Schools App Best Practices Recruitment Track

1. #TargetXSummit
Schools App: Best Practices
Julia Hossu, Technical Program Manager
Kristi Kooyman, Account Manager

2. ● Today’s Students
● What is Schools App?
● Why it’s Important
● Best Practices
Overview

3. Sense of Community is the #1 factor on a student’s
decision of where to attend college
What we know about today’s students...
2018 Social Admissions Report, TargetX, NRCCUA

4. The shift to mobile is bigger than ever.
What we know about today’s students...
● 86% of student prefer to communicate with colleges on their mobile devices
● 1 in 3 students use mobile devices as their primary means of researching and
deciding on a college
● Top reasons students download an app from a college:
○ Stay updated on deadlines and orientation (67%)
○ To be informed about campus news and events (60%)
2018 Social Admissions Report, TargetX, NRCCUA

5. What we know about today’s students...
Usage of private mobile messaging apps has
doubled since 2013
2018 Social Admissions Report, TargetX, NRCCUA

6. What is Schools App?
A private, university-branded mobile
app that promotes student
connections.

7. make every student a graduate,
and every graduate a success

8. Why it’s important to do Schools App right
● Broad, powerful impact
○ Yield, diversity, student success, retention
○ Lays the groundwork for persistence
● Robust digital engagement tool
○ Social “listening” is powerful
○ Influence discussions, take action based on insights
○ Trusted space for staff-student engagement outside of email
○ Leverages the power of push notifications

9. 9
PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE
Drive Adoption
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DATA
Know What’s Happening
MAXIMIZE ROI
Capitalize on What the App Can Do

10. PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE

11. ● Include an invitation to join your Schools App at the time of
application/acceptance
● Use Schools App to cultivate that excitement into enrollment
● Email students with reminders to join Schools App
● Get creative with your messaging.
○ “Connect with your peers before classes start!”
○ “Connect with other students in your program!”
○ “Organize a study group!”
Promote Early and Remind Often

12. Be Everywhere
● Include the link to Schools App on everything a new student sees
○ staff email signatures
○ admit letters and orientation materials
○ social media pages
● Add to the tour guide script
● Include PARENTS! (we have a sample postcard)

13. Generate Buzz and Have FUN!
● Use announcements to facilitate conversations and generate buzz
● Use hashtags on your Schools app
● Invite accepted students to post pictures for the milestones in their lives
● Encourage staff adoption (Reach out to your AM for enablement sessions)

14. Sell It
● Are your invites compelling/engaging?
○ “Join our online community exclusively for admitted students”
● Do they call out benefits?
○ “Meet cool people!” “Find a roommate!” “Organize a meetup!” “Create a Study Group!”
● Swap out the Facebook landing page for your school branding
How To Create an Engaging and Welcoming Community Through Schools App
Damian Salonick, Sarah Gibbs, TargetX
Today @ 3:15pm

20. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DATA

21. Data Management
● Test your files before loading
● Monitor data imports and address errors
● Keep Enrollment Status up-to-date
● Disable Withdrawn/Cancelled students

22. Data Analysis
● Analyze that available data and make adjustments accordingly
○ Join Rates & Patterns
○ Engagement & Yield
○ Most Engaged Students
○ Announcement Effectiveness

23. #TargetXSummit 23
Join Rates & Patterns
● See where your join rate
is for each of your cohorts
● Track the timeline of
adoption

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Engagement & Yield
● Keep your Enrollment Status
up to date!
● Segment users by:
○ Joined Date
○ Last Login
○ Number of Posts

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Most Engaged Students
● See your top 5% of Engaged Users
● Based on visits in the last month
● Engage with them! They’re both
high interest and likely influencers
of their cohort

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Announcement Effectiveness
● Number of students reached
● Call to action click-through rate
● Compare against other
announcements

27. MAXIMIZE ROI

28. Features You Might be Underutilizing
● Private Messaging
● Announcements
● Keyword Alerts
● Enrollment Intelligence
● Role Management
● Melt Poll Data
● Roommate Finder

29. #TargetXSummit 29
Private Messaging
● Personal messaging outside of email
● Answer student questions and
concerns in the app
● Real-time connection

30. #TargetXSummit
● Effective Channel
○ Goes out via Push, Text, and Email
● Gives students a reason to
come to the App
● Target specific users
● See reach of announcement
30
Announcements

31. #TargetXSummit 31
Keyword Alerts
● Involve other offices on campus
● Automatic email for specific
words or phrases
● Categories to group alerts
● See the most commonly used
words trending in the App

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Enrollment Intelligence
● EI tracks key metrics around activity
and uses those signals to show
likelihood to enroll
● Messages and Visits are the
strongest indicators
● EI data is actionable - easily target
less engaged users

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Role Management
● Control over which users can see each other
○ Are Staff visible to your students?
○ Do you want Admits and current Students to interact?
○ Can different cohorts see each other?

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Melt Polls
● Check-in on who is on track to enroll

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Roommate Finder
● You can:
○ Empower Students to control their
roommate search
○ Monitor demand
○ Save Housing staff some time and effort
● Students can:
○ Create a roommate listing
○ Connect with potential roommates via
private messaging
○ Confirm a match

36. RESOURCES

37. #TargetXSummit 37
Admin Guide

38. #TargetXSummit
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User Community

39. #TargetXSummit
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Knowledge Base

40. Q&A

41. Thank You
julia.hossu@targetx.com
kooyman@targetx.com