30 'Nov '11 Americans Viewed 42 Billion Online Videos in October
If your college doesn’t have a YouTube channel or believe in any kind of online video marketing, then check out the statistics below. They might change your marketing department’s mind.
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
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28 'Nov '11 Effective Student Marketing Wins MarCom Award for Social Media Campaign
Effective Student Marketing was recently awarded a 2011 gold MarCom award for a social media campaign that they created for National College. This international award “recognizes outstanding creative achievement by marketing and communication professionals.” According to the MarCom Awards organization, over 6,000 entries were received from throughout the United States, Canada, and other countries.
“We’re excited and honored to be included in this year’s MarCom award winners,” said Andy Kelley, president of Effective Student Marketing. “The
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25 'Nov '11 Facebook Introduces Sponsored Stories Ticker
Your Facebook home page is getting yet another update: The News Ticker that was recently introduced will now display sponsored stories or ads.
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
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23 'Nov '11 Managing Your E-Reputation [INFOGRAPHIC]
Your online reputation can play a major role in your personal and professional life. What do people find when they Google you or your company? Are you happy with the things they’re saying? We know that people are talking about your school on the internet. It’s what you do to combat those comments and reviews that will set you apart.
This infographic outlines what you can do to protect your personal online reputation, but many of
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18 'Nov '11 Facebook Comments Are FOUR Times More Valuable Than Likes
According to EdgeRank Checker, Facebook has recently unveiled new metrics that reveal noteworthy insights on engagement.
Here’s EdgeRank’s breakdown on how comments are four times more valuable than “likes:”
• Average clicks per like: 3.103
• Average clicks per comment: 14.678
• Average clicks per impression: 0.005
So what does all of this mean? For every “like” a post receives, it gets on average 3.1 clicks. For every comment a post receives, it results on average 14.678 clicks. Ultimately this
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17 'Nov '11 Using Video Effectively Online
The video social media site YouTube is the second largest search engine on the web – and 24 hours worth of video is uploaded to the site every minute! Video is definitely a large part of the web and your school can use online videos for promotion and engagement with your prospective students, current students, and graduates. If your school decides to start using YouTube, it’s important to remember that not all videos are created
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08 'Nov '11 What the Launch of Google+ Pages Means for Your College
Google officially launched Google+ Pages yesterday – finally! The Pages allow for organizations, including colleges, to create brand personas and engage with more than 40 million people already using Google+. Even though the launch of Pages is so new, it is definitely a platform for your college to consider expanding its online presence to.
Below are some of the cool features that Google+ Pages offer that colleges should pay attention to:
• Hangouts: A one-click video chat,
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07 'Nov '11 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Landing Page
Many schools believe that they only need to drive traffic to their website and give little thought to what prospective students will encounter once they get there. Imagine that a student walks into your campus office and the first thing you do, before saying hello, is give them a 10 page pamphlet about the school’s history. Would you really expect them to read it?
By landing visitors on an unoptimized landing page, you’re essentially doing the
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31 'Oct '11 How Cell Phones Shape the Lives of College Students [INFOGRAPHIC]
The majority of college students today use smartphones. This has obviously changed the classroom dynamic. Nearly all students text everyday (94%). In fact, 97% of students say they use their smartphones for social networking. Find out how cell phones are shaping the lives of college students in this great infographic:
Created by: HackCollege
How have smartphones changed the dynamic in your classroom? We’d love to know!
-Lauren
21 'Oct '11 Tips for Writing a Blog for Your Career College
Career colleges that “get it” are already blogging, or are at least thinking about launching a blog in the near future. A blog allows prospective students to see the unique personality and atmosphere your college offers. A few more reasons your college would benefit from a blog is for search engine rankings and it the fact that it provides fresh, relevant content for your school’s various social media sites. The problem most schools have is
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20 'Oct '11 Engagement is Key When Recruiting Prospective Students
Pretty brochures and a glamorous website no longer do the trick in getting students to enroll at your school. To stand out above the competition, your college needs to make sure it’s engaging with prospective students via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and a blog. In today’s world students are no longer making their decision on where to attend school based on your college’s website. They are checking out the Facebook page to
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19 'Oct '11 Top 5 Reasons a Student Selects a College [INFOGRAPHIC]
Do you know what your prospective students are worried about when they’re researching a college or university? This infographic outlines the road map that students follow, based on a study conducted by Bentley University. It probably comes as no surprise that job placement, tuition, and financial aid are major factors in the decision making process.
How can you best position your marketing to share this information with your prospective students? While your own email, social media,
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12 'Oct '11 3 Reasons Your School Needs A Blog Now
A blog can be a great addition to your school’s website, so long as you’re dedicated to writing posts regularly. It’s a great way to keep your website up-to-date with new content, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Here are some other great benefits to having a school blog:
04 'Oct '11 Google and Facebook Announce New Ad Formats
At this week’s Advertising Week event in New York, both Google and Facebook have announced new ad formats that it hopes will increase engagement between consumers and brands.
Google said that almost a third of their advertisers are now using enhanced ad formats—like Media Ads, which put video into search ads, or Location Extensions, which attach a business address. Now, the company is planning to introduce yet another enhanced ad format. According to Bloomberg, Google is
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26 'Sep '11 Facebook Changes: Everything You Need to Know
Facebook is yet again rolling out new changes. There have been a lot changes recently… so many that it has been hard to keep track! The changes that are in the process of rolling out are important though – you will definitely need to pay attention since they are going to impact your college’s Facebook presence and how you engage with your fans.
