RESOURCES

SchoolAdminsights Blog Tips and Tricks for Admissions Teams

The Conflicted Admissions Officer: Build Relationships

or Manage the Admissions Funnel?

3 Admissions Software Solutions that can Really Save

Time

4 Ways Admissions can Connect More Personally with More

Prospects

3 Simple Steps to Social Media for School Admissions

Online Applications are the #1 thing

parents want on a website and the #1

thing that saves time for admissions

teams.

Parent Portals save time by allowing

parents to see where they are in the

admissions process, without having to

call the school.

Online Admissions Scheduling is a newer capability

we’re starting to see schools use. They can post the

times that are available, and parents can choose from

those times to sign up for a particular interview / visit

time slot.

What is a

Targeted Communication Plan? … (and why should I care?)

A communication plan is An organized plan to talk to High Value

Groups - specifically about the things they care about

Useful exaggeration: “If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no

one.”

Craft a communication plan

How do I make a

Targeted Communication Plan?

1) Define your High Value Groups

Groups of people that are important to the school,

and to whom you have something compelling to offer

Craft a communication plan

Examples of HVGs:

- Science Enthusiasts @ School with Paleontology Museum

- Debate Fans @ School with debate-focused feeder school

- Art Students @ School with strong Fine Arts Program

- Parent Groups @ School with many parents @ same company

- Financial Aid Applicants @ School with FA open houses

Craft a communication plan

How do I make a

Targeted Communication Plan?

2) Decide what you’ll say to each group,

and how you’ll do that. What do you have to

offer?

3) Map out a step-by-step plan. Determine what

you can or should automate.

Understand their

Interests

Dance

Interview w/

instructor

Invite to

new play

Shadow on

rehearsal

day

Soccer

Call from

coach

Invite to

game

Soccer

newsletter

Everyone

Student

shadow

matching

2 week

phone call

Parent

phone call

Targeted Communication Plan

Mary fills out an online

inquiry for her son Zach

Jenny plans out the visit and

creates tasks for

Jenny (admissions coordinator)

calls Mary to schedule a visit

Zach

shadows Mark

with Mark (student shadow)

Jenny bulk prints follow-up

letters for all soccer players

Jenny mails

Zach the letter

Later that month

with Ted (soccer coach)

Ted

calls Zach

Craig (admissions director)

meets with Zach in person

Jenny sends a bulk email to

Soccer players inviting them to game

Including Zach

When a parent calls, know them quickly

Use Team-visible notes & reminders

How else can you personalize things?

Even BULK emails can feel personal

Make it Scanable = use few words, big headers

Location, location, location!

Snap! = pictures are worth 1000 words

Action! = videos are worth 1000 pictures

CALLS TO ACTION = online inquiries & landing pages

Incorporate Social Media

Enhance your Website

Website: Tools

Inspiration

Edustyle (edustyle.net) is a great resource for seeing other examples of what schools are doing with their websites. Browse a catalog of website images and see them ranked by popularity.

First Impression Testing

FiveSecondTest (fivesecondtest.com) and ClueApp (clueapp.com) both allow you to perform first impression testing with remote users. Enter one or more links to web pages you want to test, and they will show that web page to people and ask them for their first impressions. You’ll get a simple summary report of what their first impressions were.

Usability Tests

TryMyUI (trymyui.com) and OpenHallway (openhallway.com) both allow you to specify tasks you would like people to do on your website and record short videos of them trying to perform those tasks. These can be great for seeing how people would actually try to do accomplish real tasks, and can lead to some surprising insights about your usability.

The makers of FiveSecondTest also have two other products – ClickTest and NavFlow, which are more lightweight and simple usability testing tools. They ask you to specify tasks and they will measure where people click to complete the tasks, and how they navigate through your website, respectively.

Website: MORE Tools

User Tracking

UserFly (userfly.com) anonymously records user interactions and lets you watch videos of individual people as they’re actually using your website. The best way to understand it is to see the video example on their website

CrazyEgg (crazyegg.com) takes a different approach. They record user interactions, but present a “heat map” of where users in aggregate spend the most time on your website. While UserFly can give you insights into individual paths through your website, CrazyEgg gives you a summary view.

Web Analytics

Google Analytics (google.com/analytics) is a free tool that your webmaster can set up for your website quite easily. Once installed, it will track all visitors to your website, and collect statistics like how they found your website (search engine, etc.) where they are geographically, what pages they visit on your site, etc.

Google Website Optimizer (google.com/websiteoptimizer) is a more advanced tool that will automatically test different versions of a page and measure which one results in better “conversions” (e.g. number of people that click a link). This is much more involved than Google Analytics and is useful when you’re really fine-tuning your website’s performance

Social Media: The Basics

Listen = 50% of social media efforts

Build your Base = Why should they follow you?

Share = Engage in Meaningful DIALOGIE

Have a plan for negative feedback

UNITED BREAKS GUITARS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zO

qozo

Twitter: The Basics

@username – Use the “@” symbol to reply to or mention another Twitter user. Example:

“@edSocialMedia I really like your site. Great list of contributors, too – @drewmillikin, @lorriej, @wstites

and many more.” This is how Twitter works as a tool for conversation. (DIRECT MESSAGES START WITH

@user, props end with @user

RT @username – RT means “retweet.” In other words, you are reposting someone else’s tweet to

share with your followers. This is how Twitter works as a viral source. Example: “I’m in. RT @JasonFalls:

Anyone object to the people declaring Butler 2010 National Champions? Worth a shot.” (Notice I added my

own comment along with the RT, to add to the conversation.)

# Hashtags – Using the “#” symbol before a keyword creates a hashtag. Hashtags are essentially

search keywords that Twitter users can follow. They’re great for conferences because you can share notes

with other attendees, or listen in if you can’t be in attendance. Examples: #edsocialmedia, #education,

#socialmedia, #jobs, #indiana, etc.

URL shorteners – Because of the 140-character limit, Twitter users often use URL shorteners to

share links. Some services also offer analytics or stats, so that you can see how many clicks you get. A

commonly used shortener is http://bit.ly – it offers real-time stats and keeps a history of your shortened

links, plus you can customize a link if you want, such as http://bit.ly/PTFacebook.

HootSuite allows you to connect to multiple social networks from one website. Using

HootSuite’s unique social media dashboard, teams can collaboratively schedule

updates to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Wordpress and other social networks.

Watch an online tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqebLAGUc1Q

TweetDeck allows you to manage many Twitter accounts as well as a Facebook

account all from one screen

Watch an online tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdrQIZ419ys

http//:bitly.com is a utility that allows users to shorten a long URL, share it, and then

track the resulting usage.

Helpful Blog Posts:

• Hootsuite vs. TweetDeck: http://bit.ly/rTeBaI

• How To Tweet For Your School In 30 Minutes A Week: http://bit.ly/nCgb5b

Social Media: Tools

@TweetSmarter

Whether you need tips or tools, #Twitter news or

tech support, we're here to help everyone get

the most out of Twitter and #SocialMedia. Tweet

us anytime!

Admissions Officer discussing social media,

technology, inbound marketing and branding

for schools at www.SchneiderB.com

Contributor at www.edSocialMedia.com

@schneiderb

@hubspot

Inbound Marketing Software. It's time to

reshape the way we think about marketing.

Stop pushing. Start attracting. Stop

interrupting. Start engaging

@SchoolAdmiin Admissions & Enrollment Software. Sharing

tips and strategies on Twitter to help

Admissions Officers.

Twitter: Who to Follow