Engage in a discussion about how leading institutions are applying social technologies to attract new students, engage and retain their existing student population, and inspire and re-connect with alumni.

1. Social Strategies for Successful Student
Engagement
James Davidson
VP Digital and Community Strategy
7Summits
@jdavidson | #hesummit

2. “A new class of company is emerging – one that
uses collaborative technologies intensively to
connect the internal efforts of employees and to
extend the organization’s reach to customers,
partners and suppliers....”
Social Media is Disrupting Business
McKinsey Global Institute
“The Social Economy: Unlocking value and productivity through Social Technologies” July 2012

3. Where Value is being Created

4. Today’s agenda
• Introduction
• Social Business and Community Concepts
• Group Brainstorming
• Wrap Up
First Last Name
Title

5. Introduction

6. 7Summits At A Glance
COMPREHENSIVE CAPABILITIESSOCIAL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
EXTERNAL AND INSIDETHE ENTERPRISE
INDUSTRY FOCUS

7. Select Education Clients

8. Social Business and
Community Concepts

9. From:
• Hoarding
Informa-on
• Web
Sites/Portals
• Management
• Email
/
Newsle;ers
• CRM
• Baby
Boomers
• User
Interfaces
• Noise
• Desktop
To:
• Informa-on
Sharing
• Integrated
Social
Sites
• Engagement
• Collabora-on
• Social
CRM
+
Communi-es
• Gen
X
/
Millennials
• User
Experience
• Insights
• Mobile
/
Access
Anywhere
The biggest from to shift in a generation
Re-shaping the way you engage students, faculty, staff and partners

10. • Social media is the default state 1
• Rely on user-generated content to
make life decisions 1
• They absorb and manage
information differently than other
generations1
• Universities that create their own
open communities have a much
greater degree of credibility 2
Millennials / GenX Insights
Sources: 1Bazaarvoice. 2 Onlinecolleges.net

11. Higher Education Trends
Recruitment / Admissions
• A typical prospective student
now receives 12-18 emails
from 2-4 year public/
private institutions. 1
• CRM is a top priority for
4-year public/private
schools1
• 75-90% of 2-4 year
institutions spend less than
25k annually on their
institutions website1
Student Success / Faculty
• 4-year universities are
experiencing very high
attrition — up to 50% in
some cases. 2
• Higher Ed IT is seeking
to consolidate platforms
(Intranet, websites, portals,
etc). 2
• Classroom delivery models
are shifting to incorporate
more online/digital
Alumni / Advancement Mgt
• Use of accurate data to
drive alumni outreach
strategies is one of the
biggest needs to improving
Alumni Relations 3
• Alumni Relations frequently
find themselves without
the support, resources or
staff needed to perform
effectively 4
Sources: Noel Levitz 1 ACT 2 Hartford 3 Council for Aid to Education 4

12. Communications Misaligned
Prospects
/
Students
/
Alumni
E-­‐mail
Print
Phone
Social
Media
Mobile
Communica=on
Channels
Academic
Ins=tu=on
Decrease
in
effec-veness

13. The Gap and Opportunity
Online
Community
Opportunity?
Facebook LinkedIn
Student lifecycle continuum
Prospective Student Qualified Prospect Accepted Student Enrolled Student Graduate Alumni
Personally Social Professionally SocialAcademically Social

14. Online Communities 101
Social Networks vs. Online Communities
The
primary
purpose
of
social
networks
&
online
communi-es
is
different
Social
Network
Online
Community
Business
Objectives
Primary Purpose
Relationships
E.g.
Facebook
E.g.
Rate
My
Professor

15. Key Community Elements
Philosophy: “Bottom Up” vs. “Top Down”
Profiles: managing identities
(organizational and individual)
Relationships: following/
connecting with others
Presence: knowing when
others are available
Reputation: identifying experts
and advocates
Curated: administratively
controlled content libraries,
reference materials
User-Generated: organically
created content; appropriate for
more dynamic behaviors
Collaborative: collaboration
around specific cases /
initiatives
• Content types:
• Discussions, Documents,
Polls, Ideas, Cases, Files
• Web 2.0/3.0 Effects:
• Comments, Sharing,
Thanking, Liking, Tagging,
Rating, etc.
X
People Places Content

16. To Drive Student Loyalty
• Call deflection and reduce call center costs
• Students support each other
• Help students / staff find answers
• Create a feedback loop
To Drive Productivity and Performance
• Increase transparency
• Streamline communication
• Improve collaboration
• Find talent and expertise
• Enable knowledge sharing
• Reduce emails / unnecessary meetings
To Amplify Brand Message
• Enhance advocacy
• Enhance marketing channels
• Targeted campaigns
• Launch new degree programs
To Deepen Relationships
• Nurture competitive intelligence
• Admissions enablement
• Engage customers in curriculum development
• Enable institutional programs
Institutions are adopting online communities across the
institution to achieve measureable business results…

17. Common Use Cases for Online Communities
Collaborate on
documents/initiatives
Stay informed –
relevant campus
news and updates
Make connections with
content and peers
Share and
discuss
Tap into collective experience of
the students and faculty (Q&A)
Generate and exchange ideas
ENGAGE
CONNECT
SHARE
Find and connect with faculty
and student - perspectives
and content

18. Online Community Case Studies
18
Student lifecycle continuum
Admission Community Student Support Community Learning Enablement Community Alumni Community