Here’s a guide to the Facebook changes that are taking place:
• Facebook Timeline
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20 'Sep '11 How Your College Can Use Twitter
Twitter has become a popular communications tool for all kinds of organizations, including colleges. The social networking platform is popular for real-time news and short conversations (the character limit for a tweet is 140).
Here are some ideas for different Twitter accounts your school may benefit from by creating:
• Main Twitter account for the college
• Individual campus accounts
• Different departments throughout the college (i.e. Career Services, Student Accounts, Admissions, and Financial Aid)
• By program/industry
• Student council
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14 'Sep '11 Inbound Marketing Summit 2011 – Quick Social Media Tips and Tricks
Here are a few quick tips we picked up from day 1 of the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, MA:
- It’s important to differentiate your brand or school. Successful brands find the genius in their negatives.
- Write the most interesting thing in the employment section of your Google+ profile. This is what people first see and judge you on.
- The future of websites is personalized search engines. The content will be completely targeted and segmented
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13 'Sep '11 Effective Student Marketing and National College Use Social Media to Promote CareerFest 2011
Effective Student Marketing, Inc. will be attending and “live-tweeting” from CareerFest 2011 in Salem, Virginia on Tuesday, September 13, 2011 on behalf of National College. The job fair is being held at the Salem Civic Center from 10 AM to 3 PM.
CareerFest 2011 is an annual event put on by The Roanoke Times. This year, National College is playing a large role in the event, offering educational seminars for job
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09 'Sep '11 The Past, Present, and Future of Email [INFOGRAPHIC]
Email has transformed the way we interact on a daily basis. This infographic below takes you on a tour of Microsoft Outlook through some key turning points in the history of email. Take a look at some of the ways it has affected businesses, technology, and culture over the past few decades:
-Lauren
02 'Sep '11 The Growth of Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]
The growth of social media over this past year prove that social media is not “just a fad.” In fact, it continues to confirm that communication methods are continuing to shift. Can your school keep up? Here are some statistics to show you that it is no longer an option to be on social media:
• A year ago the fastest growing segment of users for Facebook was middle-aged women. Today the fastest growing segment of
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26 'Aug '11 What Facebook’s Latest Updates Mean for Your School
This past week, Facebook announced some major changes to privacy and publishing controls for individual user profiles. In addition to that, they announced new tagging and sharing functionality. The changes, more than a dozen in all, fall into two areas – privacy changes to user profiles and changes to how users share content. Strategy for reaching your school’s audience will be changing yet again, but for the better.
Sharing Your School’s Content
Facebook’s Publisher bar has been
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24 'Aug '11 Using QR Codes to Build Relationships with Students, Graduates, and Prospects
A year ago, the majority of people had no idea what a Quick Response (QR) code was. This past year, the question remained – would they be the next best thing or would they flop? Today QR codes are appearing everywhere from TV commercials to print ads, email signatures, and even on consumer information tags on food in the grocery store. Some people have even gone as far as tattooing QR codes permanently on their
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22 'Aug '11 5 Social Media Ideas for Back to School Season
As we approach the peak of “Back to School” season, you may be tempted to begin flooding your Facebook page, Twitter account, and other social media sites with last minute class start reminders and admissions announcements. Rather than turn your social media sites into a mess of sales pitches and impersonal announcements, turn it into a welcoming space for returning, new, and prospective students. Here are five social media ideas for “back to school” season:
1.
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18 'Aug '11 Is Your School Integrating Social Media into its Marketing Plan Successfully?
If your school has a Facebook and Twitter presence, great. If your school is keeping up with its social media on a daily basis, even better! Now ask yourself this question: Is your school integrating social media into its marketing plan successfully?
Your marketing department today should be thinking of different ways it can build assets. Important assets to build upon are a blog for your school, social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn,
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We’re Hiring: Google Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing Specialist
Effective Student Marketing is currently looking for a full-time, creative, self-motivated Google Pay Per Click Advertising and Search Engine Marketing Specialist to generate more online traffic for our clients. We are looking for individuals who have solid search marketing experience including knowledge of web analytics, conversion rates , ROI and media buying. Also, candidates should have an insatiable curiosity for the marketing process, love new technologies, possess a can-do approach to problem solving, and
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11 'Aug '11 How Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Tumblr Stack Up [INFOGRAPHIC]
New social media networks are frequently popping up. Keeping up with them can be overwhelming, but most of the time it’s crucial. Your school needs to be taking advantage of every necessary social media network out there. I’m not saying your school should have a presence on every single platform, only the ones that make sense (this is not a one size fits all). Understanding what each site can and can’t do is important, since
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08 'Aug '11 You Are What You Tweet [INFOGRAPHIC]
Infographics are great for sharing statistics and other info in an eye-catching way. Now you can create your own infographic based on your own Twitter information using visua.ly. You can even compare yourself to other Twitter users and see how you stack up! Here’s an infographic all about our company Twitter account, @EffectiveSM.
