Recently in Online Marketing Category

Online Inquiry Forms... Long Forms = Fewer Completions

Visiting several higher education websites the last few days inspired this mini-rant.

In the "stealth age" when potential students of all ages explore college and university websites as the first step in picking a school, concern has grown about how to get people to reveal their identities as early as possible. After all, if we don't know who a potential student is how can we put our carefully crafted recruitment commuications plan into action?

Not enough time is spent on removing barriers to getting an online inquiry. That remedial works starts with using the shortest possible online inquiry form. The evidence is clear: few schools pay attention to that, especially in the not-for-profit sector.

Direct Marketing Maxim: Shorter Forms = More Completions

One marketing maxim known to direct marketers for decades is still true today: the longer you make the form you want people to complete, the fewer people will complete it. Period.

With that in mind, visit your online inquiry page for potential new students now. Look at all the information that is "nice" for the organization to have, but not needed to respond to a simple request for more information about your school. Remove it. 

Here are a few of my special favorites to consider eliminating:

• High school attended or attending
• High school code (maybe my all-time favorite)
• "Where did you hear about us" lists (another favorite)
• GPA
• SAT or ACT score
• Phone number unless it is an integral part of your follow-up plan
• Athletics interest
• Other student activity interest areas
• Year of graduation
• Ethnic identity, however optional 

All of this information might be nice or necessary for your data files between the time of inquiry and enrollment, but you have plenty of time to collect it later. Don't put anything on the inquiry form that isn't needed to respond to the inquiry. Usually, that's name, email and street address, and program area of interest (if you're going to address that in the first response.)

Make it Fit "Above the Fold"

This last note: design your form so that a visitor can see the entire form when they first arrive at your web page. That sends the important initial message: "This won't take long to complete."

Creighton University Gets It Right

Creighton University knows how to do this right. Visit the Creighton online inquiry form and see a form that would make direct marketers proud.

If you have an online inquiry form as good or better than Creighton's, let me know with an email to bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com.

Persuasion Technology and Online Marketing

At the J.Boye Aarhus09 conference in Denmark earlier this month I attended a half-day tutorial by BJ Fogg, director of the Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab.

A single blog entry can't do justice to the full presentation, but here are a few notes that seem relevant to those of us who focus on creating stronger marketing impact at higher education websites.

• The web as a "platform for persuasion" is an important concept for marketers building a new website or enhancing an existing one. Let's admit that a primary, if not the most important, purpose of the website is to generate new enrollment and to gain funding support from alumni and other "friends" of the university.
• Keep conversion expecations realistic. BJ suggests that 1/3 of website visitors will do what we want without much persuasion if it is easy to do it and 1/3 will never do it. That leaves about 1/3 in the middle open to persuasion points as they visit the site.
• It is important to remove as many barriers to task completion as possible for the middle 1/3 or they won't do what we want.  
• The more complex the website, the less persuasive it will be.

Remove task completion barriers

And so there is a need for constant attention to these persuasion barriers: 

• Navigation built around organizational rather than visitor preferences.
• Language that doesn't connect with visitors as Carewords do.
• Broken links and out-of-date content. Be ruthless about this.
• Long inquiry forms. The brevity of the Creighton University form is admirable. 

Every barrier means less conversion from that 1/3 in the middle cluster. Some barriers will even reduce conversion from the 1/3 that really want to do what you hope they will do.

Social media and online persuasion

BJ believes social media sites are strong persuasion tools.

• Social networks are "platforms for persuasion" and Facebook is the "#1 persuasion tool of all time."
• Amazon makes good use of social media techniques by empowering community comments and by recommending new items based on the preferences of the visitor.

Don't be afraid to experiment

One note stands out: don't be afraid to experiment with change. Victory, BJ believes, will go to those who are not afraid to take online initiatives without knowing in advance that every one will work. Discard initiatives that fail and expand those that succeed. Getting proof of success before trying anything new makes it likely that your more adventuresome competitors will leave you behind.

J.Boye Conference: Philadelphia 2010

Check the developing schedule for the J.Boye conference May 4-6 in Philadelphia. There is a higher education track, as well as 7 others, including "online communication" and "online strategy" where you can meet and mingle with people working outside higher education.

