As these late adopter marketers enter PPC, ( desktop and now mobile), it is only natural for them to seek some assurances on what your conversion rates and ultimately ROI will be from these initiatives.

SO THE QUESTIONS IS “ WHAT KIND OF CONVERSION RATE CAN YOU EXPECT?”

I remember the first time I ran a higher ed PPC campaign, with the help of an outside consultant, and asked them that same question. Technically, they knew their stuff but had not worked in higher education before so I got back the inevitable “ it depends” answer. I was a bit frustrated and felt like I was being “managed”, but accepted it and carefully watched things roll out to educate myself on what was reasonable. It turns out that ”it depends” was and is still a reasonable answer given the wide variability in conversion rates that organizations get, as seen below.

The good news is that we can do a bit better today than “it depends” to help new PPC marketers understand what to expect from their higher ed campaigns. I particularly like to pull out the following stats to help define some baseline expectations for our new higher ed PPC clients. These stats present a typical day in the life of PPC activity on Google, collected back in Nov 2012 . (They are a combination of data from the jobs and educational vertical but I still think it is very informative about our sector because of the significant overlap. Click thru here to see the whole infographic from Wordstream to see this same breakdown across the top 10 industry PPC verticals.)

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So let’s look closely to see the important insights of this data:

1. TOTAL AD IMPRESSIONS: Education accounts for the most ad impressions across the top 10 verticals. Wow, so who is doing all of this educational PPC advertising? Well if you look down a bit you will see that it is the largest private, for profits, including Phoenix, ITT, Devry and Kaplan who dominate. In fact, Phoenix has claim to the title of being the biggest PPC advertiser on Google. Yes that is correct, they spend more money on PPC than any other company in the world. That should be a very sobering thought if your programs compete with theirs and you are just getting into the market now!!

2. CLICK THRU RATE: Education also lays claim to having the lowest click thru rate at 1.72% of the top 10 PPC verticals. This fact is a bit scarey for many first timers but once you understand that cost per lead is actually more important that click thru rate then it becomes a bit more manageable.

3. COST PER CLICK: So an average cost per click in education is $1.80. This is a good figure to use if you want to project how much budget you will need to participate in the PPC marketplace.

4. CONVERSION RATE: A 6 % conversion rate in higher ed seems quite reasonable to me. Some campaigns we have run do much better than this but to get that kind of result takes experience and lots of A/B testing to make it happen.

So given these industry averages, here is what a $1000 PPC budget will get you:

$1000/$1.80 per click = 556 clicks556 clicks x 6% conversion rate = 33 leads

$1000/ 33 leads = $30.30 per lead

5. GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK: Note the stats about the Google Display network on the right of the graphic. Display ads are the text or image based ads that you can place on a PPC basis on 3rd party sites who are members of the Google Display network. A huge amount of money is being spent there these days, with very modest click thu and conversion rates compared to Adwords,

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Here is an estimate of what that same $1000 will get you on the Display Network:

$1000/$.34 per click = 2941clicks2941 clicks x 2% conversion rate = 59 leads

$1000/ 59 leads = $16.95 per lead

So as you can see that the cost per lead is almost half that of the main Adwords network. Of course the big question unanswered here is about lead quality. Which leads will ultimately convert to student at the highest rate? Generally Adwords leads are of higher quality but don’t make assumptions with respect to your campaigns. You must try to be certain of the outcome. There are other PPC ad scenarios, including Mobile ads and Retargeting ads, but we’ll leave those for discussion another day.

So how do educational PPC conversion rates compare to conversion of organic traffic? Once again the answer is it depends on the nuances of a particular organization’s website, “product” and value propositions. Here is an example of variability of conversion rates on organic traffic from Marketing Sherpa. Once again, “it depends” applies.I hope this has been helpful to set some basic parameters around what you can expect as you are entering the PPC marketplace for the first time. It a very competitive marketplace so do your homework and make sure you have optimized your campaigns to produce a reasonable level of ROI right from the outset.

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SocialSocial Media continues to grow in importance to recruitment marketing. Student preferences have evolved over 2014 with a drop in usage in Facebook by prospective aged students and increases in the use of Twitter and Snapchat. Older audiences, potential targets for retraining or continuing education continue to adopt Facebook as a main social media tool. Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest usage have grown modestly in 2014 by target audiences but continue to lag in adoption by institutions who tend to focus on the big four, those being, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Google+ has made some inroads with institutions, particularly because of its impact on SEO rankings.

The importance of the relationship between social media use and mobile platform use continues to grow. Social media provides students with the easiest platforms with which to acquire, share and comment on higher education institution’s content and marketing collateral. Images are currently shared the most by students but a growing general preference for video content across all demographics will likely continue.

Analytics for social media channels effectively track friends, followers, shares etc. but actual marketing ROI on social media activities still remains elusive. As marketers trend towards more focused, more creative social media campaigns this is beginning to change.

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COULD SNAPCHAT BE THE NEXTBIG TREND IN STUDENT MARKETING?

Social media marketing has become a necessary resource in the realm of student recruitment but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a constant challenge to stay on top of the latest trends. It sometimes seems like a giant game of tag, chasing students and prospects to the next hot platform for a chance to communicate with them. We wrote recently about widely reported findings that teens are flocking away from Facebook, citing privacy concerns and the “uncoolness” of parents liking their posts. One emerging social media contender that has won significant enthusiasm among the 13-25 demographic is photo messaging app, Snapchat, currently top of the free Apple App chart.

It might still be most famous for rejecting Facebook’s $3 billion acquisition offer, but unlike the 400 million messages its users exchange every day, this mobile app shows no signs of going away any time soon. The major appeal of Snapchat is that sent photos and micro-videos “self-destruct” one to ten seconds after being viewed (determined by the sender), thereby eliminating the potential long-term consequences of incriminating photos later being seen by parents, teachers, employers, etc. The popular app’s creators, Stanford students Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, maintain that it wasn’t created to “make sexting safer”, as commonly alleged, but to avoid the tiresome de-tagging of embarrassing or compromising party pictures. Research by MediaSmarts confirms that teens are not only wary of unflattering photos being used against them in job interviews, but also of the “drama” of asking friends to take down such posts on Facebook.

Recent market research from Sumpto suggests three-quarters of college students on social media use Snapchat every day. Admissions marketers might be even more impressed by the study’s findings that nearly half of college-age respondents said they would open a Snap from a brand they’d never heard of, compared to 73% expressing willingness to open one from a familiar brand. While that study’s participants are self-identified social media users in the U.S., predispositioned to giveaways from brands, it does come at a time when big brands like McDonald’s are adopting Snapchat to market to youth.

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MAKE YOUR STORY SNAPPY

The company seems eager to find a viable revenue model as it enters its third year, and provides a business development team to help brands get started. It already has access to users’ personal information, such as age and location, that can potentially be leveraged for targeted messaging in the future. The “My Story” feature, launched last fall, will likely be of most interest for colleges and universities. It allows users to combine a series of image or video “snaps” in chronological order to tell a story, promoting the message universally to all their followers. Snaps can be accentuated with art and text, using the “doodle” function. Each integrated snap expires after 24 hours, so the story grows progressively smaller throughout the day until vanishing when the last snap’s time limit finally elapses.

So far, most colleges on Snapchat use it primarily to promote their athletics departments, providing behind-the-scenes game day snaps to increase student attendance at football games or generating school spirit by asking fans to send in snaps. Earlier this year, the University of Houston became one of the first to launch a general account with strategic goals “as a reflection of how the University is always looking forward and embracing cutting edge technologies,” according to Jessica Brand, UH social media manager. T-shirt giveaways on Cougar Red Fridays are previewed on Snapchat, while students are reciprocating by sending snaps that offer insights into their day-to-day activities on campus.