-Cassie
04 'Aug '11 5 Tips for Managing Your School’s Social Media Sites
In today’s world, your school needs an online presence beyond just its website. Your prospective students are social media savvy and they’re turning to these platforms in order to make informed decisions regarding their education. If your school is already active on various social media sites – that’s great! But now you’re probably figuring out that you need some help managing all of these multiple channels. Can you imagine what would happen if you gave everyone in your department administration rights, without giving them some sort of direction first? Scary thought, isn’t it?
02 'Aug '11 The Past 25 Years of Email in a Nutshell
Did you know that to join an email list prior to 1986, users had to wait for someone to adjust the code to include them? Eric Thomas found that to be un-computerized for a computerized system, which is why he created Listserv. Listserv was the first automated email-list-management software. Today it is still used to send group emails, but many more of them! Each day about 30 million emails are deployed using the software. Here
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01 'Aug '11 What Does Your School’s Online Reputation Look Like?
Your school’s reputation is no longer determined by word of mouth; as the internet explodes with consumers accessing it through cell phones and wireless hotspots, more and more people have come to depend on the opinions of their online peers instead of their neighbor down the street. A study conducted by GroupM Research found that over half of consumers look to the web before making purchase decisions and 90% of consumers trust what others say
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22 'Jul '11 Google+: A Helpful Guide for College Students and Teachers
Everyone is talking about Google+ these days! The newly launched social networking platform is similar to Facebook in someways, but definitely has some unique features to it. One of the questions I keep hearing is, “Should I bother with it?” My answer, in short, is yes! Here are some of the features and benefits to Google+ that I foresee being beneficial to college students and teachers:
Circles: Circles allow you to segment your connections into a
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15 'Jul '11 What Makes People Want To Follow Brands [Infographic]
As you dive into social media for your school, you may be wondering why people would ever consider following you, or any other brand or company. This infographic will show you what makes people follow your brand and provide you with insight for future content and interactions.
14 'Jul '11 Is Your College’s Social Media Presence Beyond the ‘Beginner’ Level?
You have probably noticed that the majority of schools, companies, businesses, and organizations have a social media presence at this point. It actually seems less common to not have a presence nowadays. Hopefully as you read this, you are relieved thinking that your school is up and running on these platforms. Establishing a presence was the first breakthrough though. The next step was getting in a pattern of posting fresh and relevant content in a
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08 'Jul '11 Class of 2011: What If Social Media Were a High School? [INFOGRAPHIC]
Generally, when people hear the words “social media,” Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn are the first platforms to come to mind. This is no surprise, as these are some of the most popular social media sites out there. The infographic below is a great way to get familiar with other social media sites you might not know as well yet. The sites are displayed in high school yearbook format, which best explains the ‘personality’ of
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07 'Jul '11 New Facebook Features Pack Potential for Schools
On Wednesday, Facebook announced the launch of some interesting new products. Three to be exact – group chat, a new design for the existing chat, and video calling. So what will these new changes mean for your school’s Facebook page? With the products just rolling out, it’s too soon to tell, but they certainly pack a lot of potential.
During his introduction to these new products, CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave his opinion on the state of
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06 'Jul '11 Social Media & Higher Education: What’s Next?
In the first decade of social media’s existence, who would have guessed that it would have a surprising effect on higher education? Advances in social media programming and the launch of communication tools such as Skype have made it possible for students to heighten their learning experiences and expand their job hunts.
Social media dominates the internet as the #1 web activity, and professors have taken note. Twitter has become an educational outlet in classrooms at
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29 'Jun '11 How Facebook & Twitter Impacts Your School’s Page Rank
We’ve covered the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) in previous blog posts, but things have changed again, as they often do in the world of SEO. The most significant change is that now your site’s placement on search engine results will be influenced by the reach of your social media networks. Having social media influence is now a competitive advantage in SEO.
If you’re trying to generate leads for your school, it’s fundamental that your
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22 'Jun '11 Effective Student Marketing Joins the Education Marketing Council
President of Effective Student Marketing Inc., Andy Kelley, is the newest member of the Education Marketing Council, an organization which aims to help its members market their institutions more effectively, while adhering to a code of ethical standards. With the Education Department’s strict new regulations on career and for-profit colleges scheduled to take effect on July 1, and the mass confusion which has resulted, the timing of this new partnership is crucial.
On June 2, the
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16 'Jun '11 Effective Student Marketing Releases Career Services eBook
Effective Student Marketing’s new eBook, “17 Tips for Connecting Career Services and Social Media” was released at the APSCU Annual Convention in Texas. The eBook was announced as part of Effective Student Marketing’s breakout session, “How Social Media and Online Communities Can Lead to Gainful Employment for Your Students.”
“We’re strong believers in using social media wherever it will help your students and graduates,” said Andy Kelley, president of Effective
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14 'Jun '11 Random Web Marketing Tip – Maximize Your PPC Display URLs
If you’re running PPC Ads for your school, or your marketing agency is, take a look at the URLs that display in your ads. You may find that often times, there are opportunities to improve them and/or test different versions.
The display URLs of PPC ads are one of their most under-utilized elements, and can present an opportunity to include an additional keyword, further qualifying a click and potential lead.
Here are the basic components of a
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13 'Jun '11 The Importance of Expanding Your School’s Career Services Department to Social Media
The Effective Student Marketing team recently presented “How Social Media and Online Communities Can Lead to Gainful Employment for Your Students” at APSCU (Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities). We also launched our newest eBook, ”17 Tips to Connect Career Services & Social Media.” This blog post works parallel with our eBook, so be sure to download it here.