20. Admissions Community Demo
Video
URL:
h;ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANJ4ZjuEUhU

21. Business Value & Results
SOURCE:
Jive
customer
survey,
(November
2012)
30%
Admissions
team
produc=vity
Admission
counselors
spent
less
=me
chasing
the
student
and
more
=me
interac=ng
with
them
increasing
produc=vity
30%.
Deposit
Melt
Overall
accepted
student
summer
melt
decreased
by
5%
5%
Electrical
engineering
saw
almost
double
enrollment
2X
Enrollment
Numbers
Outbound
Call
volume
Admission
counselors
reduced
outbound
calls
by
66%
freeing
up
=me
to
interact
with
prospec=ve
students
in
community.
66%
Reached
‘13
applica=on
goal
nine
months
early
and
acceptance
goal
five
months
early.
7000+
registered
members
and
growing!
Applica=on
and
acceptance
goal
Applica=on
turnaround
=me
Admission
counselors
spent
less
=me
chasing
documents
down.
We
went
from
months
to
weeks!
Reten=on
rate
from
accepted
to
deposit
jumped
from
30%
to
38%
in
one
year
Accepted
to
Deposit
8%

22. Representative Business Value for Online Communities
Online
Community
Opportunity?
Facebook LinkedIn
Student lifecycle continuum
Prospective Student Qualified Prospect Accepted Student Enrolled Student Graduate Alumni
Personally Social Professionally SocialAcademically Social
Admissions
• Increase qualified students
• Reduce traditional media spend
• Enhance referrals / WOM
• Streamline enrollment processes
• Enhance reputation / perception
• Increase enrollment (fill seats)
• Reduce application processing time
• Increase students starts
Students and Faculty
• Improve student retention
• Improve grades and satisfaction
• Streamlined student onboarding
• Improved graduation rates
• Reduced support costs (self-serve)
• Facilitate student / faculty
collaboration
• Enable virtual study groups / peer
support
• Crowdsource research and ideas
Alumni
• Improved alumni engagement
• Increased donations
• Drive event participation
• Drive student referrals
• Facilitate student mentoring
• Capture student success stories
• Support professional networking

23. Group Brainstorming

24. Online Communities - Group Exercise Scenario
Scenario: Your institution is looking to launch an initiative to leverage an online
community to improve engagement and collaboration with 1) Admissions
2) Students 3) Faculty / Staff and 4) Alumni audience(s)
Top goals for your online community initiative are to:
1. Streamline communication / facilitate sharing of information
2. Enable self-service and peer support
3. Streamline institutional processes and operations
As the project team, it is your job to begin the planning process and ensure your
institution has thought through the strategy and plan to implement your online
community

25. Today’s group breakout will focus on defining “who” we are targeting, and then prioritizing
“what” the critical objectives are. Once defined, these objectives will provide the basis to
identify “how” those objectives can be met (via online communities).
Strategies: HOW can social technologies engage your
audience(s) while meeting your objectives?
Business Objectives: WHAT are the goals of your business?
Audience:
WHO is the
audience
being
targeted?
StakeholderValue:Myneeds
andinterestsare
Technology: WHICH use cases, features and capabilities will
enable you to accomplish your strategies, while meeting your
goals, and engaging your target audience?
Focus on “What” first, “Who” and then “How”
12
3

26. Group Exercise #1 – Objectives / Opportunities
1. Identify WHAT specific "improvement
opportunities" exist for your assigned
area
2. Based on the initial list, prioritize them
based on potential business impact
– Target 3 to 5 “overarching”
themes
Examples:
• Increase number of applications
• Decrease marketing costs
• Grow number of referrals
• Increase school preference (#1 choice)
• Improve faculty / staff productivity
• Reduce student support costs
• Grow revenue
• Retain students
• Decrease operation costs
• Improve operation efficiency
10
Min

27. Group Exercise #2 - Audience Value
1. Based on the improvement opportunities/challenges, identify WHO are the key
"audiences" that are impacted by that area, e.g.:
• Group 1# - Admissions: Prospective Students, Applicants, Parents, Influencers etc.
• Group #2 - Students: Undergraduate, Graduate Students, Adult Learners etc.
• Group #3 - Faculty / Staff: Professors, Advisors, Operational Staff
• Group #4 - Alumni: Undergraduate, MBA’s
2. Brainstorm specific value statements for each targeted participant. E.g.:
• “As a prospective student I can … Ask current students a question about
my preferred degree program”
10
Min

28. 3. Group Exercise #3 Strategies
1. Review Objectives and Audience(s) & value statements
2. Identify specific strategies and ways that "social technologies" could be
leveraged to drive value.
Examples:
• Get questions answered quickly
• Network with students easily
• Connect with faculty and staff
• Engage two-way communications between peers
10
Min

29. Group Exercise #4 Tactics / Technology
• Review Objectives, Audiences and Strategies
• Brainstorm ways you as a program owner can help implement your
proposed strategies using an online community
• Brainstorm technology and community features that might address
their needs
– High-level use cases
– Feature sets
• Prioritize key features / requirements – what is most important?
10
Min

30. Wrap Up

31. Groundswell Book Giveaway
Mention @7summitsagency with hashtag
#hesummit to win a copy of Groundswell.
And
Need more help or a copy of the deck?
@jdavidson
james@7summitsagency.com
7summitsagency.com

32. ü Full-service implementation partner
strategy, user experience design,
build
ü Experienced across the academic
lifecycle – admissions, student and
faculty engagement, and alumni
relations
ü Deep community experience
ü Over 100+ communities delivered
ü Salesforce community experience
ü Award-winning work
ü Forrester Groundswell award
winner for our work Higher
Education
ü Design awards in Higher Education
ü Measurable business impact:
• MSOE Case Study
• Penn Foster Case Study
7Summits Highlights