There’s been a lot of talk lately about building brand buzz in the world of corporate marketing. Now that conversation is making its way down the hallowed halls of colleges and universities across the country.
Actually, a better way of putting that would be that colleges and universities are starting to listen to the conversation that’s going on around them. In the 2007 TeensTALK study released by Stamats, almost 20% of college-bound teens said their first exposure to the college they are attending came from a friend or a relative. 25% of students say that their first “official” contact with a school is when they submit their application.
There’s no denying that a conversation is taking place. And it’s only after they decide they like you that they’ll invite you in. The question is, if they’re not talking to you, how do you get them to like you? Good news. It’s not a trick question. You can reach prospects. You just have to be where they are when they want to talk.
Your prospective students are in high school, so think about yourself as a high school girl and all of your prospects as high school boys. Just because they’re not talking to you doesn’t mean they’re not looking at you.
They come to your site, and many times they have questions. Are you available to answer them? 21% of college-bound seniors have IM’d with a recruiting coordinator. 78% said they would if they could.
It’s not that they don’t want to talk to you. It’s just that they don’t think you want to talk to them. And we all know that couldn’t be further from the truth.
So set up an IM account for the recruiting office and have real people working it throughout the day and into the evening. Set up a facebook page with information important to prospects. Create a survey for them to take and send them a t-shirt for it. Do whatever it takes to get them to look you in the eye rather than talk about you behind your back.
Don’t get me wrong. They’ll still talk about you, but when they do, they’ll talk about the real conversation they had with you over IM. Then guess what happens? You become the most popular girl in high school.
Just remember, these are a few strategies that will help you get a conversation started. You need to leverage every opportunity you can to help keep it going, or at least, give your prospects great things to talk about. A site audit is a cost-effective way to find out what those opportunities are.
To find out more about our site audit process and how it can help you reach more prospects, download our white paper or contact David Poteet or Pam Martin.
David Poteet
540.552.1320 x206
Pam Martin
540.552.1320 x257