Your school’s Career Services Department plays an important role in assisting students and graduates with their job
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10 'Jun '11 Recap of APSCU (Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities) Convention
Our team attended APSCU (Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities) Convention from June 5, 2011 through June 8, 2011. We experienced a lot in the three days we were there! From our presentation on “How Social Media and Online Communities Can Lead to Gainful Employment for Your Students” to the Beach Boys concert, it’s safe to say we had an eventful week! We also announced the launch of our eBook,”17 Tips to Connect Career
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07 'Jun '11 Effective Student Marketing, Inc. To Present at ASPCU Annual Convention
On Tuesday, June 7, 2011, Andy Kelley, President of Effective Student Marketing, Inc., will be presenting at the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities 2011 Annual Convention and Expo in Grapevine, Texas. Kelley’s presentation is titled “How Social Media and Online Communities Can Lead to Gainful Employment for Your Students,” and is designed to help schools expand the services that career and alumni relations departments offer.
“We’ve realized that the way students
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02 'Jun '11 Some Things You Didn’t Know About Twitter
Simple and powerful, Twitter is a free tool that the higher education world should be utilizing. In fact, back in March 2009, Nielsen Online reported that Twitter surpassed Facebook as the fastest-growing social networking site… ever. Of course, there is a common misconception that it is just a site for pushing breaking news about what’s happening on your campus, but it’s actually a community where relationships can be formed between students, alumni, faculty, and staff.
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31 'May '11 How College Professors Use Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC]
Social media is playing a bigger role in college education more than ever before. In fact, college professors actually social media! A recent Pearson survey of nearly 2,000 college faculty shows that just about all college professors use social media and that most of them even use it to teach! Check out these interesting statistics on how social media is successfully on its way to becoming a new teaching tool:
• 91% of college faculty
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12 'May '11 Random Web Marketing Tip – Add Links to Your YouTube Video Descriptions
If you have any videos for your school, hopefully you’ve put them up on YouTube, and you have your own channel. When adding them, make sure you write a compelling description so users know what the video is about, and can find it while searching.
Aside from getting exposure for your school when someone watches your videos, you can also help direct them back to your site by including a link in the description.
Here’s an example
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10 'May '11 10 Shocking Facebook Stats Your School Should See
1. Social Networking is the number one online activity in the U.S. A year ago, it was email.
2. The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
3. Three out of four U.S. internet users visit Facebook every month.
4. Facebook accounts for one quarter of all U.S. page views. In fact, it receives 3% more web visits and almost five times more page views than Google.
5. The average user spends 25 minutes per day on Facebook.
6. Facebook now
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29 'Apr '11 How Social Media is Changing Education [INFOGRAPHIC]
Almost everywhere there is a sign, a text message, or an ad that says, “Like us on Facebook” or “Follow us on Twitter!” Social media has spread to almost all aspects of our lives – from corporate America to shopping – and now to higher education. The shift in communication continues to evolve and create new opportunities for learning and teaching. Here are some interesting facts on how colleges are leveraging social media inside and outside
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25 'Apr '11 The Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page
The first thing you need to understand is why landing pages are important for your school. Wikipedia defines a landing page as a lead capture page that appears when a potential customer (or student) clicks on an advertisement or a search-engine result link. The page will usually display content that is an extension of the advertisement or link, which is optimized to feature specific keywords or phrases for indexing by search.
From a school’s standpoint, a
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22 'Apr '11 Facebook’s Like Button Turns One!
It seems as though Facebook’s Like Button has been around much longer than one year, doesn’t it? As the world’s most popular “button” celebrated its one year mark yesterday, Facebook released some interesting usage statistics. The Like Button is a big part of the evolving web, and these statistics prove just that:
1. 10,000 websites integrate with Facebook each day
2. More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook (including more than 80 of comScore’s U.S.
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20 'Apr '11 How Social Media is Reshaping College Admissions [INFOGRAPHIC]
Social media is a shift in communication. It is reshaping your school’s admissions department, whether you realize it or not. Here are what college admissions officers reported:
• 80% of college admissions officers report using Facebook as a tool in their recruiting process
• The three social networks admissions officers use the most in their recruiting efforts are Facebook (82%), Twitter (56%), and YouTube (56%)
• 80% of admissions officers reported receiving a friend request from an applicant
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14 'Apr '11 10 Reasons Your School Should Be Blogging
1. Blogging gives your school a voice: There are so many schools out there for students to chose from, how can your school stand apart from the crowd?
2. Content marketing: Content is what it’s all about! Use students, alumni, faculty, your marketing and admissions team, or even an outsourced company to develop original, fresh content about your school. Try something new like videos, white papers, and infographics. Have fun with it.
3. Search engine candy: Blogs
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12 'Apr '11 What is Search Engine Optimization and Why Is It Important?
While we’ve mentioned Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a few times, there hasn’t been a post exclusively describing what it is and how it can help your school. As an SEO guru myself, I thought it would be appropriate to write a post that would do exactly that.
SEO is a practice used to get your site to show up higher in search engine results (the three major engines are Google, Yahoo, and Bing). Some of SEO
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11 'Apr '11 5 Myths About Facebook
There is a lot more to social media than Facebook, we all know that. But for schools, it’s nearly always the first step to a successful media campaign, and for good reason. That’s where your students are.