The tool is helping the school reach new audiences that may not be connected through LinkedIn or Facebook, and recent stats indicate between 60 and 80 percent of followers are accessing its snaps. “They’re actually going through our ‘snaps’ and viewing the shared content,” enthuses social media coordinator, Kimberly Davis. “We’re not always able to reach such a high percentage using other social media tools. It’s great to know that our messages are being read. Whether it’s sharing fun items like Cougar Red Friday giveaways or information related to parking or campus happenings, it’s proving to be an effective communication tool.”

SNAPCHAT STUDENT RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES

In this fast-paced world, services like Snapchat that can quickly, easily and succinctly transmit messages have an intuitive appeal, but best practices are still emerging regarding its marketing potential. While teens appreciate it for letting them express their silly side through “selfies” without having to worry about crafting a formal online identity, schools can develop their brand identity by consistently posting pictures that demonstrate the diverse aspects of their campus, gaining the attention and admiration of trendy students.

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1. LEVERAGE OTHER NETWORKS & PROVIDE AN INSIDE LOOK AT CAMPUS LIFE

A good first step is to announce and promote your Snapchat feed on your other social networks and then begin posting pictures to accumulate a following – perhaps an inside look at campus, insights into programs and extracurricular activities or quick news tidbits. Due to the vastly more ephemeral nature of Snapchat compared to other social media networks, the timing of posts is particularly important to engage the highest possible number of followers. Offering a daily snap at a certain time will develop expectation among your followers and increased interaction for education lead generation.

2. GENERATE EXCITEMENT WITH EXCLUSIVE PREVIEWS

Snapchat can be a great tool for creating a perception of exclusivity, such as providing sneak previews of a new building or logo design. The student demographic takes pride in being trendspotters, being the first to break news to their followers, and the tease of a brief snap (or a strategically timed series of snaps) might be enough to ignite a wave of excitement that propels a story to go viral. Companies like McDonald’s, for example, have successfully introduced a new product and launch date with exclusive and interactive touch points throughout the day, concluding their Snapchat Story with a request for friends to follow them on Twitter.

3. OFFER DISCOUNTS OR OTHER INCENTIVES

Some pundits observe that the introduction of ads that risk infringing on the fun social elements that initially brought the service popularity could be its downfall. Facebook has experienced some backlash since targeted ads began cluttering newsfeeds and privacy advocates have recently asked U.S. regulators to halt its $19 billion acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp until there is a clearer understanding of how the company plans to exploit the personal data of the latter’s 450 million users. That being said, studies have shown a majority of users responding positively to promotions, discounts and coupons sent via Snapchat in exchange for customer loyalty. Vanishing snaps can give new meaning to “limited time offers” for university bookstore discounts, athletics tickets or even enrolment referral bonuses for admissions departments. The key is keeping the tone fun and in the spirit of Snapchat spontaneity.

4. ENCOURAGE CREATIVE SUBMISSIONS

One of the best marketing applications of Snapchat is to call on the creative skills of your followers by inspiring submissions for contests or job postings. A 10 second Snapchat video is a creative opportunity to accept pitches for brainstorming ideas or some portion of a job interview. Keep in mind that after the brief time limit expires it would be impossible to reassess submissions, so it might be more of a PR stunt than sustainably viable tool. Photo or micro-video contests can be effectively carried out with Snapchat, cross-promoted with other social media channels, capitalizing on timely events like a big game or graduation ceremonies. Consider playing up the fleeting moments by providing incentives for “the first 25 who send us a snap of…” or run a campus scavenger hunt based on a series of clues that encourage interaction.

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CONCLUSIONS

When it was first revealed that teens were fleeing Facebook in favour of mobile apps like Snapchat, many found it interesting but assumed that it wouldn’t be useful for marketing initiatives. However, creative brands have already found success by taking advantage of the uniquely temporary, casual nature of the platform. Consider enlisting the help of students that specialize in “snapsterpieces” that will make your audience laugh with ridiculous doodles on pictures, or other quirky flourishes that challenge preconceptions and capture attentions of the younger demographic.

As social media networks wax and wane in popularity, seek to develop strategies for fluidly reallocating resources to make the most of what is hot right now, as Snapchat certainly is. Admissions departments may be wary of another new platform to divert their precious time but it is always advisable to understand what your prospects are currently interested in and regularly freshen up your marketing mix to better appeal to them. Don’t be afraid to try new social media marketing tools even if you are unsuccessful at your first attempt so that your campaigns are thriving when other institutions are eventually forced to hop on the bandwagon.

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Every college or university wants to expand its visibility, respond to its audiences’ needs and cost-effectively promote its institutional brand. These are just some of the reasons why 100% of schools have embraced social media marketing to some extent. While being active with institutional accounts on major social networks has become a must, for true brand messaging maximization, who has more visibility than the college president? Top school administrators are increasingly taking to social media to communicate with current and prospective students and the broader community, acting as thought leaders, building strategic relationships, and strengthening their institution’s reputations.

According to a comprehensive 2012-2013 UMass study of social media adoption in US colleges and universities, over half of presidents are on Facebook (58%) and Twitter (55%), while 35% host their own blog. Although university presidents are generally major adopters of the newest digital technologies, there are several reasons why those that effectively utilize the full potential of social media are still very much in the minority. The president’s job is one that is increasingly demanding and complex, simultaneously assuming the roles of CEO, political lobbyist, media spokesperson, fundraiser and all conceivable types of institutional leadership. Social media is often perceived as an unproven return on investment, with an unnecessary risk of high profile stumbles or losing control of messaging as a result of potentially subversive responses.

HIGHER EDUCATION PRESIDENTSWITH SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

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While social media activity may still not be an expected component of the president’s role, many observers believe it could soon be essential. It hasn’t previously been a priority for board members, who are more interested in strategy and outcomes than the specific tactics applied, and might also be wary of the additional public scrutiny that has occasionally led to scandals and resignations. However, the social aspect of attending countless ceremonial events is a major part of being a president and so social media is a natural extension of that, a cost effective and productive way of making the most of being the centre of attention. An increasingly important part of one’s public personality and presence is social media activity, which can be immensely beneficial to institutional branding.

TOP BENEFITS OF PRESIDENTS GOING SOCIAL

More and more presidents are enhancing and controlling their message while developing the widespread interactive relationships that only social media can provide. It expedites the timely and disparate dispersal of relevant congratulations or condolences, news sharing or empathetic insights, on a one-to-one or mass scale. A voice with the weight of an institution carries tremendous power, establishing an example of responsiveness for the entire campus. It is great both for broadcasting big news or managing campus crises, finally putting rumours to rest. “These channels allow me to reach a lot of people and give them a more personal view of my thoughts and life,” explains Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire University and a prominent tweeter.

Here is some of LeBlanc’s Twitter advice from an interview with higher ed consultant Michael Stoner:

� You have to find your voice and identify the persona you’re constructing (don’t try to be the person you are in commencement in social media)

� Be authentic and comfortable � Remember that humour goes

a long way and that constantly retweeting other people’s stuff is boring

� Don’t confuse the informality with being too informal: you’re still the president, these are still public artifacts. Keep that in mind!

According to a 2012 survey cited by Stoner, “82% of respondents were more likely or much more likely to trust a company whose CEO and leadership team engage with social media.” Better communication equates with better leadership and this kind of transparency can powerfully shape public perception of a college or university.

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Example: University of Cincinnati (UC) President Santa J. Ono has become something of a celebrity in higher education circles, elevating the school’s visibility by tirelessly setting an example of relating to students – whether that’s helping freshmen move into dorms, crowd surfing at football games, or interacting on social media around the clock. At last count, he has 29,500 Twitter followers (as “PrezOno”) and notes that “it’s a rapid, efficient way to communicate with a lot of people simultaneously: students, parents, alumni who are all over the globe.” Being aware that “as a president of a state university you are always sort of under a microscope,” his valuable advice is: “Before I push ‘send,’ I try to wait a little bit and then look at it again.”