That's all for now.

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

Web Writing... Direct Action Calls Increase Results

Web writing that includes a clear call to action brings more results than words that do not. Direct marketers have known for decades that when you tell people to do what you want them to do, more people will do it if they are at all inclined to take the step. Works online and everywhere else.

Gerry McGovern, Customer Carewords founder and partner, sent along another example of that this morning.

4 Steps to Increase Conversions from 4.7% to 12.81%

Dustin Curtis wrote on his blog about his success in gathering more Twitter followers with relatively slight but clear changes in the wording. Here are the various efforts and the improved conversion from various renditions:

• "I'm on Twitter"... 4.7%
• "Follow me on Twitter"... 7.31%
• "You should follow me on Twitter"... 10.09%
• "You should follow me on Twitter here"... 12.81%

Pretty clear results that will work for much more than Twitter followers. Note the boost from adding "here" to the list. While "here" isn't needed in every text link, more marketers should use it when making specific calls to action like this. Create a right column web design that makes the call to action prominent on the page.

Carleton University Alumni Magazine Gets It Right

The Carleton University alumni magazine gets it right with a strong call to "Interact!" that's highly visible in the right hand column of the online magazine. I've been including this in my "Writing Right for the Web" presentations for years. The Curtis results suggest that Carleton might benefit from a change to "Interact here!"

"Writing Right for the Web" in December 

I'll be adding the Curtis example and more new content to my next "Writing Right for the Web" webinar with Academic Impressions on December 8. Review the content now and register right here.

That's all for now.

• Join me on Twitter here at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

Branding: Traditional Campaigns are Dead.

"Branding is dead" is one of the subheads used by Augustine Fou in a recent ClickZ article, "A New Definition of Digital."

For traditional marketers, that's pretty scary stuff. Many still don't accept it.

For more than 15 years, colleges and universities throughout the land have been spending major dollars on efforts to establish or change brand identities. Some have had success. More have not.

Here's Fou's point:

• "Most people's first impressions of a brand are what they find in search results or what they read from other people in reviews. Hence, branding as we know it is dead." 
• And first impressions, like the "curb appeal" impact when searching for a home, are hard to change. 

Yes, Everyone has a Brand

Just about every institution, of course, has a brand identity with someone. And it isn't all that hard to learn what it is. Just tap people on the shoulder and ask them to tell you what you are. Record the answers. Smile or cringe at the results.

If you enroll traditional students and take the ACT or SAT, checking brand image is even easier. Check the quantity and quality of self-reported test scores.

Why Brand Campaigns Fail in Higher Education: Old Reasons 

Most brand campaigns over the years suffered from two problems:

• Not enough resources to run the campaign long enough.
• An impatient, unrealistic expectation that what people think of their "brand" will change significantly with a few months of concentrated advertising.

Before the advent of the digital world, presidents and trustees might at least dream that a stream of one-way messages about the wonders of their university might indeed result in more applications of higher quality, more alumni donations, and more favorable press stories.

Why Brand Campaigns Fail in Higher Education: New Reason

Today, in the digital world, the impact of one-way messages is dead.

People have too many ways to check on any organization or product that might interest them. The online world is filled with RateMyProfessors websites where people can get first-hand information about professors at a university. Yes, some professors are arrogant and selfish, concerned more with their own careers than helping students. 

Fortunately, if you pay close attention to RateMyProfessors, you'll see that good and great professors outnumber the wicked ones. But you won't find that in many admissions viewbooks or at many college websites. Bad for the brand image.

We've been in the "reality marketing" era for about 10 years. A few places in higher education were early adopters.

• One of the pioneers in student blogs, Lewis and Clark, names their blog spot "Real Life" and has never feared entries that might not be PR perfect. 
• Muhlenberg College for at least 12 years has had a web page explaining "The Real Deal on Financial Aid." If Muhlenberg wants someone special to enroll, that person gets a "preferential" finanacial aid package. Must be true. Says so on the website.

My friend Brian Niles at TargetX campaigns relentlessly for "authenticity" marketing, another way of talking about "reality marketing." How do you convey authenticity? Trust students to speak about the real experiences of attending their college or university.

