Reaching 50 million users took a very long time for some media…

• It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million people

• It took TV 13 years to reach 50 million people

• It took the internet 4 years to reach 50 million people

• It took the iPod 3 years to reach 50 million people

…But not social media! It took Facebook less than ONE year to reach 200 MILLION users!

Check out the infographic below to find out how colleges and universities are embracing social media:

Courtesy of: Schools.com

How is your school using social media? We would love to know!

-Lauren

The top five schools that spent the most money on Google Ads in 2011 were:

1. University of Phoenix ($49.9 million)
2. ITT Technical Institute ($29.9 million)
3. DeVry ($19.7 million)
4. Capella University ($17.0 million)
5. classesUSA ($16.3 million)

Check out the infographic below:

-Lauren

Here are three metrics your college should be tracking through Facebook Insights:

1. People Talking About This

This is one of Facebook’s new metrics for Facebook pages. The number, which is visible to the public, is pulled from a variety of interactions that occur on Facebook in the past seven days and is refreshed daily. It’s a good indicator of how much conversation your college’s Facebook page is generating on Facebook. It’s also a good way to measure the content your page is posting and how to generate more conversations around your page on Facebook.

The interactions that make up the “People Talking About This” metric are any stories (previously referred to as posts) that users share in their timeline (formerly referred to as their wall):

• “Liking” a page

• Posting to a page’s wall

• “Liking,” commenting on, or sharing a page post, photo, photo album, or video

• Answering a Question posted by your page

• Mentioning your Facebook page in a status update

• RSVPing to an event created by your page

• Tagging your page in a photo

• Checking into your college on Facebook

In your Insights dashboard you’ll see a percentage increase or decrease next to the current number, allowing you to compare this week’s engagement against last week’s statistics. Engagement is the most critical metric you can track, since the goal is the have a thriving Facebook community to give prospects a positive experience with your college.

2. Engaged Users

On your Insights dashboard you will find Engaged Users under the Page Post information. The Engaged Users metric shows you how your audience interacts with your posts by tracking actual clicks. Facebook only tracks this information for 28 days, so remember that when you’re looking over this data.

This information can be used to create more engaging posts. An important thing to keep in mind is your target audience. What do they want to see from you? What benefit do they get by “liking” your college’s page on Facebook? If your fans aren’t interacting with your posts then you more than likely aren’t solving their problems and posting content that is specific to them.

3. External References

External Referrers tracks how many times people visited your Facebook page from an external site during a select date range. It’s important for your school to know where people are finding them online. The reason this is so important is because Facebook allows for conversations and relationship building, stuff that you can’t do on a regular website.

Are you finding these metrics helpful for your college’s Facebook page? If so, have you made any changes recently based on statistics you’ve seen?

-Lauren

Check out the tips below on how to optimize your college’s Twitter presence:

1. Consistent handle and account name

You Twitter handle, which is your username, should be the name of your college or something pretty close to it (if the name of your college has been taken). It should also match other usernames your college has across all social media platforms. Your Twitter handle and account name are attached to all of your tweets, which is why it’s crucial that they reflect your college’s website and all other social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, etc.). Remember, usernames can only be 16 characters long. In the image below you will notice that our company name, Effective Student Marketing, had to be shortened. If your college’s name is too long, it will need to be shortened as well. Our Twitter handle, @EffectiveSM, also matches our account name.

2. Interesting bio

This section should describe why people should follow your college on Twitter. Include mission type statements, but remember to keep it short and simple since you only get 160 characters.

3. Consistent profile image and background

Your profile image is connected to all tweets that come from your account, which is why it’s important to use either your school’s logo or the profile image you’re using across the board. It is important to stay consistent, especially because it adds validity to your school’s account.

Your Twitter background should be creative, but also offer information to the end user. This is a good area to list the campus locations or programs offered by your college. Don’t get too sale-sy though – people are not on Twitter to be sold to! By doing this you are giving prospects an experience and feel for your college.

4. Use relevant and search engine friendly keywords

Before I go any further I want to point out again that people are not on Twitter to be sold to! That being said, people do enjoy relevant content. Know your target audience and speak to them, making their experience with your college unique. Your keywords can be the programs you offer, but don’t just tweet about enrolling in these programs. It is essential to provide content that the user can benefit from. If you have graduate success stories or even student spotlight stories those will work great! Remember to use #hashtags, too!

Conversations on Twitter are quick and to the point, but with so many users out there it’s important your school does everything it can to be found by its target audience and heard. How is your college optimizing its Twitter presence? Comment below and let us know!