WADING INTO THE SOCIAL MEDIA WATERS

Balancing institutional control with transparency isn’t easy but tweeting presidents can personalize a school like nothing else. But like anyone else, college presidents should embrace social media to an extent that is comfortable to them. A popular combination is using Twitter plus a blog – Twitter has a wide reach to important audiences, including media, easily updated on the go, while blogs are ideal for more comprehensive messaging.

Facebook should be approached with more caution because its equivocal privacy standards, encroaching advertising agenda and more complex interactivity can mean less control if you’re not following closely. That being said, Dominic Giroux, who became Laurentian University’s president in 2009 at the age of 34 – the youngest in Canada – has used his own Facebook page for student recruitment, and actively engages students on Twitter, LinkedIn and his bilingual blog.

Example: Although not as ostensibly scholarly as some by other university presidents, Giroux’s blog, in both official languages and always introduced with a dash of Ojibwa (a First Nations language common to the region), provides a transparent view of the latest news from Laurentian. Under his leadership, the school has paid off its deficits and reversed declining student enrolment – prospective student applications have increased at twice the average pace as the sector.

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SOCIAL MEDIA LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES

Every social media network has diverse types of uses and followers and if you’re new to them, it’s better to find other role model presidents to follow before tweeting yourself. Presidents less familiar with the applicable social norms should seek guidance from more adept colleagues as networks like Twitter are fast-paced and hyperpublic – clumsy comments can easily go viral in the wrong ways. However, everyone makes mistakes, and with good intentions, a philosophy of transparency and greater activity, the best received posts should far outweigh any missteps. It is definitely wise to have someone on staff monitoring social media with Google Analytics and social listening tools like HootSuite, tracking and measuring mentions, responses and online traffic back to the school website.

While prolific updaters are impressive, there’s nothing wrong with a more sporadic pace. Begin by setting goals for social media activity with a clear commitment to using it and engaging with followers. Increase engagement by sharing informative articles, interesting infographics, pictures, and insights into the day-to-day life of a president. Effusive school spirit, empathy to students’ experiences and enthusiastic personality are always popular.

A recent study by McMaster University grad student Dan Zaiontz, called “#FollowTheLeader”, analyzed the habits of 22 presidents who use Twitter to recruit students and connect with faculty, government, media, alumni and donors. The study identified five Twitter user types:

� The Customer Servant: Answers a wide range of questions � The Institutional Promoter: Only shares content about the school � The Socially Inconsistent President: Has social media accounts but doesn’t use them � The Oversharing Non-Strategist: Mixes personal information and institutional news but has no

clear purpose � The Socially Active Strategist: Exhibits a clear strategy in blending personal information into

institutionally-focused activity

The most popular presidents on social media mix witty observations, informative news scoops from daily meetings, cheerleading about sports teams or school-related accomplishments, questions for the general community, re-tweets of interesting student comments, and advice/answers to student questions. There is no magic formula other than authenticity, but the combined effect is to signal a genuine interest in communicating with the community, making the school seem more open and approachable, and in touch with today’s innovative means of communication.

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USING SOCIAL PROOF IN RECRUITMENT MARKETING

Remember when they put those really bad laugh tracks on TV comedy shows to encourage you to laugh at the jokes. That’s an example of social proof. (FYI, they do still use them. They’ve just got better at it and you don’t notice them anymore!) Simply put, social proof is the phenomena where people follow the actions (or decisions) of others when they find out that others are already doing something, based on the assumption that others have more knowledge about the situation than they do.

In higher ed recruitment marketing, social proofs are particularly important because prospective students are very tuned in, and sensitive to, the behavior of their peers and other external advisers and actively seek social proof to assist them in their decision making.

Types of social proof and some higher ed examples: Let’s take a closer look at some of the different types of social proof and how they can be used in higher education marketing.

Testimonials

When you say something about how good your university is, it’s marketing. When a student says something good about you, it’s a testimonial. Student testimonials are powerful micro narratives

that you can weave through you program, information and landing pages, providing solid “proofs” of student experience and results. Short relevant testimonials fit well into main pages and longer student success or graduate success testimonials provide more details for deeper pages. Use video where ever possible for testimonials as they bring more credibility than straight text. My personal preference is not to gather success stories and testimonials together in one spot, but rather spread them liberally across a website. Visitor’s don’t generally visit a testimonials page, but will spend time on them when they are embedded in other content. Here’s an earlier HEM post on testimonials you might find interesting for more ideas and examples.

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Social Sharing

Social sharing buttons and statistics are showing up more and more on higher ed websites. Reporting likes and followers to the visitor provides a strong proof of the interest and approval of their peers. Be careful with applying this tactic to pages that have low traffic or low approval ratings. Poor stats will produce negative social proof, the opposite of the intended effect. No proof is better than low proof; the impression left is that your content is either too new to place faith in or it is not being used by anyone because it’s not useful.

Rankings & Awards

Using rankings and awards are a time tested tactic for providing social proof of a school’s merit and general approval ratings. In this home page example, Mohawk College claims the number one spot in student Key Performance Indicators in 12/13 in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Always be sure to back up these claims, (as Mohawk did in this example), with a click through to all the details about the ranking to confirm your proof.

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Trust Icons

Trust icons range widely in form and purpose, from indicators of secure ecommerce servers to identification of accreditation bodies. Trust icons are typically formal endorsements from expert bodies or influencers, have some level of public recognition, and offer the visitor proof that the organization can be trusted and are recognized by other public organizations. Trust icons are particularly important on landing pages and should be placed near your calls to action for maximum effect on conversion rates. In the example below, accreditation is the focus of the proofs and is delivered in two different ways.

Social proofs are important to communicate your story, it’s authenticity and relevance to your visitor. If used effectively they can increase your visitor’s time on site, positively communicate your brand and encourage click-throughs on your conversion paths.

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Lead GenerationIn 2014, prospective student lead generation has taken a more prominent positon in the overall prioirites of college and university marketing departments. The increasing costs of purchased leads and the increased competition between institutions for applicants are driving more higher ed marketers to more activity solicit leads on their websites using lead generation best practices from broader industry. Well-designed ads, lead forms, and conversion tested landing pages indicate a growing maturity in lead generation practice.

Online lead generation for International student recruitment for full-time and study abroad students has increased substantially by institutions at all levels, as they compete for the lucrative international student who pays higher rates than local students. PPC and social media are now being used widely in this area as well.

Lead generation campaigns, including ads, forms and landing pages are now commonly developed for the mobile devices to reach the growing mobile-preferring or mobile-only prospective student. Social media, as the mobile platform for lead generation advertising continues to receive investment but has seen limited success in terms of direct conversions to students. ROI on social media advertising continues to be difficult to quantify as a result of the complexities of lead attribution across multiple marketing channels.

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THE POTENTIAL OF GAMIFICATIONFOR STUDENT RECRUITMENT

As admissions marketing continues to become more competitive, colleges and universities are seeking strategies for engaging prospects that go beyond traditional website and social media development. Innovative digital engagement tools have exponentially expanded student recruitment opportunities in only a few years, capturing the interest of prospects and progressing them through the application process via targeted messaging and online communities. One concept gaining traction in marketing circles that promises to become more popular in the context of university admissions is “gamification”, applying the fun and engaging elements of game design to real-world, productive activities.

The major appeal of gaming is that its entire purpose is to create the best possible player experience, keeping people entertained for long periods of time by optimizing feelings, motivations and engagement. The parallels with marketing are immediately apparent, but as opposed to function-focused business processes designed for pure efficiency, gamification connects work with pleasure by focusing foremost on the human’s intrinsic satisfaction. Leveraging game mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics with a comprehensive consideration of user experience and behavioural motivators has delivered significantly improved engagement for many otherwise routine tasks across a range of industries. The theory is that the motivations inspiring game play can drive deeper engagement, improving recruitment, retention, productivity and business performance in the process.

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What can higher ed learn from video games?