Global stats on top social sites in March 2011:
• Facebook 71%
• Stumble Upon 16%
• Twitter 4%
.
USA stats on top social sites in March 2011:
• Facebook 64%
• Stumble Upon 26%
• Twitter 3%
.
Source: Statcounter Global stats.
We see
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06 'Apr '11 Statistics Your School’s Marketing Department Needs to Know
Marketing has changed drastically over the past few years as social media sites and mobile technologies have turned into mainstream necessities.
Today, there are still many schools that aren’t buying into this new type of marketing, which is referred to as inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is when your leads find your school; your school doesn’t find them. If your school hasn’t bought into the social media hype and can’t convince the marketing to change its ways,
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04 'Apr '11 Google’s Collateral Damage [INFOGRAPHIC]
Have you ever wondered about how Google’s algorithm shapes the web?
Infographic by SEO Book
-Lauren
01 'Apr '11 Effective Student Marketing is Excited About Google AdWords New Blimp Ads!
Today, Google announced that they will launch a new advertising format in May: Blimp Ads. Andy Kelley, President of Effective Student Marketing, was very eager to weigh in on Google’s innovative approach.
“I am so excited about this new form of advertising from Google. At first I was a bit nervous about this new medium. How would people actually click on the ad? I was afraid that poor attempts to click the ad, like using a
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31 'Mar '11 Generation Facebook & Transcript from #HigherEdChat 3/30/11
As we stated in an earlier post, the world is obsessed with Facebook. Right now 31% of the people on Facebook are between the ages of 18-24. Even a low, but surprising 4%, are 65 and older!
In our recent #HigherEdChat on March 30, 2011, we discussed Facebook in higher education. Students are now considered the Facebook Generation, and reasonably so. Discussing topics such as; Facebook being a “billboard” versus an engagement tool and barriers that
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25 'Mar '11 Mobile By the Numbers [INFOGRAPHIC]
The majority of people these days have cell phones. It isn’t strange to see a 10 year old walking down the street with one anymore. Do you ever wonder what the data is on how many people have smart phones? Or which demographic is the most active group in mobile socialization? It’s not teenagers, we can tell you that much!
Here are statistics on the present and future of mobile marketing:
-Lauren
24 'Mar '11 Student Ambassadors and Transcript from #HigherEdChat 3/23/11
Whether it’s someone you designate, recruit, volunteer, or someone who just steps up to the plate, it is important to have real-life representation of your school. Student ambassadors are often outstanding students who volunteer support to promote the school’s image to prospective students, alumni, and friends. These student ambassadors can assist the school in promoting and continuing to advance spirit, pride and tradition among all students, staff and faculty.
In March 23rd’s #HigherEdChat, we discussed school’s
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Social Media and College Admissions: Higher-Ed Beats Business in Adoption of New Tools for Third Year [STUDY]
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research recently released the latest edition of the study “Social Media and College Admissions: Higher-Ed Beats Business in Adoption of New Tools for Third Year.” The study compares data from 2007, 2008, and 2009 and examines the fundamental question “How does a college or university recruit in this new, highly networked, constantly ‘on’ world?” How does your school compare to the findings?
95% of college admissions offices use
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21 'Mar '11 Social Media Demographics: Who is Using Which Sites? [INFOGRAPHIC]
Have you ever wondered what the demographics of social media sites are? Here is a great infographic that displays who is using which social media site and why, broken down by:
-Education level
-Income level
-Age
Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application
Of course no data is perfect. In order to get the best results, you should take this data and combine it with your own experiences.
-Lauren
17 'Mar '11 Is Your Admissions Team Feeling Lucky? 7 Educational Facts about St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day: All started with a little missionary from Britain who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. Through history, St. Patty’s Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: the color green, shamrocks, and luck.
4-Leaf Clover: According to the legend, each of the four leaves represents something; hope, faith, love, luck.
Leprechauns: Irish folklore states that if you catch a Leprechaun, you are
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15 'Mar '11 3 Tips for Adjusting to New Facebook Pages
If your school currently has a Facebook page, you may have noticed that the features and functionality of it have changed over the last few weeks. We dug a little deeper than Facebook’s “tour” of these changes and discovered just what the changes will mean for your school. Here’s a rundown of the new features and functionality, and how your school can take advantage of them.
Tabs That Aren’t “Tabs” Anymore
Across the top of your page,
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10 'Mar '11 The World is Obsessed with Facebook! Is Your School on There?
If you haven’t already figured it out, the world is obsessed with Facebook! Do you know what that means? Your school better have an official presence on there that is managed all day, everyday. Having a Facebook page that is idle shows your prospects, students, graduates, and the rest of the world that your school doesn’t care. The page needs to be monitored on a daily basis and relevant information needs to be posted, too.
