Two examples of reaching out to millennials

I’ve been impressed with the different ways that some univeristies and colleges are using to reach out to millennials. The Boston Globe reports on the increasing use of websites that let high school students search and sort through colleges, and chat online with current students:

“The shift is reshaping the admissions process, long dominated by mass mailings and college fairs, into a virtual, yet highly personal, courting process many liken to online dating… ‘It’s almost as if you’re talking to them,’ Duncan said.”

This is an excellent example of how to use online chat. Consider hosting a chat for applicants or admitted but not confirmed students with a couple current students. Let your current students chat openly about how they like your school.

In another example, California State University has used a fast-paced and compelling YouTube video to remind applicants that they have a limited time to submit their application to attend CSU schools:

Both examples are useful in helping to think strategically about how to use new technologies to reach out to millennials using the formats that millennials are increasingly using.

Don’t dwell on the dark side with Millennials

It has been said that higher learning does well in a recession, especially graduate schools. When skilled professionals have trouble finding full-time work to match their training, they go back to school to weather the storm and emerge with yet more skills and training.

But this generation may be different. Pepsi sponsored a study by StrategyOne, which found that a whopping 94% of Millennials are optimistic about the future.

The implications for recruiting are subtle but important. In the past, there was a common belief that “life is tough, and it’s hard to succeed without and education.” College was sometimes a survival tactic.

But the results of this new study suggest that most Millennials attend an institute of higher learning in order to build for a future that is already positive. Higher education may not be seen as strictly essential, but as highly desirable for much more positive reasons.

How this plays out in your institution’s marketing message is worth some thought. One key is to simply be more spontaneous in your communication with new applicants and interested students.  In our white paper we offer a lot of new ways to communicate with Millennials.

A disturbing economic reason for recruiting

This story came out a few weeks ago, but  it’s still relevant: http://www.projo.com/news/content/URI_MIDYEAR_HIKES_08-04-08_9NB2Q07_v35.42cc430.html

In a nutshell, the University of Rhode Island is facing a budget crisis and they’re weighing their options. This includes raising tuition, cutting back on open/instruction days, and of course, trying to recruit more new students.

If they implement the first two, it’s going to put a damper on the third. A lot of institutions are probably facing the same dilemma, or could be soon. But the lesson is clear:

Either you need to step up on recruiting because you need an immediate increase in revenue, or you need to step up recruiting to ‘break even” when budget cuts discourage new enrollment.

It’s a tough situation. We need to get creative. Any ideas?

Do you spend 80% of your budget on online marketing?

Alliant Center for Forensic Studies Facebook Group

Gracia Bone, systemwide director of marketing and media relations for Alliant’s University does. In fact, the San Diego campus’ Center for Forensic Studies launched its Facebook Group and ad, which targets users with bachelor’s degrees in psychology who watch the show “Criminal Minds.”

People who saw the ads were asked to take a quiz to find out how much they know about serial killers. After responding to the quiz, the program invites them to visit program’s home page or Facebook Group. According to the article in the San Diego Union Tribune, 5,000 people took the quiz and 500 visited the department’s how-to-apply page, while the Facebook Group now has 105 users.

It turns out this ad campaign has been the best performing ad campaign in the history of Alliant University. Gracia says that she spends 80 percent of her budget today on online marketing because it is the “most effective recruitment method.”