Video games have gone mainstream in recent years, with the ubiquity of mobile technology complementing the social connections, healthy competition, rewards and user engagement inherently sought by gamers. Kids will happily kill the same enemies for hours in a role-playing game because they are rewarded by a sense of pride and accomplishment from advancing levels, however simply attaching points or badges onto your app or website doesn’t necessarily correlate with greater engagement. These can be effective tools in the context of an immersive experience but primarily appeal only to players interested in competition.

Gamification integrates usability and behavioural psychology to appeal to your user’s needs across their entire journey, encouraging collaboration and motivation by closely associating action with results. Gaming breaks down work into small, short-term tasks but links it clearly to big-picture evolution. Imagine rewarding prospects for advancing in the application, enrollment and engagement process by providing intrinsic rewards that amplify inherent emotional benefits. This can come in the form of highly personalized career planning tools that bring their story to life through fun interactive elements.

This generation of prospective students has grown up surrounded by gaming culture and it is no surprise that the more interactive and engaging university websites are more effective in captivating their attentions. Teachers have long used games to stimulate creativity and participation in the classroom but technological advances have vastly expanded this potential. Recognizing changing learning styles and education goals can extend to all aspects of a school’s relationship with students. For example, a scavenger hunt game using a location sensing map activated by mobile devices provides a fun way for new students to orient themselves with the campus. Numerous schools allow students to tour campus through a range of interactive tools but why not add some games, surprises, quizzes and other fun elements into this mix?

Example: Western Michigan University created a fully interactive 3D campus tour using video game technology. It features the university’s mascot, Buster Bronco, driving visitors around in a smart golf cart named Goldie, based on the school colours of brown and gold. There is an automated version for non-gamers and a free exploration mode where players can collect 50 Golden Blocks, which provide additional information about the university. An additional full video game builds upon the 3D campus, with players adopting the role of a freshman to take on tasks related to student life, theoretically increasing their chances of succeeding in real life.

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Playing the recruitment game

Recruitment can be leveraged by rewarding referrals and improving the selection process with gamification. Some companies use crowdsourcing and contests to develop business solutions or identify ideal candidates. Others, like Marriott Hotels, use simulation games to show what it’s really like to manage one of its properties, challenging preconceptions in the process to potentially deepen engagement for lead generation or filter out those who are not truly interested. These same principles could apply to a hotel management training program or countless other similar adaptations. The quality of game development may determine how much participants identify with the complexity and personal characteristics involved with the specified career option.

Achievement systems

In video games, an achievement system is a way to add extra challenges and play time with little expense, presenting goals, instruction, status and affirmation, and group identification. Social media gives similar interactive pleasure, with “likes”, points or badges making status visible to all, providing incentive to achieve. The dopamine release in the reward-centre of the brain (at the root of internet, gambling or cocaine addiction) is the same whether the reward is virtual or real.

Example: The Deloitte Leadership Academy encouraged busy executives to take the available training using the Badgeville platform to embed gamification mechanics such as missions, rewards, rank, and status into the entire website. User retention increased by 46.6% for daily user return and 36.3% for weekly return. Engagement and adoption greatly increased overall.

Extending the gamification concept

Many colleges and universities integrate gamification into diverse aspects of their content strategy and development, often without consciously considering the gaming characteristics. The challenge of optimizing engagement with a target market involves creating compelling environments where users will be happy to spend their time. Learners are increasingly demanding information that is also entertaining, which is a natural fit for online and hybrid courses that differentiate offerings based on innovative applications of technology. Gamification elements should blend fluidly with videos, images and other rich content that serves the purpose of increasing the time spent on your online portals, deepening engagement, and converting prospects to students.

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7 TIPS TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESSOF YOUR LEAD GENERATION FORMS

This post is focused on how to create more effective lead generation forms. Lead generation forms appear on custom landing pages but are also embedded within content pages, home pages and contact pages. More and more higher ed institutions are adopting the practice of using them on high level home pages and program specific recruitment pages. This has been a common practice on the for-profit side of higher ed for a long time but now more public institutions are applying them in the very serious business of internal site managed lead production.

Here are a few tips to help you improve the effectiveness of your lead forms:

1. Keep your Forms Simple and Open – One of the simplest rules of good form design is to keep them simple, and let the fields “breathe”. This allows the page visitor to “digest” the page and make an easy choice to engage with it. Here is a good example below. Complex, dynamic, or overdone forms often over-stimulate the visitor and in those few thousands of a second you have their attention, they may choose to move on, simply because it is too complicated to stop and try to figure it out.

2. Keep the Number of Fields Down – The research is pretty clear on this. The fewer fields you ask a prospect to fill in, generally the more leads you will get. But at the same time, the more information you get from a prospect allows you to follow-up more effectively and generally convert at a higher rate. This is the Catch 22 of lead forms that you have to resolve. I say go with as few fields as you can, with name, email and phone number as the key fields. Zip-code is a good fourth to get more location detail without having to ask a prospect for street, city, province/state, country. With the right back end software running you can extract the location details from the postal code/zip. Whether to include phone number can be a difficult call. Having it included in the form can reduce your

conversion rate as much as 5% but conversely, if you can follow-up immediately with a phone call to the prospect, conversion rates to student improves dramatically.

3. Use Value – Based Buttons – The text on the form submit button needs to express what the button will do when it’s clicked. “Get information”, “Book your Visit” , “Get our View Book” are all examples of good value based button text, that provide relevant and non-intimidating outcomes that have value to the prospect. Spend some time thinking about this text, as it has been shown that the default use of “Submit” can reduce your conversion rates by as much as 3%.

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4. Include a Privacy Policy – Always include a statement that tells prospects that their info will be protected. Including a link to your privacy policy is even better. As you know, students are very reluctant these days about providing their true contact info to recruitment offices, so every little bit of trust you can engender helps to engage and draw a prospect into your recruitment funnel.

5. Data Verification - I really don’t like to use Captcha forms to ensure that there are humans at the other end of a lead request. I think they are awkward and rather ugly and the research shows that they can have a negative impact on your conversion rate. If you are having a problem with robots spamming your forms, as I have lately, you have to make the choice between volume of leads vs quality.“Smart” Captcha offers a bit more finesse, appearing only after a second attempt to fill you form coming from the same IP address.

6. Always Position Your Forms Above the Fold – It is always surprising to me when I see lead gen forms below the fold , (the portions of a webpage that are visible without scrolling). If a particular page is the right page for the form then it deserves to be above the fold where it can be seen on first glance, rather than in the middle or bottom of the page, where few visitors ever actually see it.

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7. Test , Test and Test – Lead generation forms are very unpredictable elements with respect to their performance. I would love to be able to say that there are 10 best practices that always work for everyone to improve your form conversions but it just does not work that way. To determine what works best for you, you have to do some real testing. Google Analytics Experiments is a great tool for A/B testing your forms but there are also a number of really great multivariate testing tools available () out there for the more adventurous. You have to learn what works for your programs and then keep testing on an ongoing basis to keep improving your results. Here is an example of two forms that I encountered on the Southern New Hampshire University site while researching this post that are likely part of a multivariate test. In multivariate tests a larger number of elements of the form are interchanged to determine the best mix for optimal conversion rate.

The structure, content and copy of your lead generation forms are critical to your lead generation efforts. Apply the basics first and then expand your knowledge through form testing. These tips can help you to manage the volume, quality and overall ROI of your leads.

Good luck and let us know what you’ve learned from your experience. What approach has worked best on your forms? Do you use any data verification techniques? What is your most effective button copy?

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Prospective students pondering their post-secondary options have a very difficult decision to make. Initial impressions are critical and can make all the difference when choosing between a short list of schools with similar offerings. With an increasingly competitive higher education market comes greater expectations among prospects for quick responses to their inquiries that treat them as valuable and unique. The initiation of contact with a university is the beginning of an opportunity that can be nurtured or squandered. Failure to adequately reply essentially ends an inquiry before it begins.