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03 'Mar '11 Your School’s Online Influence and Full Transcript from #HigherEdChat 3/2/11
Influence is defined as “implicit or explicit effect of one thing (or person) on another,” which online can be further simplified to “can someone’s words (and/or video/blog/tweets/posts, etc) make you think or do something?” Also, recently, Klout defined influence as: “The ability to drive measurable actions across the social web.” According to Mashable, influence is mathematically expressed as:
Influence = (Personal Brand * Trust * Expertise)
Of course, since Expertise = (Knowledge * Trust), we can further
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28 'Feb '11 Bridging the Gap 2011 – Integrating SEO into Your School’s Marketing Plan
At Bridging the Gap 2011 – Social Media Conference , which took place at Suffolk University, I had the opportunity to listen to Eric Enge speak on integrating search engine optimization (SEO) into your organization’s marketing plan. He shared a lot of valuable information which can (and should be) be applied to your school’s social media strategy.
What Are Search Engines?
Search engines are software programs with a big job. They crawl one trillion websites, perform semantic
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25 'Feb '11 Bridging the Gap 2011 – The Mystery of Social Media ROI
At Bridging the Gap 2011 – Social Media Conference , which took place at Suffolk University, I had the opportunity to learn about social media ROI. Paul Gillin, author of The New Influencers, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, and Social Marketing to the Business Customer, was the presenter on this topic.
Basics of Social Media ROI
Your school’s Facebook page may have 2,500 “likes” or your school’s Twitter account may have 15,000 followers, but these numbers are
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24 'Feb '11 Bridging the Gap 2011 – The Importance of Your School’s Facebook Presence
At the Bridging the Gap 2011 – Social Media Conference at Suffolk University, I was fortunate enough to listen to Dan Zarrella and Brian Simpson’s Expert Panel on Facebook. Zarrella is a Social Media Scientist and Inbound Marketing Manager at Hubspot. Simpson is the Director of Digital Media and Digital Social Hospitality at Vikram Chatwal Hotels. Though they don’t work in the higher education industry, everything they spoke about applies to your school’s presence on
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23 'Feb '11 Bridging the Gap 2011 – How Your School Should Be Using Social Media
I had the opportunity to attend Bridging the Gap 2011 – Social Media Conference at Suffolk University last week. I was fortunate to sit in front of some of the most knowledgeable people in social media. Since I learned a lot of valuable information, I will be writing a blog entry for each speaker/panel from the event. Since Effective Student Marketing is in the education industry, I am applying what I learned to that.
The event’s Academic
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22 'Feb '11 Bridging The Gap 2011 – Social Media Conference at Suffolk University
I had the opportunity to attend Bridging The Gap 2011 – Social Media Conference at Suffolk University last week. The conference worked to connect academia and real world practices, strengthen the connection between the frameworks preached in schools, and the practical application being used in organizations. I was fortunate to sit in front of some of the most knowledgeable people in social media. I will be writing a blog post about this, but first I wanted to share
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17 'Feb '11 Transcript from #HigherEdChat 2/16/11: Student Retention and Social Media
All times are Pacific Time (via WTHashtag)
9:03 pm
EffectiveBizDev:
Welcome to #HigherEdChat February 16, 2011!! Let’s take a few for introductions
9:03 pm
EffectiveBizDev:
@CelsiusMI Yay!!! So excited to have you back in actions #higheredchat
9:05 pm
CelsiusMI:
Hi #higheredchat – Name: Christina | Company: Celsius Marketing | Marketing & Advertising for members of the #4profit #highered industry
9:05 pm
eeegeee:
#HigherEdChat starts now! Follow @EffectiveBizDev to join in ;-D
9:05 pm
EffectiveBizDev:
@CelsiusMI anddd now I know your name is Christina! #higheredchat
10 'Feb '11 Transcript from #HigherEdChat 2/9/11: Career Services and Social Media
A school’s Career Services Department should provide the resources and strategies to students for things like; choosing a program of study, developing career plans, creating a resume, finding internships and full-time jobs, contacting alumni, and making successful career transitions. In yesterday’s chat, we discussed, more specifically, integration between Career Services and Social Media; Does your Career Services Department have a defined presence online, the benefits to having this online presence, how to promote these
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07 'Feb '11 8 Things Every Higher Ed Marketer Should Know
Recently, I came across an article by Scott Brinker titled, “8 Things Every Marketing Technologist Should Know.” The article examined the term “marketing technologist”, which is sometimes broadly interpreted as anyone who exerts technology in the field of marketing. However, since Brinker believes everyone in marketing should be doing that to some degree these days; it makes sense to differentiate what a marketing technologist does above and beyond that.
He drafted a set of skills: the
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28 'Jan '11 Mobile Marketing in Higher Education (and Transcript from #HigherEdChat 1/26/11)
Gordon Plutsky, Director of Marketing and Research at King Fish Media in Boston, wrote a very popular blog titled, “4 ways to gain new customers with mobile marketing”. It got me thinking about the ways mobile marketing can help get new enrollments for schools.
With the rise of social media, it is no surprise that mobile marketing is one of the newest and hottest innovative trends involved. According to Morgan Stanley Research, the estimated sales of
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20 'Jan '11 Transcript from #HigherEdChat 1/19/11: Your School’s “New” Marketing Department
All times are Pacific Time (via WTHashtag)
.
January 19, 2011
8:52 pm
EffectiveBizDev:
Big question: WILL @TweetChat work for #HigherEdChat today?! Womp womp….
8:57 pm
EffectiveBizDev:
Here we goooo! Getting ready to start in 5 minutes! #HigherEdChat
8:59 pm
cuferg:
In a meeting for a bit, then hoping to catch the last half of #higheredchat.