Brand in the Digital Era

Let's get back to Fou:

• "Start with a true understanding of consumer habits and expectations -- digital -- and you will quickly find yourself cutting or placing a lower priority on marketing tactics that are one-way, or shout messages at consumers disrespectfully, or hit a ton of people many times (reach and frequency).
• "Instead, you will gravitate toward techniques that cultivate genuine and open dialogue with customers, where brands humbly listen and learn, and then respond with new features and innovations continuously to better match the needs of the customer."

In the digital era, your brand depends on your abililty to "match the needs of the customer" and "continuously" change. As Brian says, doing that requires a "revolution" in higher education. It will be interesting to see how quickly that revolution moves along.

That's all for now.

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

Late summer greetings to everyone. From the chatter on Twitter, it seems that the arrival of new freshmen on campuses across the country has been a marvelous event. Special congratulations to everyone who helped carry freight from cars to dorm rooms.

Check at the end of the newsletter for new fall presentations, including a conference in Denmark, a December webinar for "Writing Right for the Web," and the continuation of the "Bob$100" discount for the October Aslanian adult student recruitment conference.

Plan to attend the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education and register for an updated and expanded "Marketing Communications in a World without Paper" Sunday tutorial. A highly rated summer version from eduWeb09 is the first one on SlideShare at www.slideshare.net/bestbob

Check my blog for notes on Heather Mansfield's "10 Twitter Tips for Higher Education" at bit.ly/12VoTl

Join me on Twitter at twitter.com/HighEdMarketing

For everyone here in the States, best wishes for a fine Labor Day weekend.

And now here are marketing news and notes for September.
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Forbes Magazine 2009 College Rankings

Forbes released 2009 rankings in early August, based on "the quality of the education, the experience of the students, and how much they achieve."

While most of the usual suspects fill out the top spots, Forbes calls attention to unexpected additions at the highest levels, including Centre College and Union College. At the top of the list: West Point.

My favorite criterion: 25 percent of the ranking is based on student evaluations at RateMyProfessors.com. That beats the "reputation" factor in another popular report.

Start the full report at www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/colleges-university-ratings-opinions-colleges-09-intro.html
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Evaluating Social Media Results

You should not worry if the people who sign on to your social media sites or read your blogs do not actively participate with comments and other contributions of new content. Most people just read,without joining or actively participating. And that, of course, has marketing value by itself.

By far the largest category for social media participation is from Spectators (79 percent), while Creators (24 percent) and Critics (37 percent) lag far behind. Indeed, only 51 percent will actually join a social media site where they are spectators.

What is the marketing lesson? Do not over promise active results when you start new social media ventures. For the details, check the latest research at the Groundswell blog site at
blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2009/08/social-technology-growth-marches-on-in-2009-led-by-social-network-sites.html
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Drexel Gets First Place: Top University Websites for Search Engine Optimization

Find methodology you can use to test your own school as you review "Top SEO College Websites 2009" at www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2009/09/01/top-seo-college-websites-2009

The writer gives most colleges and universities an "F" grade for SEO and includes four reasons why he thinks more schools do not do better. The first: over reliance on "brand recognition" to bring traffic to the website.

The increase in the importance of online education does seem to motivate some schools to do much better than others. The "Top Three" here: Drexel University, University of Phoenix, and Capella University.
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Google Analytics Basics

Just getting started in web analytics? Thinking of using Google Analytics?

"Google Analytics 101" by Ron Jones at Search Engine Watch is a good place to start. The link at searchenginewatch.com/3634842 will take you to Part 2 and you can track back from there to Part 1.

Better use of analytics is an essential step to getting higher impact from your website. Pay special attention to the "bounce rate" (percent of people who leave a page without going further) at your admissions entry page and at each important page after that. Be sure that you filter out results for first-time visitors from those who are returning visitors.

Google advises that a bounce rate between 20 and 35 percent is acceptable.
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Best Ad Sizes for Online Advertising

AdAge reviews what works best and why at adage.com/digital/article?article_id=138554

Special note: flash-based ads were the least effective of every type tested.
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Time Magazine Picks Top 50 Websites

No college or university websites made the Time list, but the academic world is represented by selection #9, Academic Earth. That is a website for free college courses and lectures from 7 "leading universities."