While most schools have worked hard to develop sophisticated multi-channel marketing campaigns for lead generation, it takes a corresponding lead nurturing strategy to convert those efforts into increased enrollment numbers. Advances in website optimization and social media marketing have exponentially expanded the ability to reach more students, but it is important to recognize that not all leads are created equal. Defining what constitutes a “high quality” lead is explored further in a previous student recruitment blog, but a prospect’s true interest in your school can often be predicted by how they first interacted with you.

1. Define Lead Quality

Efficient recruitment processes consider the costs related to acquiring each student – the number of qualified leads per total expenditure for each marketing channel. Informed prospects who are actively requesting a follow-up from your institution generally warrant a more focused, close-contact response than a list of names purchased from an outside source. Segmenting leads according to their stage of the admissions process is an effective method of reducing conversion time and allows easier tracking of various contact methods.

3 STEPS TO LEAD NURTURINGFOR INCREASED ENROLLMENT

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Example: Chamberlain College of Nursing (awarded with 2013’s “Best Lead Nurturing Program” in The Markies, which honours excellence in marketing) developed a detailed segmentation strategy to deliver the most relevant information to inquiries throughout the decision lifecycle. After segmenting according to inquiry source, degree program, level of engagement and web activity, they implemented four inquiry email programs using a pool of nearly 80 custom and dynamic HTML templates, with an additional appointment handling program and a program focused solely on segmentation.

2. Quick Replies with Auto-Response

When a student inquires about your college, how do you respond? Last summer, Intead conducted a “mystery shopper” experiment whereby an employee posed as a prospective undergraduate from China and requested admissions information from 30 institutions in the U.S., Canada and Australia to gauge the response rate and data provided. While over half the schools replied within 24 hours, 7 schools surprisingly never responded. It is understandable that admissions offices can get overwhelmed by requests but without a functional inquiry response system, institutions risk losing not only the inquiring student but also peers influenced by word of mouth.

Email is the least expensive and easiest form of communication with prospects, and the most efficient responses use tools to automate the process, customizing replies based on segmentation variables. Timeliness should be a top priority in nurturing leads. Auto-response systems that thank the prospect for writing effectively streamline the process until followed up soon after with a personalized email, using the student’s native language and connecting with social channels whenever possible. When a new inquiry is added to the database, an automatic email should welcome the prospective student by name and provide helpful links to encourage further research about the school and its programs. Useful links include an online application (for future reference), an updated FAQ section of the school’s website, financial aid and admission details, and relevant blogs and social media forums.

Example: The University of Cincinnati had the most impressive response in the aforementioned mystery shopper test, replying within 24 hours with a nicely written email, a PDF written in Chinese, a QQ friend request (a common email service provider in China), and an invitation to join the school’s prospective student group on QQ, where current international seniors facilitate discussions. The university uses a student information system with software from Swiftpage to segment collected information and coordinate a response campaign. An inquiry’s expressed interest in the nursing graduate program yields this customized instant response, with a brief overview of the program, informative website links and details about information to be received in the coming weeks.

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3. Drip Marketing Campaign

Drip marketing is a communication strategy to send a series of messages over time, sequenced to guide leads gradually down the enrollment funnel. This identifies the truly interested prospects to focus lead generation efforts, building engagement to a logical conclusion by dripping manageable chunks of content and methods of contact at specified intervals. Drip activity generally starts with a higher frequency and then slows down to once a month until the lead has officially been ruled out.

Identify the type of communication needed for your prospects and the optimal medium of contact by testing various combinations of outreach, considering the return on investment and probability of conversion. Always help prospects understand the next steps in the process by featuring a prominent call to action, with phone numbers and emails available to answer questions. Follow proper delivery and legal practices to ensure your communications bypass SPAM filtering systems. Scheduling which emails, print mail, phone calls and other methods (online open houses, webinars, etc.) are to be integrated into your follow-up campaign is a continuously evolving process made easier with a customer relationship management (CRM) system. “Smart” online application systems can notify counselors when a partially completed application has been abandoned to follow up with prospects. Staying in touch with the ones who got away through e-newsletters or other sporadic communications increases the odds of their enrollment further down the road.

Here is a sample lead cultivation schedule from Hobsons:

Relationship-building communications throughout the entire admissions process ensures prospective students remain engaged and are ultimately more likely to apply and enroll. Analyzing the characteristics of those who do convert will help focus the efforts and budget of your student recruitment program.

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ContentContent marketing has emerged as the most important marketing trend of 2014. Content marketing provides your target audience with valuable information about your institution, drives your website’s search engine rankings, and provides the material for you to distribute to and engage with, your social media audience. More higher ed marketers are developing content strategy and content marketing plans to guide their day to day activities, including tactics like content calendars and mobile specific content.

Persona based content strategy has emerged as the new definition of what was previously called customer centric marketing; building content according to the needs of your target audience personas. Student journey mapping can be used to map a student’s needs across your website and through your recruitment funnel. Storytelling is the new model for communicating with your audience, providing content and marketing prompts to your audience in very personal, human terms. Visual components to this storytelling is critical, through images and video, as visual content is now king.

Content syndication is now a critical step in your overall content strategy. Distributing your content across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Slideshare, Google+ etc delivers your branded content across a wide spectrum of social media, reaching your audience, creating backlinks and a source for high value organic traffic. Marketing automation tools like HubSpot are now emerging as valuable tools for higher ed marketing departments to manage their content and to deliver it to prospective students in a very focused personalized manner.

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Today’s colleges face the mammoth task of differentiating themselves in an increasingly competitive marketplace. It’s a noisy, action-packed space where schools jostle for visibility, forever searching out innovative ways to promote the relevance of their programs and connect with prospective students. And it’s the connecting part that has proven most critical when it comes to generating, engaging and converting new leads. Your school can’t hope to successfully attract new students without a clear understanding of their needs, hopes, objectives, and concerns. Taking the logic a step further, we now seek to understand their habits, building behaviorally targeted content that dynamically responds to – even anticipates – the way leads interact with college web platforms.

BUILDING STUDENT PERSONAS

Website analytics in higher education delivers a wealth of information about visitors. Marketing teams can learn volumes by tracking how leads engage with web pages. But before schools can make changes to content, they must first know who the majority of their visitors are. Which different persona groups do they naturally fall into?

Visitor data like this, arranged into persona groupings helps marketing teams craft content that truly addresses the interests and needs of their most common leads. By analyzing metrics like pages visited, time spent on each page, links clicked, and searches performed, colleges can begin to customize student recruitment messaging with specific behavioral characteristics in mind.

STUDENT PERSONAS & BEHAVIOR-TARGETED CONTENT

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PERSONALIZED CONTENT

So you’ve identified several key personas for your student leads. Now you can leverage this knowledge and make changes to how they experience your website and engage with your content. For example, when the First Time Student group returns to the program description page a second time, they should encounter content designed with their profile in mind. Topics could include:

� prepping for college � selecting a program � living on campus � managing first-year expenses � community orientation events

When the Career Professional group visits your continuing education page again, they will encounter personalized content, such as:

� second career strategies � retraining for a new career � upgrading your professional skill set

And when the International Student group comes back to your English certification page, they will find an alternate CTA (call to action) waiting – perhaps a downloadable brochure detailing your school’s support services for ESL students.

A COLLEGE CASE IN POINT

In collaboration with HubSpot, the Lauterstein-Conway Massage School designed a website homepage that features a prominent CTA:

When targeting analyzed lead behaviors, the college could design this CTA to change, depending on the visitor profile – a financial aid package for students who have searched for funding solutions, or an e-book on re-training strategies for career professionals.

Beginning with a few simple tweaks, your school website evolves into a dynamic, responsive interface. Not only does this approach improve click-through-rates, engagement, and conversion, it provides the much sought-after personalized connection so critical to differentiating your school from its many competitors.