9:00 pm
EffectiveBizDev:
Today’s topic is: “Your ‘New’ Marketing Department” #HigherEdChat
9:02 pm
EffectiveBizDev:
@tkarow #higheredchat right now?
9:04 pm
EffectiveBizDev:
Welcome, everyone! Let’s take a few minutes for
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18 'Jan '11 Toyota: Reputation… Managed. [CASE STUDY]
Almost a year ago, a recorded sum of more than eight million cars were recalled by the crème-de-la-crème of automobile companies, Toyota Motor Corporation. What started off as some sticky floor mats and grew to faulty pedals, the recalls were a problem that expanded quickly for Toyota.
Predictably, various blogs, forums, review and news websites (to name a few) started pinpointing Toyota. This could have been a total disaster for the company, however, Toyota managed its
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12 'Jan '11 Transcript from #HigherEdChat 1/12/11: Reputation Management & Your School’s Brand Image
Whether people are talking about you on Facebook or somewhere else, the fact is, they’re going to talk. (And they don’t always give your school a glowing review.) Every school gets complaints, but the way you handle these complaints can separate your school from the competition:
1. Do you have someone monitoring what people say about your school (or company)?
2. How do you handle negative comments/complaints about your school?
3. People always focus on the negative –
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06 'Jan '11 Transcript from #HigherEdChat 1/5/11: Social Media in Higher Education
All times are Pacific Time (via WTHashtag)
8:52 pm EffectiveBizDev: 8 minutes!! Today’s topic: #SocialMedia in #HigherEd… New year, new moves! #higheredchat
8:57 pm EffectiveSM: RT @EffectiveBizDev: 8 minutes!! Today’s topic: #SocialMedia in #HigherEd… New year, new moves! #higheredchat
8:58 pm EffectiveSM: Who is participating in our #HigherEdChat? #highered
9:01 pm AntonelliOhio: Hello #HigherEdChat! Sending warm wishes from chilly Ohio!
9:01 pm dstevenwhite: Confirming that I’m here and ready for a great chat! #HigherEdChat
9:02 pm EffectiveBizDev: Starting now
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How to Participate in a Twitter Chat
Twitter chats offer a valuable way to meet people with similar interests and share insights into specific areas of expertise. Effective Student Marketing hosts a live weekly Twitter chat to discuss and explore for-profit higher education marketing topics and issues. Here’s how to participate in #HigherEdChat, every Wednesday night at 4pm ET starting January 5, 2011:
Step 1: Find and use the hashtag, #HigherEdChat
Using the hashtag symbol (#), followed by a name or abbreviation,
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03 'Jan '11 Your School’s Resolutions
New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be strictly personal – they can carry over to your school’s goals for 2011 too! As we kick off a new year, here are three resolutions that every school should consider keeping this year:
1. Save money.
Don’t let your hard-earned (and sometimes expensive) leads disappear after the admissions department has stopped contacting them. Use email marketing to stay in touch and recycle leads that you’ve already paid for. Reactivated leads
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30 'Dec '10 Happy New Year from Effective Student Marketing
Happy New Year from Effective Student Marketing!
Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!
Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!
29 'Dec '10 5 Online Marketing/Admissions Mistakes Your School Should Avoid in 2011
1. Assuming You Don’t Need to Be Concerned With Your School’s Online Presence
I listen to school owners all the time that don’t believe they should be worried about their school’s online presence. There is also a lot of talk about how social media is just a “fad” or a “scam”. The first place student’s look for a school is online. If they can’t find you than no one else can either. And if
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23 'Dec '10 Economics Behind Holiday Gift Giving
I am taking our blog completely off topic in the spirit of Christmas! I read something very interesting on WePay.com this morning about holiday misgivings and the surprising personal economics behind it all.
Behavioral studies show that individuals place a lower value (up to 18%) on items they receive as gifts than the value of the same item they purchase themselves. People mentally mark items down in their heads because they are gifts. See the infographic
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22 'Dec '10 Creating Online College Communities Using Social Media
It is safe to assume the average person knows that social media is about building a community. But what does that really mean? Sure you can build one Facebook page for your school and call that your “community,” but there is so much more potential to expand. The answer is not one size fits all and the fact that every school is different must to be taken into consideration when breaking down the different communities
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16 'Dec '10 Why You Should Be Integrating Email with Social Media
No matter what you are thinking right now, email is NOT dead. In fact, emails that provide users with sharing options on social media sites actually drive a significant increase in click-through rates (CTR), according to a recent study done by GetResponse, an email marketing firm.
The study of 500 million emails sent out using the service found that emails that included sharing options (i.e. a “Share this on Facebook” button or a “tweet this” button)
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14 'Dec '10 Is Your Website Selling Your School?
*Note: For this post, I am focusing on career schools and colleges and prospective students of these schools
The main goal of a website is to sell a product or a service. Yes, it is also to expand the online presence of the brand (or in this case the school) and educate the user, but these are only pieces to the puzzle.
Since career schools and colleges have various start dates throughout the year, they focus on
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10 'Dec '10 Engage Your Facebook Fans with a Short and Sweet Status Update
Here at Effective Student Marketing I work with a few different schools and their Facebook pages. I am in communication on a daily basis with all of the schools I work with and one of the most common topics of conversation that comes up is different ways to create interaction and engagement on the Facebook page.
