Ok, Boomer

Our institutions of higher learning are OLD. The community college I work for is coming up on its 75th diamond anniversary. So yes, we are technically a Boomer organization.

We are also a leader in our community. A significant percentage of the area’s healthcare workers come from our institution, as we supply many other industries and professions with employees as well.

But just because the college is old does not mean its messaging has to be. As a leading organization in our community, we must be intentional in how we develop our messages and where we place them. One part of my job involves making sure that my college is reaching the largest segment of our potential students exactly where they are.

But the question is...are we?

Full Fabric, a company devoted to increasing colleges’ admissions and enrollment, has 10 “tried and tested” approaches to successfully marketing to the students of today (Tattersfield, n.d.). My post for this week will take those tips and apply them to my community college to see what we are doing right—and what we need to be doing to make sure our message is being effectively communicated.

1. Understand your audience

“It seems obvious, but getting to know your target audience, their motivations, and where they hang out is crucial, and should inform every part of a higher education digital marketing campaign” (Tattersfield, n.d.). That is true of any message you are trying to successfully convey. You must tailor your strategy to fit that audience, creating a customized experience for the audience you seek.

To do that, we must first dive into some facts about our audience. My community college demographics for Fall 2021 show that we had 3900 students enrolled. Of those, 67% were female, 32% male, and .2% were unknown. (I am quoting from information from the College’s institutional effectiveness department, but I am not referencing it as one normally would as I would like to not name the institution in these blog postings.)

Of those 3900 students, the average age was 23.9. years old. The top three age demographics were as follows: 18% under the age of 18 (we have dual enrollment students who are in high school but are taking college courses); 51% were 18 to 24; and 18% were 25 to 34 (WCC fact sheet).

So young females are the college’s primary audience. And where are the young females hanging out? The answer is in tip number two.

2. Be super strategic

On social media.

According to Pew Research, 84% of adults aged 18 - 29 used social media. Just behind them at 81% were 30- to 49-year-olds. Of those adults, 78% percent were women (Pew Research, 2021).

So, the bread and butter of my college’s enrollment each year is online and on social media. Understanding who the audience is helps us understand where they are, which in turn will help us in creating strategic messages that can successfully reach our potential students.

A strategy we could employ would be to not just target social media for student recruitment but to go deeper into tailoring messages on different platforms for different purposes. We have found in our analytics that our Facebook followers are older than our target audience, so messages about the College’s awards or achievements suit the alumni crowd there. Using TikTok and Instagram for student messaging would reach the audience of our current and potential students.

3. Tap into the zeitgeist

So once you have identified them and found where they are, how do you engage them there? You do what they are doing. Identifying trends and then using them to message your current and potential students will appeal to what they are interested in right now—and if done correctly, can make you look really cool.

My college has done this by seeking to create organic, student-led content. We decided that instead of letting people outside of our students’ generation run the content, we would recruit Social Media Ambassadors to help us create authentic student content for the College. You can tell that they are a little inhibited in what they can do because of some of our rules (no cursing or inappropriate songs or language) but they are still creating content that features students, which is what our target audience wants to see.

4. Get on Instagram

...or Snapchat or whatever app is popular with your target audience. My community college has the following social media apps: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn and TikTok. While Pew Research does show that 70% of adults ages 18-29 use Facebook, and 71% of the same group uses, Instagram, we found in our analytics that those two platforms trended older than that target audience (Pew Research, 2021). So, we decided to go to a younger platform, being in the first group of community colleges in Alabama to get an official TikTok account for the school. According to Pew Research, 48% of adults surveyed ages 18-29 use TikTok (Pew Research, 2021). We are currently in the process of growing this account and hope it attracts the younger demographic that our other social media apps are not capturing.

5. Start a WhatsApp group

This one is most intriguing. I have never personally used WhatsApp, so I decided to do some investigating. According to Full Fabric, “Gen Z are using it as their preferred medium of communication over email” (Tattersfield, n.d.). However, that statement does translate to the recent data from Pew Research, which shows that only 24% of adults ages 18-29 are using that particular app (Pew Research, 2021).

But the case can be made that direct messages to our potential students can be a more effective way to reach them. When using social media, students have to seek out your messages—with direct communication like SMS messages, you can send your message straight to the target audience without having to rely on them to do the work of finding you.

6. State the facts

If you are a strategic communications professional, you may also come from a creative background, so it may be tempting to create messaging that is outside the box or more appealing visually than concerned with content. But if you are reaching out, especially directly to your target audience, you need to assess what action you need them to take with your message and ensure that message lets them follow through.

If you are sending targeted messages about registration, they need to explain the who, what, where, when, and how to do that. My college has a registration-specific page of our website that walks students through the entire process. We also advertise special extended hours where students can come and talk with anyone in the admission, advising, or registration process to get all their questions answered or help with registering.

7. Show some personality

Even if you are stating facts, you can still find ways to do it creatively that will grab attention. Even though it’s an institution of higher learning, it’s still ok for the College to show a fun side. Student life is a great way to demonstrate this. We always make sure we can cover or showcase student life events. We also again enlist our Social Media Ambassadors to create content—they are a diverse group of students with different interests and career paths, and their content reflects that.

8. ...And emotions too

Your education is serious. How College impacts your life is serious. Sharing testimonials about what the school has done for its students is a key way to highlight the responsive, caring nature of our college. Our website homepage regularly runs a "Because of" feature that highlights a student or alum who tells how the college has made a difference in their life.

9. Turn stats into meaningful content

Each year, our institutional effectiveness department conducts a survey relating to the public relations and marketing department to gauge its effectiveness among the faculty and the students. This is my first time having a hand in creating the survey and I am excited to use the information gathered to help improve the department. We will use that to find out what social media our faculty and students use, how and where they get information about the College and more. This information will be incredibly useful in guiding e our future messaging efforts.

10. Be a team player

I have mentioned this before in our discussions on servant leadership. A good leader always remembers the team. I have every intention of working collaboratively with other departments in my college to ensure that everyone’s messages go out. When each department succeeds in its goals, the overall college succeeds.


References:

Pew Research Center. (2021, April 7) Social Media Fact Sheet. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/?menuItem=3814afe3-3f3c-4623-910b-8a6a37885ab8


Tattersfield, K. (n.d.) 10 tips for recruiting students through digital marketing. Full Fabric. https://blog.fullfabric.com/10-tips-for-recruiting-students-through-digital-marketing