1. SOCIAL MEDIA
AS A RECRUITMENT TOOL
Texas Association of Graduate Admission Professionals
Summer Institute 2016
2. 2Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
Stephanie Ozuna-Larralde, MBA
Hi! I am the UTRGV Graduate Student
Recruiter.
Alex Garrido
Hi! I am the UTRGV Social Media & Digital
Marketing Manager.
2
About
3. 3Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
Established Fall 2015.
Main Campus Locations: Edinburg, Brownsville, Harlingen.
Enrollment: 28,584 (Fall 2015)
About
UTRGV
3
4. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
Quick facts
7 Colleges
College of Medicine & Health
Affairs, Sciences, Liberal Arts, Fine
Arts, Business & Entrepreneurship,
Education & P-16 Integration,
Graduate College
Hispanic Serving
88% Hispanic
Major regional university
92% of students come from
the RGV.
5. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
About the Graduate
College
Graduate Enrollment: 3,647
Over 50 Graduate programs
49 Master’s
4 Doctoral (+2 cooperative PhD)
23 Certificate programs
2 fulltime recruiters
Domestic & traditional recruitment
International & online recruitment
6. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
On-Campus
Info sessions, yearly graduate
fair, one-to-one meetings.
Email
Automated communication
plans targeting graduating
students.
Website
Regular updates and
feedback.
TV & Radio
Interviews and community
invitations.
Texas Swing Fairs
Only South of San Antonio
Promotional Materials
Flyers, brochures, pens, etc.
Traditional Recruitment
7. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
Facebook Ads
Targeting ads, remarketing
Twitter Ads
General awareness
YouTube Ads
Pre-roll ads
Blog Posts
Informational, Search Engine
Optimized
Google Ads
Remarketing display ads
Digital Recruitment
8. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
How to start your
master’s in the
United States”
“
11. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool 11
39 39 39
65
0
25
50
75
Fall 2011 Fall 2012 Fall 2013 Fall 2014
Applications
Facebook Ads and Google Display
Ads.
Targeting India, Mexico, Venezuela,
Colombia, Iran, Saudi Arabia.
Applications
PhD Business
12. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool 12
42
46
40
88
0
25
50
75
100
Fall 2011 Fall 2012 Fall 2013 Fall 2014
Applications
Facebook Ads and Google Display
Ads.
Targeting India and Mexico.
Applications
MS Computer Science
13. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
Record
Enrollment
“Interest from international students has
shown a sharp increase with almost 300
percent more international applications
to UTPA's graduate programs this fall
compared to Fall 2013. The top
countries of interest are India, Mexico,
and China.”
14. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
Make a Connection
Capture contact info
Remarketing/Retargeting
Remind Them
Create targeted reminders
Drive Awareness
Spark interest
Highlight program benefits
Answer questions
Goals of Social Media
15. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
We hired 3 Graduate Assistants to help respond to social media
comments and messages that originated from our ads.
Social Media
Is a Customer Service Tool
16. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
Following up
Automated Communications Plan
Scheduled emails with location/area information, cost of
living, tuition & fees, assistantships opportunities,
program requirements, etc.
Imported all prospects into Active Campaign
We had to use an external email communications
service because we couldn’t use our old application
system.
Phone Call Campaigns
Called all International applicants with follow-up
messages.
17. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
Aswin Kumar
• “Your friend likes this page”
• Clicked on Facebook Ad & Requested Info
• Enrolled for Fall 2014
• Graduated Spring 2016
18. Social Media as a Recruitment Tool
How to create a Facebook Recruitment Ad?