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WHAT’S NEXT: HIGH-TECH TARGETING

Soon, college and university websites will feature alternating homepages and landing pages, customized according to the behavioral profiles of visiting leads. Marketers will craft content strategies for schools that respond to specific search engine key terms, sending visitors directly to the educational resources they’re likely to find most appealing. Bucknell University heralds this evolution with their customizable homepage. It doesn’t morph on its own in response to visitor personas, but it allows students to optimize its contents to their liking – and that’s a sign of things to come:

Admissions departments will continue to identify lead behavioral personas, breaking them down into increasingly specific subdivisions. Right now, Facebook creates profiles for advertising based on 11 identifying factors – from relationship status and ethnic affinity to purchasing habits. And each factor subdivides into countless more. Purchasing habits alone breaks down into 14 different behavior types!

Colleges will follow suit, striving to learn more about their leads, long before they actually visit their web platforms. Analytics will reveal the web journey of each prospective student, letting marketers know precisely what content to serve. Digital marketing trends point to a not-so-distant-future where no two leads see the same website. Everything is personalized. Everything is targeted toward amazingly detailed student personas.

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College and university web marketers understand that they have to publish high quality, relevant and original content for their sites to rank highly. They also know that they have to build a strong social media presence that communicates their brand and draws their target audience(s) closer into their institution’s sphere of influence. The piece that many people do not fully understand is how closely related these three elements of digital marketing really are.

Content, Social Media, and SEO, or the digital trinity, as I like to refer to them, are intimately related and highly codependent. If at your institution, you separate them operationally, it’s time to step back, rethink how they work together and retool your approach. Hopefully, this post can help you to see a way to do that.

This post offers a case study on how to build content, distribute it across social media and to build SEO rankings, as one process. We’ve talked about an approach for how to do this in past posts. In this case study, I’ll walk through a example from HEM’s files, step by step, to simplify some of the complexity of their interrelationship and to provide some tangible examples that you can really get your teeth into.

So let’s begin by establishing the importance of our weekly blog to all of our content sharing strategy. We believe very strongly that you should use your blog as the anchor for most of your site’s original content and then leverage it from there. With that in mind, let’s get started.

1) Your business objectives, customer personas and sales stages should drive your content

So what will we write about this week? If you’re asking yourself this question, you probably have not taken all the right preliminary steps. You need to break down your priority business objectives, your marketing objectives , your content strategy, your main visitor personas, and the stages in your “sales” funnel, (or it might be a recruitment funnel, a donor funnel, or an event registration funnel), and identify the topics that address the needs of these individuals and then write about them. Once you have your list, calendarize it and voila, you have an editorial schedule. I know this is easier said than done but if you drive your content out of these requirements, you will have taken the first and most important steps in aligning your original content with your SEO objectives.

In this case study, the business/marketing/content/sales goal we were focused on was to try to grow our base of customers for HEM’s SEO services. Having checked Google Analytics for our past blog posts results, it showed that we’d had good traction with general content pieces providing general SEO education.

So here’s the blog post we wrote.

This post was targeting marketing managers, directors and VPs at colleges and universities who

HOW TO LEVERAGE ORIGINAL CONTENT: A CASE STUDY ABOUT CONTENT, SOCIAL MEDIA & SEO IN HIGHER ED

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know that SEO is important for their success but didn’t really know much more about the details of it. We were writing for marketers who were “early in the sales funnel”, at an “information gathering” or “educational“ stage. Sort of similar to a typical prospective student, who knows they want to attend college, but have not gone any further than that to learn about their options with any particular schools.

2) Write for your audience, then optimize for SEO

I researched and then wrote the post with the audience in mind, without really concentrating too much on SEO keywords. I think that’s generally the best way to create good content. At this stage, I focus on the customer, and their needs, certainly not on the search engine spiders. Once the writing is done it is moved over into WordPress, polished and optimized there. I then made sure I had all the main keyword I needed covered, used good H1 headings, optimized the images, and added links and blog categories, etc., so that once completed, its’ on-page SEO was in pretty good shape.

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3) Publish, curate, syndicate and bookmark your content on Social Media

With the blog published on the website it was now time to leverage this content across our social media channels. The image below summarizes our approach of how we do that. Most importantly, whether a tweet, an image on Pinterest or a video summary of the blog post on YouTube, always link back to the original post on your blog.

So let’s look at some of our real examples.

Here’s the original tweet we sent out to announce the original blog post. Our practice is to send out a tweet, in slightly modified form, 2 or 3 more times in the first week, scheduling it at different times during the day for maximum exposure.

Here’s the original Facebook post announcing the post. It includes a brief intro, image, and then links back to the original blog post on the HEM website.

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A similar but again, slightly different intro, image and link was posted to LinkedIn.

Before we look at curation or syndication of the post, let’s jump forward to January 2014, when, 11 months after the blog was originally published, we reimagined the original content into an infographic. Reimagining your content into new forms is a critical step in leveraging the work you have done into a new form that will reach new and different people, adding new inbound links and eventually increasing your SEO rankings.

To announce the release of the infographic, a second blog post was issued, including a brief introduction to the content and the infographic, as follows.

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Similar to the release of the original blog post, notice of the infographic was tweeted out to our followers, three more times in total, at different times, on different days. Note, different hashtags are used in this tweet, varying its distribution and exposure from the earlier version.

We also used LinkedIn to distribute a notice of the infographic based post. Note the clicks, interaction and engagement stats provided by LinkedIn right in the page to help you track and gauge your contents impact in this channel.

Slide share is another great platform upon which to re-imagine your content, and to reach another new audience. With a minimal amount of extra work, we migrated our content into a PowerPoint format and redistributed it across this channel. Note on the right side of the image below, is a list of HEM posts that are now available in short PowerPoint slide formats on Slideshare. The infographic was posted to Slideshare as a single image format.

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Next we used Scoop.it and Pinterest to further distribute the infographic version of the content. Social bookmarking sites were also added to create additional links back to the original content.

So to recap, our original post, or reference to it, appeared at least 8 times across 4 channels. The content was then reformatted as an infographic, syndicated on Slideshare, Pinterest and Scoop.it and referenced again a number of times on Twitter, Facebook and Linked. Using this approach we have facilitated at least 20 web references to this content.

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4) Track the visitor traffic impact of your content in Google Analytics and Webmaster tools.

That all sounds great but the more important question is what level of visitor traffic with real results did all of this activity generate? Let’s look at the organic traffic first.

Here’s the traffic generated by the original post:

Here is the traffic generated by the second post, promoting the info graphic:

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Interestingly enough, the infographic received substantially more interest than the original post. This is likely due a couple of factors, including, 1) our curation and syndication process has been refined since the release of the original blog post and has helped us expand our reach, and 2) infographics really do appeal to many people, providing a simple and quick way to garner useful insights. We are continuing to experiment with infographics for our audience to determine if there is a growing preference for this format. Also note the bump in traffic in the original post in January 2014, due to the release of the infographic.

Visits to the infographic page on the website, directly attributed to social media channels, can be seen in the Google Analytics Social Referrals report below. As you can see, total visits from social referrals is quite low, only about 4% of all visits.

This very low level of traffic generated by our efforts in social media is a fairly common result in our experience. Conversion events associated with social referrers are similarly rare.

So where is the ROI on this activity, if it is not coming from visitors from social media?.

5) Content + Social Media = SEO Rankings

Take a look at the Webmaster Tools report below to review the inbound links that have developed into the infographic blog page. The WordPress links are internal to our website so they should be ignored. The remainder are true external inbound links. These are the golden nuggets of ROI that our content production and social media efforts have produced.

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As added proof, below are the search engine results page for the keyword phrase “invest in SEO college”. In fact, ”invest in seo” combined with a number of our other common higher ed keywords will produce a similar result. Yes, these combinations are “mid to long-tail” but if we remind ourselves of our content’s original objectives of reaching marketing managers searching for general info about SEO, I think we have done pretty well.