Browse the full 50 to learn more about the expectations that some of these sites will create for users of higher education websites. The Times list is at
www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1809858_1809957,00.html

And visit the clean and simple Academic Earth home page at www.academicearth.org/
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Mobile Web Help from MIT

Expect more and more people to access your website from iPhones and similar smartphone devices. And more and more schools are developing special mobile-friendly web content rather than forcing people to navigate and use their regular websites.

Review in detail the strong effort from MIT at mobi.mit.edu/about/ or access it from a mobile browser at m.mit.edu

Not only MIT can do this. For a smaller school alternative, visit the Azusa Pacific University example at www.apu.edu/m/

MIT will help you get started. Contact Information Services & Technology at mobiweb@mit.edu
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Old School Marketing: 5 Tips for Better Envelope Copy

Still using mail to prospect for potential new students? Then "mystique" and "relevance" are especially important first impression goals.

Learn more at www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/5-ways-upgrade-envelope-copy-410894_1.html
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7 High End Twitter Analysis Tools

If you are very interested in Twitter, take time to explore the tools profiled at mashable.com/2009/08/30/analyze-twitter-content/ and you will likely find something of interest.

Scroll down to the end of the report for more links to other Twitter tools.

If you are not that interested in Twitter, keep reading.
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National Merit Scholarships End at UT Austin

What is the future of merit scholarships in the present economy?

The move by University of Texas at Austin to stop funding over 200 National Merit full-tuition scholarships reflects new pressures to focus scare funds on need-based awards. That is the rationale given to explain why UT Austin is dropping out of the National Merit competition and rolling those funds over to students with financial need.

What is the marketing impact of fewer National Merit scholars? UT Austin does not believe it will be great. Current brand strength is sufficiently strong that the SAT and GPA components of the academic profile are not expected to suffer.

Read more at www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/01/merit
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Teens and Twitter: Age is Not the Problem

New research on how people use Twitter makes an important point. Yes, the "great majority" of teens do not use Twitter. But then, neither do the "great majority" of adults use Twitter.

A key finding: Teens use Twitter at a higher rate than people from 25 to 44 years of age.

Another key finding: the reason most adults and teens do not use Twitter is simple: they can do the same things elsewhere on other sites that they prefer. Not using Twitter, it seems, is not related to age.

See the in-depth details at www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/30/why-dont-teens-tweet-we-asked-over-10000-of-them/
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Distance Learning Gains Faculty Support

A detailed report from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities brings good news to marketers who recognize that student interest at every age level is shifting in favor of online learning.

Professors, both senior and junior, are more willing to entertain teaching online courses than ever before. That is an important message for the not-for-profit sector as for-profit competitors continue to expand their online offerings.

Of course there is a caveat. Faculty do not think they are receiving enough support for the effort it takes to develop and introduce new online courses. Read an outline of the report at www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1347 and see where senior enrollment and marketing professionals might give support and encouragement to people willing to expand product in this key area.
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Web Writer Position at Alma College

Alma College is taking applications for a web content writer position within the marketing and public relations office. Details for the position are at www.alma.edu/about/offices/personnel/jobs/archives/2009/08/28/web_writer
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My Upcoming Presentations in 2009

Share questions and answers with people like yourself who are building a competitive edge in higher education marketing. Join me for one or more of these events.

October 21-22, Chicago, IL: Aslanian Group Seminars: Competing for Adults Students, "Branding and the Web: The Value of Your Official Website in the Social Media Era." Download conference brochure at www.coburncreative.com/educationdynamics/f2009_seminar.pdf Save $100 when you enter "Bob$100" in the discount code box as you register.

October 26-27, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin System, Adult Student Recruitment & Retention Conference, "Key Website Features for Adult Student Recruitment." Conference information is at www.uwosh.edu/rrconference

November 3-5, Aarhus, Denmark: J. Boye Conference: Aarhus09, "Improving Higher Education Websites: Lessons from the Student Experience." Conference program and registration at www.jboye.com/conferences/aarhus09/higher-education

November 15-17, Boston, MA: AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education, "Marketing in a World without Paper: Creating a Recruitment Communications Plan in an Online Future" (3.5 hour Sunday afternoon tutorial). Details at www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/marketingevent_highereducation_2009.aspx

December 8, Webinar: "Writing Right for the Web." Program details soon from Academic Impressions at www.academicimpressions.com/web_conferences.htm

Increase ROI from your online marketing. Expand the writing, editing, and search marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus workshop on online marketing.

Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com
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That's All for Now

Be a marketing champion on your campus.

Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com)
President and Senior Consultant
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
__________________________________________
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Increase your online marketing success with these 6 services.
• Customer Carewords Research with Gerry McGovern
• Writing Right for the Web On-Campus Workshops
• Marketing Communications Website Review
• Competitive Website Reviews
• Content Copywriting Services
• Usability Analysis

Start now at www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/whatwedo.html

E-Readers: Market Growth from Barnes & Noble, AT&T, and Plastic Logic

Back from a very fine eduWeb2009 conference this afternoon... 12 presentations are online now, including my pre-conference workshop: "Student Recruitment in an Online World: Creating a Marketing Communications Plan in a World without Paper." Thanks to Matt Herzberger for taking the time to add mine and several others to the collection.

College Viewbooks and Magazine on E-Readers

Early in my presentation you'll see slides to prime a discussion of e-readers and just how soon it might be before people are downloading college viewbooks , alumni magazines, and other publications to an e-reader rather than receiving them in the mail.

This presentation first debuted in July 2008 at the ACT Enrollment Planners Conference. One 2008 topic was how soon it would be before e-readers were available in color. Way back then nobody seemed sure when the technology would advance to market. For the update this year, we had new news... Fujitsu, well ahead of any schudule predicted last year, put a color e-reader on the market in Japan earlier this year. The price (near $1,000) is well beyond most people's willingness to pay but we all know that is likely to move lower rather quickly.

E-readers are advancing. No doubt about that.

Plastic Logic, AT&T, and Barnes & Noble

And so let's highlight this news first seen in USA Today while traveling back from eduWeb today. AT&T is about to join Amazon in the e-reader competition in combination with Barnes & Noble to offer a wider array of books than Amazon is doing now. Schduled start is early in 2010.

A NewsFactor Business Report article says the primary audience for the new device from Plastic Logic and AT&T service is the business community. Barnes & Noble already has 700,000 titles ready to go, a powerful amount for the business market. The article includes a prediction that by 2012 prices will fall to $99, a critical point for mass adoption.

Watch the online Plastic Logic demo of their new device.

That's today's story.

AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education 2009 

And that's continuing info to update the next presentation of my 3-hour workshop at the AMA's Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education in November in Boston. More details on that later in the summer. Plan to attend. And if you do, join me for the Sunday workshop to explore student recruitment communications in a world without paper. It really is getting closer.

That's all for now.

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

RateMyProfessors.com: blending social media and reality marketing

RateMyProfessors.com is a place that most, if not all, colleges and universites appear to wish simply didn't exist.

• Yes, it is a form of social media where college students can share their experiences about their faculty with anyone who wants to read them. The site makes it easy to add new faculty evaluations and to share content with friends.
• And yes, it helps define the world of "reality marketing" by noting that not every professor at every college is a super-star dedicated to student success in the classroom.

At two recent conference presentations, I've asked the audience if any of their schools link from the official website to RateMyProfessors. I get the sense that people are shocked that the question is even asked. That's no surprise. One response summed up the feeling: "I'd get fired for doing that!"

Few Faculty Rated as "Poor Quality"

Here's what's funny about the prevailing attitude. In every case where I've visited RateMyProfessors, there have been very few faculty who receive "poor quality" ratings. Most have either "average quality" or "good quality" ratings.

Consider my most recent venture to Boston University as an example to use in an upcoming webinar. The site makes it easy find faculty from an academic area of special interest. In this case, I checked the political science faculty at BU. Here's what I found for 48 faculty members listed:

• 33 had "good quality" ratings
• 11 had "average quality" ratings
• 3 were listed as "below average"
• 1 had no ratings at all

That seems a pretty good peformance to me, maybe even higher than expected. All in all, these are professors held in high esteem by their students.

