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Facebook has been the go-to platform for institutions to connect with prospective students. Let's not kid ourselves, though; HigherEd is full of control freaks. And Facebook is out of our control. Via a coordinated content strategy across Facebook and other social platforms, there is room for a college-owned, private social network within your digital strategy. With the ability to more closely control the experience, you can better align with institutional brand, more directly tie to programmatic, business unit goals and more intimately understand your users' personal interests. But a private social network should not stand on its own. This presentation will showcase the success of past private social networks and focus on the challenges and opportunities seen within a private social network for applicants created at Babson College. As result, you will walk away with the motivation to coordinate a digital marketing strategy across multiple social platforms with intentional, distinct goals and purpose for each platform.
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It's Not All About Facebook: Define Your Own Private Community
#notyourFacebook
Gene BeginDigital Marketing Director@gbegin
Vanessa TheoharisDigital Marketing & Community Manager
@VanessaTSmiles
#notyourFacebook University Private Social Networks Case Study:
Babson College Define You Outcomes and Learnings Questions
TIMELINE
1.15 Billion Users
699 Million Daily Active Users
Average 20 minutes spent per visit
$5.09 Billion in 2012 Revenue
THE ALMIGHTY FACEBOOK
94% of Teens Use Facebook (Pew, 2012)
As of July 2013
Facebook is still the most important social network for teens…
33% of 5,200 teens surveyed in Spring 2013
BUT…Down 9% since Fall 2012
In Facebook’s Words…“We believe that some of our users,
particularly our younger users, are aware of and actively engaging with other
products and services similar to, or as a substitute for, Facebook.”
(Facebook 10-K, February 2013)
YET NOT SO ALMIGHTY…
2013 E-Expectations ReportWhile 67% of the surveyed students had visited a school Facebook page in 2012, the proportion fell down to 35% in 2013.
Teens beginning to value and prefer smaller, more intimate, more targeted, and more purposeful social websites.
THE SELFIE GENERATION
You may think it’s yours. But it’s not. Limited to no control Pay to play
Advertising News feed visibility (15-20% of fans)
80% of fans are current customers Advocacy and community-building Enrollment marketing content therefore
not a focus 80-96% of fans don’t go back to a
brand’s Facebook page after initial engagement
IT’S NOT YOUR FACEBOOK
PROS Control Design Data integration Personalized content
CONS Yet another profile Yet another network Marketing communications plan
absolutely necessary
PRIVATE SOCIAL NETWORK?75% of prospective college students think schools should provide a
private community for incoming students. (2013 E-Expectations)
INSTITUTIONAL BRAND CAMPAIGNCase Study: Babson College
Small, private business college 14 miles west of Boston #1 in entrepreneurship for 20 and 16 consecutive years (graduate and undergraduate) Approximately 2000 undergraduate and 1300 graduate students, representing more than 74 countries
Undergraduate program (top 25 in business) Graduate program - MBA and MS degrees (top 40 in business) Executive education program (top 10 U.S. and top 15 in the world for custom programs) Babson Global, which works with corporate, university, government, and foundation partners to advance
entrepreneurship education and Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® worldwide
BABSON COLLEGE
BABSON CONSTITUENCY JOURNEY
INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGY = CONTENT STRATEGY
In doing so: Augment pride and
engage our community. Expand Babson’s
application base, in turn expanding and enhancingour student / alumni base.
Generate more corporaterelationships.
Create greater attention with academic institutions,foundations and grants organizations, and the policy community.
Increase brand awareness, engagement, and adoption for Babson, as the educator for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds™.
BRAND CAMPAIGN GOAL & OBJECTIVES
Context video Definition submission Data capture (name, email, country, zip,
occupation) Interactive search elements Liking Sharing
ENGAGEMENT HUB / define.babson.edu
EXTEND TO OTHER INSTITUTIONAL GOALS / definesocial.babson.edu
ADMISSION ENROLLMENT CYCLEIntegrated Digital Content Strategy
1) Build connections, networks, and relationships between applicants.
2) Increase yield of applicant to deposit.
3) Protect against summer melt.
ADMISSION OBJECTIVES
PRINT VERSION ONLINE VERSION
FROM CONSIDER TO BUY
www
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORMS
90% of seniors and juniors have visited a college website within the past 30 days.
Awareness Inquire Apply Enroll
Facebook (Main College Acct)
WWW
Babson Blogs
Admission Facebook, Twitter & Instagram Accounts
Define You Student Magazine
Babson Portal
Facebook Class of 2017
PRIVATE SOCIAL NETWORK
ENROLLMENT MARKETING DECISION JOURNEY
DEFINE YOU APPLICANT SITEPRIVATE SOCIAL NETWORK FOR UNDERGRADUATE APPLICANTS
DEFINE YOU APPLICANT SITE
FEATURES
WHAT DID WE LEARNResults, Outcomes, Learnings
OUTCOMES / SITE TRAFFIC
1,032 people visited this site (17% of applicants) 78% Returning Visitors 12 minute average visit duration 7 pages per visit January 30, 2013 – Most Popular Day
Email communication to applicants »
Data is from September 1, 2012 – July 1, 2013
OUTCOMES / INDIVIDUALS
Define You: 148 Profiles Created 15% of site visitors 46% female (47% of the incoming class is female) 67 Admitted (45% of profiles – overall yield is 28%)
31 Deposits (2 from waitlist) 49% Deposit rate (overall deposit rate is 30%)
50 Denied 31 Waitlisted
Data is from September 1, 2012 – July 1, 2013
Inigral School App Yield & Retention Data
OUTCOMES / USER PATHS & INTERESTS
1. Navigating through page results (pages 2 and 3)2. Hellos (viewing their profile comments)3. Profiles by Regions:
North America Region Asian Region
4. About Babson (within define.babson.edu)5. Define Entrepreneurship6. Define Social7. www.babson.edu8. Profiles from China
COMMON WORDS USEDBusiness
Years School
Friends /FamilyWorld
MOST POPULAR INTERESTSActivities and Interests
EntrepreneurshipAthletics and Recreation
Social ImpactEducation Abroad
Focus group with 18 admitted students Private social network would have been more widely used if integrated
into existing platforms Portal project with IT
Online viewbook site & student magazine was considered part of WWW Integrate subsite with WWW
Did not use Facebook Class of 2017 page until accepted / deposited
Loved seeing photos on Facebook
OUTCOMES / QUALITATIVE
Awareness Inquire Apply Enroll
Facebook (Main College Acct)
WWW
Babson Blogs
Admission Facebook, Twitter & Instagram Accounts
Define You Student Magazine
Babson Portal
Facebook Class of 2017
Define You Applicant Site
ENROLLMENT MARKETING DECISION JOURNEY
Awareness Inquire Apply Enroll
Facebook (Main College Acct)
WWW
Babson Blogs
Admission Twitter & Instagram
Babson Portal
Facebook Class of 2018
ENROLLMENT MARKETING DECISION JOURNEY
Integrate Online Viewbook / Student Magazine content into WWW Admission Integrate Applicant Site social networking functionality into existing IT Portal Remove Facebook Admission Page
Facebook is necessary; can’t be everything Social strategy should include your owned platforms Align social strategy with audience behavior and expectations along
the enrollment cycle Speak to institutional brand strategy to maintain life cycle messaging
TAKEAWAYS
Gene BeginDigital Marketing Director@gbegin
Vanessa TheoharisDigital Marketing & Community Manager
@VanessaTSmiles