At Effective Student Marketing we are always brainstorming new ideas to present to our clients on how to continue the
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09 'Dec '10 Breaking News: Facebook Page Bug – These Will Impact Your School or Company Page
I wanted to share Facebook’s newest change, one that is only a few hours old and a surprise to all – Such a surprise that I currently have come across only one article explaining these changes.
Just a few hours ago Facebook rolled out a new privacy setting that is going to seriously impact Facebook page administrators and the ability to respond to comments posted by fans of the page. If a commenter has their privacy
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08 'Dec '10 Effective Student Marketing Spreads Holiday Cheer as a Toys for Tots Drop-off Location
Effective Student Marketing, Inc. has become an official drop-off location for the United States Marine Corps. Toys for Tots holiday drive. Donations are being collected at 2 Dundee Park, Suite 302A, Andover, Massachusetts. All of the toys donated will be distributed to families in need, helping make the holidays a little brighter for local children.
In addition to helping families in their hometown, Effective Student Marketing will also be spreading their goodwill to the communities where
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06 'Dec '10 How Long Will Your School Have to Wait to Integrate Social Media?
Recently, there has been some discussion amongst school owners referring to social media as a “scam” or a “fad”. The general belief is that there are no measurable outcomes concerning the use of student marketing and the potential growth of their business. The general consensus of the group is that they will be unable to successfully integrate it into your school’s overall marketing plan to create the most effective marketing outcomes.
There is a new article
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24 'Nov '10 If the Pilgrim’s had Social Media…
It’s hard to remember life without cell phones, computers, internet and even social networking. It’s amazing that technology has become a place where a seventeen year-old high school student can have an idea for a website, program it in three days, and quickly turn it into an online social networking craze used by millions. Aka: the invention of “Chatroulette”.
And how about the evolution of social media. Online social interactions and building relationships through the use
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23 'Nov '10 Does Your School’s Website Keep the Goals of External Users in Mind?
So your school has a website – great! But when deciding what content is placed on there are you using an internal view or an external view?
It is important to always keep the views of external users in mind. What are the people who are visiting the website looking for and how can we make it convenient for them? Let’s use the homepage of a school’s website for an example. If I were the
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19 'Nov '10 Effective Student Marketing Presented Live Webinar to Schools
Effective Student Marketing presented a live webinar, ‘How to Leverage Email with Social Media and Text Messaging’ and provided attendees with informative tips on how to integrate internet tools and techniques to get the most out of their marketing investment.
Andover, MA (PRWEB) November 19, 2010 – Effective Student Marketing, Inc. currently helps schools across the country use email, social, and mobile marketing to turn engaged leads into enrollments. With over twenty years of experience, the
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16 'Nov '10 Dos and Don’ts of Email Marketing
Finding prospective students is a major investment for your school. Your marketing and advertising dollars work hard to bring in leads, which are then funneled off to your admissions representatives. But what happens if the prospect doesn’t enroll immediately? Your admissions representatives move on to new, “hot” leads, and forget about those who were interested one, two, or even six, months ago. If you’re not staying in touch with those older leads, you’re throwing away
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04 'Nov '10 Does Your School Have an Online Community?
Does your school provide a social networking community for current students, prospective students, and graduates? OK, let’s rephrase that. Does your school have a social networking community that provides new content on a regular basis and engages with students, prospective students, and graduates?
Social media is not a fad and not going away anytime soon. It is a tool for real-time management, which means being involved at the moment things are happening. Social media benefits not
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02 'Nov '10 Faculty and Staff Need to be Involved in Your School’s Social Media Campaign
Social media is an extremely powerful marketing tool, especially for schools. Most schools are taking advantage of this but are missing a key factor: involving faculty and staff members.
Faculty and staff are the face of the school. These are the people that interact with the students (clients of the school) on a daily basis. They are responsible for the success of the students during the time they attend the school and beyond. The advantage
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30 'Oct '10 Effective Student Marketing to Promote Integration of E-mail with Social Media and Text Messaging at AACS Conference
Effective Student Marketing will be exhibiting at the Annual American Association of Cosmetology School’s Fall Management Conference from October 30 – November 1, 2010. Effective Student Marketing will provide schools with information on how to integrate e-mail, social media, and text messaging to get the most for their marketing investment, as well as offer attendees a chance to win a free, Flip digital camcorder.
21 'Oct '10 Your Students Are Talking About You, Even If You’re Not Listening
“This school is a rip-off!”
“Don’t attend this school – it’s not worth it!”
“The teachers at this school are awful!”
“This school won’t help me find a job!”
A fear of posts like these may be keeping your school from using social media to connect with your students, graduates, and prospects. While you may think that by avoiding social media, you’re avoiding comments like these, that isn’t the case. People will find a way to say what they
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13 'Oct '10 Effective Student Marketing Merges Social, Email, and Mobile Marketing at CAPPS 2010
Andy Kelley, president of Effective Student Marketing, Inc., will be helping attendees of the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) conference learn how to incorporate social media, email, and mobile marketing into their current marketing strategies. The presentation will held on Thursday, October 14th, from 1:45 to 2:45 PM.
“95% of your inquiries don’t enroll in the first 30 to 60 days, but most admissions representatives stop contacting prospects after 30 days,” explained Kelley. “We
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