Students, especially those with high academic profiles, are keenly interested in academic majors. Imagine that the BU admissions page included a link to RateMyProfessors.com so that visitors could easily see the overall ratings as well as the comments available on individual faculty. That, it seems, would buy credibility in a world skeptical of the usual marketing language used in higher education and elsewhere.

The reality, of course, is that not all faculty are great. Personally, I'd be quite comfortable enrolling as a political science major at BU based on the RateMyProfessors reviews.

And yes, I understand that linking to RateMyProfessors.com from official websites isn't going to sweep the land. But take some time today to check how your faculty are viewed at this site by your students. You just might find people that you'd like to highlight in some other way in your marketing efforts.

If by any chance your college or university indeed links to RateMyProfessor, let me know. That would make a great Link of the Week selection.

That's all for now.

• Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

Online Marketing: No place for blasts and drives

Online marketing was the key topic at last week's Aslanian Group conference in Chicago. Nearly 80 people from colleges and universities of every type gathered at University of Chicago's Gleacher Center for 2 days of presentations and discussions.

A small but significant point stuck in my mind on the way home: in a marketing world where the customer is more in control than ever before, terms like "Email blast" and "driving people to the website" don't make much sense. Here's why.

• Driving people to the web. You can't drive people to your website like a well-trained sheep dog can herd sheep into a pen. You have to persuade people to go voluntarily to your site. Or hope that they find you in a search effort. And when they arrive, you'd better be able to engage them with the first 2 to 5 seconds with content they care about, or they will bounce right off your web page and back out of the pen. That's their choice and people are not reluctant to make it. "Persuasion marketing" is a term that deserves more attention.
• Email blasts: The assumption here is that if we fire away at a target often enough we are going to hit it and create a desired action. This flies in the face of the direct marketing imperative that is behind a successful email program. Today, more than ever, we should send less email (and direct mail) but focus it more carefully and more personally for higher conversion rates from within a smaller group. "Blast" away and you're more likely to annoy people than anything else. Even people who might at first have signed up to receive your email won't take kindly to what comes from a "blast" mentality. 

Marketing really would be easy if we could "drive" and "blast" people to get them where we want them. Alas in higher education marketing, we can't do that. Let's show more awareness of reality and banish these inaccurate and silly words.

That's all for now.

• Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

Phoenix Adds "Bio" to Twitter Site After Launch

The University of Phoenix effort had only been underway since May 12 when I checked the Phoenix Twitter site for my May 21 blog entry on how several schools were using Twitter for adult student recruitment.

In what otherwise seemed a robust effort based on initial frequency of updates (far more often than the other schools), there was no "bio" included. That's a marketing opportunity lost, as the right bio message can repeat and reinforce the primary brand message.

When revisiting the site today, a bio has now appeared. And here it is:

• Bio: "We provide a quality higher education for working students and offer associates, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in small class sizes." The emphasis on "working students" and the degree levels offered is good. A future version might well include the number of degrees offered in each category as the total array is high and sets Phoenix apart from most competitors.

So, late is indeed better than never in this case.

And since my last blog post, updates increased from 44 to 54 and followers from 179 to 224. Several of those updates seem directed to potential students, an example of "talking with" rather than just "talking at."

Phoenix is often considered the goliath of higher education marketing, with an annual marketing budget of more than $15 million and an online ad presence just about everywhere. That makes it a prime candidate to follow on Twitter over the next few months to watch the growth in followers and the way that Phoenix engages them on that site.

 That's all for now.

• Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ to receive my monthly newsletter and Link of the Week selections.
  

Twitter: A Tool to Recruit Adult Students?

One of several priority items this week is finishing a social media marketing presentation for Carol Aslanian's upcoming June 2-4 conference on adult student recruitment. (If you might still register, use "Bob100" in the discount box on the registration page and save $100.)

How important is Twitter to the marketing communications mix in this sector?

Results are mixed, based on a limited sample of 3 not-for-profit schools and 4 from the for-profit sector. (We searched the "following" list at DIOSA and the "Universities" section of the Twitter Fan Wiki for obvious titles that indicated attention to adults or continuing education or distance learning. Few were found. We did find Twitter sites for not-for-profit schools whose overall orientation is strongly toward adults students and may include these later.)