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So to summarize, we produced the following outcomes associated with the original blog post:

� The original blog post � A follow up blog post containing the infographic version � At least 6 tweets � 2 Facebook posts � 2 LinkedIn posts � 1 Slideshare post � 1 Scoopit post � 2 Pearltrees links � 760 Unique visitors � 66 social referrals � 109 links from 16 domains to the infographic blog post � Multiple page one search engine results on related keyword phrases � At least 25 substantive interactions with readers across the blogs and social media posts

As you can see the combined effect of good solid content, and the effective use of social media to share it, can produce many desirable results, including increased traffic, links, visitor interaction, and a helpful lift in your organic page rankings. Your original content will be clearly quite different than ours but if you follow this process you will get results. The relationship between content, social media and SEO is complex but as seen in our example, can be navigated and leveraged to produce the marketing ROI we all need to successfully promote and grow our businesses.

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Branding & WebsitesThe most noticeable trend in higher ed website design in this last year has been the emergence of the full screen image home page. Although not original to higher ed, this approach has been commandeered by it and seems to be the preferred look and feel for many if not most college website redesigns. It’s popularity lies in the ability to strongly establish a sense of place, something critical to an institution with the brand, history and gravitas of a post-secondary educational institution. In conjunction with large image backgrounds, minimalist flat page design has grown in popularity, solving some design issues for responsive design and focusing navigation completely on content. Mobile first design has continued as an effective strategy to allow web designers to build common look and user experience across mobile and desktop design. Microsite popularity continues to grow as institution’s use them to feature unique parts of their institutions in unique ways.

Branding trends in higher ed continue to follow those in the general commercial marketplace as they tend to be driven by the approach of larger agencies with business ties across many industries. The emphasis on “emotional” branding is seen in many website redesigns as designers and marketers attempt to connect with their audiences at this most human level. Generally flat marketing budgets across higher ed continues to put pressure on marketers to do more with less, with large scale rebranding and redesign efforts facing tight limits on budgets and very competitive RFP processes.

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TV advertising has a long-standing tradition in the higher education marketing space. Higher ed ads have evolved a lot over the years from being more branding oriented to the much more lead generation, direct response type, that we see today. The high end branding campaign commercial is still very much in vogue, as seen in this example from University of Michigan, which won a 2013 gold medal from EduAdAwards. Branding ads typically target individuals at the very top of the recruitment funnel, using inspirational and promotional content to invoke a strong positive impression towards the institution.

Although certainly not afraid to pull on the heartstrings, the for-profit college market has pioneered and developed more aggressive, direct response oriented, “get off the couch and call” type ads. These ads typically emphasize career and job prospects, playing a critical lead generation role in their institution’s marketing efforts. This example below, from Apollo owned Carrington College, also won a gold medal from the 2013 EduAdAwards, and nicely addresses both branding and direct response objectives.

In recent years the rise of digital video has stirred the mix of this landscape even more, enabling higher ed marketers to get into high quality ad production at very reasonable costs. The $200,000 ad agency created TV ad are still being made but freelance production costs have dramatically dropped budgets to as low as the $25-50,000 range for solid commercial work. The rise of content marketing, as in video content, has also expanded the range of work produced by institutions internally, from student video blogging to high end in-house video production of promotional, campus sports and other events.

SO HOW DOES THE TRADITIONAL TV SPOT FIT INTO TODAY’SRECRUITMENT PRACTICES & NORMS?

Let’s start with an overview of all advertising dollars spent. The chart below provides an summary of higher ed marketing dollars spent in 2013 in the US. (Unfortunately PPC marketing is not included in these stats, so that skews thing a bit but even when factored in, TV advertising remains a very popular advertising strategy.) In this analysis, TV and Cable TV advertising makes up a total of 42% of total spend. Marketers clearly remain in support of TV advertising as a preferred tactic to reach their marketing goals.

Source: Educational Marketing Group

TV ADVERTISING FOR BRANDING & LEADGENERATION IN COLLEGE RECRUITMENT

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WHAT ARE STUDENT’S PERCEPTIONS OF TV ADS, AS A CHANNEL TO REACH THEM?

In 2012, a Barnes and Noble College Marketing Group survey of students reported that their research indicated TV commercials were a very effective means to reach college students. Barnes and Noble marketing is different from your school’s recruitment marketing but it is a close cousin, with the same target audience, so this does give us some insight.

Source: Barnes & Noble College Marketing Group

But we need to be careful with these assumptions as the effectiveness of TV will change as you break down your audience into more discreet segments. As seen in the table below, these surveyed Masters level students, see local TV advertising as the least effective of all marketing tactics and strategy. Interestingly enough, 43% of the institutions surveyed in the category responded that they were running TV ads. This is a pretty big disconnect so if you are a Masters level program marketer you might want to look closer into the effectiveness of your ads.

Source: Noel Levitz

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I suspect career college students would respond quite differently if asked the same questions but I don’t have that conclusion backed up with any specific data.

HOW IS TV ADVERTISING REGARDED FOR GENERAL EFFECTIVENESS BY HIGHER ED MARKETERS?

In 2013, Noel Levitz surveyed and reported on the importance of TV advertising in higher ed marketing. At that time, both private and public 4 year institutions ranked television ads as 37th of 53 tactics, in their usage and effectiveness of the tactic. Two year public institution’s ranked them much higher at 9th of 50. I would suggest that this implies that TV is more effective for very targeted marketing in local catchment areas by more locally focused 2 year colleges. This makes sense to me given the typical targeting and reach of TV ads. Unfortunately in their 2014 follow-up report, Noel Levitz focuses more on E-recruitment. The efficacy of TV advertising did not make it into their survey report so we can’t compare.

Tracking of offline marketing activity like TV advertising can be done effectively, in a number of ways, using analytics. Approaches include:

� Setting up a vanity URL specifically for your TV ad campaign, publishing it prominently within the ad to drive interested visitors to that site, and then tracking it in a Google Analytics account.

� Use a custom URL, sub-domain or landing page similarly to above � Include a promo code in the ad and then ask visitors for it on your home page, linking to an

exclusive landing page � Assign a unique 800 number to your TV ad and track it with Call tracking software. � Conduct simple before and after analysis on your TV landing pages, identifying traffic and

conversion activity above your baseline during TV ad campaign periods

Regardless of which method is used, be sure to think your ad tracking approach through carefully so that your traffic, conversion and ROI results can be determined and used to inform your future TV advertising activities.

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6 WAYS TO GET BETTER CONVERSIONRESULTS FROM YOUR HIGHER ED WEBSITE

Each page on your higher ed website has a job to do. I think we can also all agree that they can always improve. Here are six ways to accomplish that and get better conversion results.

1. Know what you want your site to do.

Do you know what your website’s goals are? This seems like a pretty obvious question but many institutions have not done the hard work to carefully define their site’s objectives. Many institutions too easily slip into the old-school thinking that the website is simply a brochure for their college, and don’t carefully work out their marketing objectives. The reality is that your website is your most critical public facing communications tool that must serve multiple roles and deliver multiple outcomes from multiple types of visitors. Your website forms the

foundation of your relationship with all of those visitors, be they prospective students, alumni or staff. So if you have not carefully defined your goals, take some time upfront before you launch into trying to improve page or conversion performance. It will save you tons of time and give you a much more valuable end result.

2. Get feedback on the site you have.

It always surprises me how little time webmasters and web marketers spend gathering feedback on their own websites. There are really great resources sitting in offices all around you on campus who can provide really helpful insight into the effectiveness of your website. Talk to marketing staff, admissions counsellors, departmental chairs, international recruiters. Step into your students’ shoes and ask them what problems they run into to get what they want, to download stuff, or to register in a survey or free lunch for feedback session. Spend some quality time talking with your users and you will learn a lot. Once you have gathered this qualitative feedback, then do a technical audit vs your main competitors and dig into the numbers. Particularly focus on your visitor acquisition channels to boost the performance of your high traffic an high value conversion events. Google analytics is your friend so be sure to take advantage of funnel flow and visitor page maps. And if you have a bit of budget tucked away somewhere for a rainy day your might use it to try out heat maps. They are very insightful into your visitor’s reactions to your pages at a very instinctive, primal level.