-Lauren

Conversocial conducted a survey of retailers and consumers to find out how online customer service is dealt with. According to the survey of retailers, 60% of complaints and questions posted online are ignored. In addition, 30% of retailers choose specifically not to respond to questions or complaints posted on social media.

In the consumer survey, 27.3% of respondents said that being ignored by companies on social media makes them “very angry.” On top of that, 27.1% said that they would stop doing business with the offending company altogether. Ignoring these posts doesn’t mean they’re going to go away. It just gives your prospects a glimpse at how you could potentially deal with them once they become students – and it’s definitely not a pretty picture!

As prospects research schools, they’re going to come across the questions and complaints that current students and graduates are posting on social media sites. According to the survey, 88.3% of respondents said they’d be “somewhat or far less likely to do business with a company that has visibly ignored other customers’ questions or complaints on social media.”

Do you really want to risk losing prospective students just because you didn’t monitor and respond to the things being posted on social media? Facebook, Twitter, and other review sites may not seem like a big deal to your school now, but how you approach them could have a lasting impact on your school’s reputation with prospective students.

Instead of them being referred to as Sponsored Stories, they are labeled “Featured” to distinguish them from earned media messaging that users see.

One thing to keep in mind is that marketers can only pay for stories to be featured in your news feed if you have clearly “liked” their page.

Read the full article on the ClickZ blog here.

Here is a breakdown of the top 10 video content properties ranked by video views for the properties with the most unique viewers. These numbers take into consideration the progressive downloads and live streams, in addition to long-form, segmented content (source: comScore).

• Google sites (primarily YouTube): 20,933,113,000 views

• VEVO: 827,008,000

• Hulu: 791,370,000

• Microsoft sites: 661,142,000

• Yahoo sites: 551,674,000

• Viacom Digital: 540,898,000

• AOL: 410,903,000

• Facebook: 346,017,000

• Turner Digital: 223,524,000

• NBC Universal: 134,021,000

• Total: 42,593,095,000

The average length of the videos watched were 5.5 minutes. How does your school use online video to its benefit? Let us know, we’d love to hear!

-Lauren

“We’re excited and honored to be included in this year’s MarCom award winners,” said Andy Kelley, president of Effective Student Marketing. “The essay contest we held for National College is a great example of the work we do to build strong communities for our schools. The stories these students and graduates shared with us were truly inspiring – and great content for National College to have on hand.”

The campaign that Effective Student Marketing created for National College revolved around an essay contest open to National College students and graduates. Effective Student Marketing promoted the contest through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as emails and a specific contest landing page where entries could be submitted.

The contest generated over 100 entries from students and graduates. The essays explained why the participants had chosen National College and what goals they had for themselves after pursuing their educations. The contest wrapped up with several winners – one from each of the campus regions as well as a People’s Choice winner. The People’s Choice winner was chosen through a voting system that Effective Student Marketing created.

All of the entries from the National College contest can be viewed at http://www.educationalerts.com/national/contest/achieve-a-higher-degree/vote/.

The MarCom award is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. For a full list of winners, visit www.marcomawards.com.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the changes to Mashable, explaining, “Sponsored Stories are an extension of News Feed, so we think it’s natural that they appear in ticker.”

According to Mashable, the end goal of the ticker could actually be to serve as an advertising vehicle. This presents a great opportunity for your school if done the right way. Sponsored Stories can increase the visibility of these powerful news feed stories when they relate to your school. Regardless of how many page “likes” your school has, they are only a portion of the people you can reach on Facebook. Sponsored Stories broadens your reach by allowing your fans to help their friends discover your school and help connect with your campaign objectives. Like Facebook Ads, Sponsored Stories are non-disruptive and respect people’s privacy settings.

Sponsored Stories also support the content that your school posts to its Facebook page. The dynamic nature and unique algorithm behind each person’s news feed means that each person’s experience on Facebook is different. In other words, some of the people who “like” your page on Facebook don’t actually see your posts (status updates, photos, videos) in their news feeds. Sponsored Stories ensure that your fans see the valuable content that your page posts.

Sponsored Stories present a great opportunity for your school to continue building its Facebook community, retention, and potentially help enrollment numbers. The only way to be effective is to make sure that your Sponsored Stories campaign works with your overall strategy on Facebook. Also, keep in mind that results don’t happen overnight.

Is your school testing out Sponsored Stories? Let us know your thoughts and opinions below!

-Lauren

This infographic outlines what you can do to protect your personal online reputation, but many of the same principles can apply to your school. Our Reputation Management services help you track what people are saying online, where people are saying it, and what you can do to react and deal with it.

Infographic from: http://www.kbsd.com

-Cassie