The measure of "importance" for recruiting is based primarily on three points:

• The number of followers. If followers are low, few are hearing the tree fall in the forest. 
• The branding strength of the "bio" used.
• Frequency of updates. Neglect in updating indicates that staff resources aren't focused on Twitter. Infrequent updates don't give followers much reason to pay attention after they sign on.

Sites that have been around for a long time, like the one at Penn State, might be updating more frequently now than the data indicates. Didn't have time to check for that.

We did not try to estimate one important element: how many followers are actually potential or current students? From quick scans, certainly not everyone. 

The Not-for-Profit Sector: UMass, Penn State, Harvard

University of Massachusetts Continuing and Professional Education

• http://twitter.com/UMassContinEd 413 following, 235 followers, 12 updates
• Started: March 26, 2009
• Bio: Continuing & Professional Educ Programs, Summer/Winter Sessions at UMass Amherst. Maintained by Sue Cassidy, Outreach Mktg (scassidy).

Notes: Not very active, with just 12 updates over 56 days. Always a nice touch to include the name of the person who does the updates. The "following" number is high in comparison to the number of "followers."  

Penn State University World Campus

• http://twitter.com/PSUWorldCampus 252 following, 246 followers, 213 updates
• Started: January 8, 2008
• Bio: Penn State Online and Distance Education

By far the earliest site on Twitter for this group, updates have been relatively infrequent and followers are low for the 505 days operating. The bio is simple and to the point about what's offered by the World Campus.

Harvard University Extension School

• http://twitter.com/HarvardEXT 20 following, 472 followers, 18 updates
• Started: January 9
• Bio: Harvard's primary resource for continuing education. Offering over 600 evening and online courses and part-time degree programs to the public.

Notes: Harvard doesn't follow nearly as many people as Penn State or UMass but still has far more followers. Might that just be the power of the brand? Bio adds a nice point by listing the number of courses offered and a subtle touch that they are open "to the public." As with the others, few upates over the 131 days the site has been operating. 

For-profit Sector: Phoenix, Capella, Kaplan, Walden  

University of Phoenix

• http://twitter.com/UOPX 9 following, 179 followers, 44 updates,
• Started: May 12
• Bio: none

Notes: Phoenix came quite late to Twitter. For some inexplicable reason, the marketing imperative here doesn't include any "bio" information at all. Nobody's perfect. Followers are developing nicely over the last 9 days. Updates are extremely frequent. Will they keep up that pace of nearly 5 per day?

Capella University

• http://twitter.com/CapellaU 0 following, 911 followers, 38 updates,
• Started: February 2
• Bio: "Capella University is an accredited, fully online university that has built its reputation by providing quality education for working adults."

Notes: Capella sets the pace for followers, as well as for those it follows. I think this is the first time that I've found a Twitter site that isn't following anyone. The bio makes key points about accreditation, online programs, and the orientation to adults. Updates are not frequent at about 1 every 3 days.

Kaplan University

• http://twitter.com/KaplanUniv 21 following, 39 followers, 1 update
• Started: 27 April
• Bio: Building futures online and at eight Kaplan University campuses across the nation. Career-focused education tweets from Kaplan Higher Education home office.

Notes: Did Kaplan note the update activity at Phoenix and decide to take the opposite tack? A single update over 24 days is about as low as it can get. Someone at the "home office" did have time to add a bio, but things must have been really busy since then. 

Walden University  

• http://twitter.com/waldenu 63 following, 166 followers, 141 updates
• Started: March 6 
• Bio: An accredited online university founded in 1970 and dedicated to enabling the success of working professionals around the world. 

Notes: Walden makes a solid effort that hasn't yet paid off with many followers. Over 75 days since starting, the 2 updates each day is the best pace other than Phoenix. The bio lets us know Walden has been around for 29 years, or far longer than the other for-profit institutions and pre-dating "online" universities by a wide margin.

Overall Conclusion: Twitter Not a Priority 

For marketers at most of these schools, Twitter is not a priority. Phoenix will be an interesting "follow" over the next few months to track how rapidly followers build and interact with the university. Phoenix includes a link to Twitter and 4 other social media sites on the website but hasn't yet updated the graphic to include the Twitter symbol.