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3. Know when, and what to ask, to get what you want.

Every page on your site should have an objective, (or two), (but not seven), so keep it simple and focus on your best value proposition, page by page. Conversion events like request info forms, downloads, videos, call to action buttons need to be driven by your related content. For example don’t ask for too much information; that’s a classic conversion killer. If the conversion event is an info package, ask for a name and email address. If you ask for a phone number and home address you may have gone too far and significantly reduced your conversion rate. Keep the relative value of the conversion equal to the info required to get it. Gary Vaynerchuk , of Vayner Media has a great approach to this in his book on effective social media, summed up as, “give, give, give, ask”. Give people lots of relevant, high value information, and then and only then, can you ask them for something back. Think about every page, as a landing page, getting your links, calls to action and forms correct and limiting visitor leakage by minimizing the number of possible exit links a visitor is exposed to.

4. Track it!

As they say if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it. If “it” is a conversion, of course you need to set it up in Google analytics as a goal, with a goal value, and possibly with a goal funnel. Be sure to always add goal dollar value. Even though it is an arbitrary number that you assign, based on your knowledge of your business, it is the best way to measure impact of your goals. Total conversions numbers, % increases etc are all very nice but what you want here is to see real impact on your business and dollars are the best way to do that. If you are new to google analytics then you should also learn about how to tag other kinds of events with the Google URL builder so that you can track events outside of your normal page flow and bring their results into sight within Google Analytics.

5. Test it!

The statistics are very clear that if you adopt a testing mentality and conduct testing on your pages that your results will improve. Conversion improvements will come in two forms. Firstly, you will get a lift in conversions on a page that you have improved, having applied some logical testing hypothesis to it. I believe you will get an even bigger lift from the deeper insights that you will gain about your

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visitor behavior and about what works for your school. A/B and Multivariate testing will teach you things about how to better connect to your audience that you can get in no other way. In my experience, A/B testing was a huge eye opener; I have learned about what works, and what does not work in specific situations but more importantly I have learned to be very humble about my opinions on what works. Testing will knock you down a few pegs and then build you up again with new insight and skills that you can get no other way.

If you would like to test your own conversion skills go to this link and test yourself to see just how good you really are in judging what improves conversion. Test your conversion skills at conversionskills.com. Then go back to your website and apply what you’ve learned.

6. Say Thanks

It seems a bit redundant to point out to say thanks but so many websites do this badly or not at all. A thank you page is a really critical piece for your analytics, as this page view is what is tracked to indicate a conversion. But equally or more important is to take the opportunity to further the relationship that you have begun to build with this visitor with a simple thank you. They also buffer the visitor against “buyer’s remorse” about revealing their interest in your programs to your admissions department. Thank you pages are also excellent opportunities to give the visitor more value i.e. another link or download a pdf, that takes them further down the path towards registration.

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15 WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR HIGHERED WEBSITE BOUNCE RATES

In last weeks’ post “Bounce Rates in Higher Ed: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” we defined bounces and bounce rates, explored the statistics on bounce rate in general and in higher ed specifically. This week’s post is a little more practical and applied in nature. We’ll review the kinds of things you need to consider to reduce the immediate loss of visitors on your high bounce pages (or web site sections) and increase student engagement, lead generation and registration opportunity for your institution.

Strategies to reduce bounce rate break down into three general categories: page content, page design, and related technical elements. Most can be applied at any level, (page, section or site wide), so remember it’s up to you to determine at which level the bounce problem lies and then to apply the most appropriate tactics to address the problem. This list is more directed at improving general web pages vs highly focused landing pages. For more information about how to reduce bounce and increase conversion rate of lead generation or registration funnel pages see other posts about conversion rate optimization (CRO) and landing page optimization.

Because this list covers so much ground I have kept it in point form to try and keep the information as accessible as possible. Hope this helps

Page Content

1. Produce High Quality Content � Nothing beats interesting, relevant, current, visually stimulating content. � Keep you content up to date, � Make sure it is at the right reading level � Split up your content into digestible chunks that people can scan and then dig into

2. Offer Content Based on Visitor Segmentation � Break down you audience into their respective segments and provide the content each wants � Study the keywords visitors use to find you with. Some bounce higher than others. Find out why. � Analyze your internal site search to identify what people are most often looking for on your site � Consider your visitors points of entry to reveal what they are looking for and give it to them

3. Make it Clear What’s in it for your Visitor � Make your messaging really obvious, be clear what you do and what you offer � The features of your programs are great but visitors are more interested in the benefits.

Convey value. � Make related content accessible. Proximity of the link will determine the click-through � Make your website sticky

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4. Be Trustworthy and Professional, � Trust is required for a visitor to engage with you and enter your recruitment funnel. Earn it. � Always keep your contact info front and centre. It is amazing how many don’t.

Page Design

5. Correct Poor Page Design � This is a pretty obvious recommendation but don’t take it for granted. Many pages flow out of

you general design, get tweaked, get repurposed, get lost and lose their ability to engage or convert.

6. Make Pages Visually Engaging � Visual engagement is the first hook that draws visitors into your content. Use eye-tracking,

check In-page Analytics etc. to understand a student’s first reaction to your pages � Be predictable in your design, using consistent placement and formatting so that the visitor

quickly learns where to find things � Whitespace is a good thing, use it often

7. Don’t Interrupt the User’s Experience � Develop intuitive navigation so the student can see their way into your content � Take people where they want to go � Manage multimedia very carefully – some is good at engaging, some makes people bounce � Many institutions use a lot of internal “advertising”. Be careful of it’s placement and page

priority as it can be just as off-putting as a telemarketing on a Sunday afternoon.

8. Design Information around Page Priorities � Are your target conversion or content points clearly presented on your page? � Can students immediately get a sense of what they should expect to find or are expected to

do while on the page? � Respect visitor intent by making sure the page you are presenting to visitors aligns closely with

the content promised from the source link � Make conversion events (ie calls to action, forms, key related links) very clear. Place them

above the fold

9. Go responsive web design or create a parallel mobile website � People searching for information about your college on a mobile device need to see a page

that is sized to the format of their device. Full web pages served to a smart phone will almost always bounce.

� Successful student engagement through mobile pages has different rules than for traditional desktop pages. Take a minimalist approach and then learn through experimentation what will work best for your institutions offerings.

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Technical Elements

10. Improve Page Load Times for high bounce pages � Optimize content, images, multimedia etc to minimize your page load times

11. Check Browser Performance for high bounce pages � It’s always possible that something in your code is not working for one specific browser, and

the page is not loading in that browser. This is a surefire way to cause visitors to bounce.

12. Open External links in new Windows � A good example here would be in a univerity’s student ambassador blog. That link they embed

in their story will lead the visitor away, often with no way to return if a new window is not opened for the outsid link.

13. Create Unique Titles and Meta Descriptions for each Page.

14. Have a helpful, funny 404 message � If someone tries to enter your site and gets a 404 “page not found “message you must have a

engaging response if you hope to keep the student on you site. It is also a great place to have a little fun and show some personality

A Note on A/B Testing

15. A/B Test your Pages � I am a huge advocate of A/B testing. To really drill down at the page level and determine what

is causing your bounce problems and what will fix them, you need to start working with the A/B testing module called “Experiments” in Google Analytics. This is particularly useful for landing pages but remember that, in fact, every one of the pages on your website is a landing page, regardless if it is a visitor being brought to that page from a long-tail Google search or a deep link from a referring site.

I do hope this shopping list of strategy and tactics will help you identify and correct bounce rate problems in your college and university website. Please remember that bounce is relative and you need to look at in context of your site objectives and “goals”. We would love to hear about your experiences managing bounce rate for your institution’s site and the tactics you have used most effectively control this element.

Documents

REVIEWING 2014 TRENDS TO JUMP START 2015 Date of first visit: Segment your visitors by when they first interacted with your school’s website. Traffic Source: Filter your visitors