Due to a last minute trip to Dallas that I will be taking in a couple of hours (yikes!), this week's blog posts will be the rough drafts of my features for the magazine at my internship. Here's the first one:
As blogs, wikis, video podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and other tools of “Web 2.0� make their way into the world of higher education, marketing professionals are searching for ways to creatively incorporate these with the traditional styles of communication to reach the fast-moving attention of the Millennials. This new generation brings with them not only new technology, but new expectations and beliefs that factor into all their decisions, including selecting a residence hall. Where once there was simply a marketing department for the whole campus, now marketing and technology professionals are being hired specifically for the housing department, and they are faced with finding new and creative ways of promoting residence life.
Flimp Media Inc. (FMI), developer of web video marketing and communications software, works with schools to create, distribute, and track rich media. FMI surveyed 56 students via Facebook and released a report entitled “Marketing to Students in the Digital Age� in June 2008. Regarding residence life, results showed that the college applicants did not feel there was adequate information about student life in the residence halls on the official websites of the institution. Students also reported wanting to see online video of the residence halls, particularly bedrooms. When asked which method they most often use to gather information when researching higher education programs, 85.7% of students indicated they prefer online research over traditional print, college touring, and networking.
Wayne Wall, CEO of FMI, explained that the broad findings of the survey gave their company new information to consider when working with clients. “It’s clear that younger people are interacting with video and video content far more than any generation has in the past, and that’s not going away. Colleges and universities have to bridge the gap and get the message out and communicate with them using audio visual content. They can’t rely on historic static content like print. They know this; the question they’re asking is ‘how do we do this’?�
For residence halls, Wall recommends video marketing on the housing website. “Students want to see video portray an insider view, and they want it to be unfiltered. This is a challenge for these marketing and communication people. They have to go to video because it’s unstoppable, and websites need to be interactive.�
Wall says that FLIMP’s clients run into problems when they cannot combine their specialties; “The biggest thing that holds marketing and communications people back is turf issues. Web technology is separate from marketing. The marketing and communications people have to recognize that and start working with the web development and IT people.�
Colorado State University in Fort Collins has entered the realm of online video with their housing marketing and incorporated twenty flash videos showing residence hall life from the perspectives of the residents. “It’s our most visited feature,� says Tonie Miyamoto, director of communications for Housing and Dining Services at CSU. “They hear from fellow students about what their experience is like, so there is so much value.�
Another Website feature that is particularly useful to students who cannot visit campus directly is a “virtual room� where roommates can see the layout and arrange their furniture. This is currently on the housing website for Northern Michigan University in Marquette and being included on a future website for Georgia College and State University. “One of the biggest questions we get is about furniture and where everything will fit in the room, so this saves us time as well,� explains Cindy McClanahan, housing marketing coordinator for GCSU.
McClanahan finds that an additional low-cost and effective way to reach out to students is through the ever-popular social networking sites, such as Facebook. Each GCSU Hall Director manages a Facebook site for their building, and other staff members often manage sites for their wings or living/learning communities. “Future residents use these groups as a virtual floor and a way to learn about who will be living with them,� says McClanahan. “Our tactic is to use what they’re familiar with for marketing and community building. We can use Facebook not only as a networking tool, but a marketing tool.�
However, with marketing practices changing to meet the needs of the Millennials, it is important to remember who is involved in the decision-making process now more than ever: the parents. Electronic information students receive about residence life doesn’t ever seem to reach their parents. Marty Takimoto, director of communications and marketing within Residence and Student Services at University of California in Berkeley, believes that marketing professionals are now faced with finding a balance between traditional print versus electronic sources; “Successful marketing does not rely on one medium to convey information to an audience. While most traditional college age students appreciate electronic information via web, text, or blogs, their parents may prefer printed materials they can hang on to.�
Miyamoto agrees that this is a challenge; “New technology is not always accessible and available to parents. In today’s market we have to get the same message out in more than one format. We’re going to have to keep finding ways to engage the parents and families.�
Not only are parents an obstacle that technology may not solve, but Web 2.0 marketing can only help so much if the residence hall is lacking the amenities deemed necessary by today’s college students. Karine Joly, founder of collegewebeditor.com and higheredexperts.com, sites about online marketing and PR in higher education, believes that advertising the average or less-than-average residence hall room is becoming a challenge. “What I’ve seen in communications and marketing, the main thing seems to be fighting the image that the dorms are small and crowded. For this generation, checking into the dorms is like checking into a hotel. Students are a lot more demanding. Schools need to show what they can provide.�
Miyamoto also is faced with finding creative ways to market older residence halls that lack the latest features college students crave. “We have to provide amenities to make these older dorms appealing. We might have a living/learning community that’s appealing or a reserved hall for upper-class students. We also have lower rates for the financially conscious.� This is a successful technique used at the University of North Texas in Denton, where they market halls lacking newer amenities as “Economy Halls� with lower price rates.
With this socially aware generation, even the “greenness� factor is becoming an essential selling point for marketing residence halls. As sustainability initiatives are becoming popular on campuses, lists of the top green schools are appearing in publications such as The Chronicle of Higher Education and Current Magazine. The Princeton Review recently announced that they would include green ratings in their rankings, and Peterson’s in planning on a similar effort. Sustainability issues are a top priority for today’s college students, and colleges and universities are using these competitive rankings within their marketing methods. “Green� residence halls are a direct way to involve students in sustainability right where they live, and this can make or break the residence hall choice for a student.
Campus Solutions Inc., a college and university marketing company, has recently introduced “Go Green� initiatives into their marketing plans. Bryan Carbone, marketing director and president of Campus Solutions Inc., feels that the increase of student involvement in sustainability shows that this is a marketing technique that can’t be ignored, particularly when a student is deciding on a residence hall. “Initial studies have shown that in purchase decisions, students choose the eco-friendly choice. Students play one of the biggest roles in going green, and it goes into their decisions.�
It is clear that there are a variety of different approaches to reach the fast-pace, demanding Millennial college student, and integrating these methods seems to lead to greater success for marketing professionals within housing. “In today’s media-rich environment, I think that the best marketing approach is one that is multi-faceted – a combination of traditional print media and Web 2.0 technology, like Facebook and MySpace, to communicate with students,� says Miyamoto. “A communications practitioner in today’s market must use multiple channels to effectively reach a student audience that is more wired, but also less captive. Marketing professionals in today’s college environment are pushed to explore variable data marketing, portal technology, texting services and other new frontiers to reach a tech-savvy student population. However, in the push to explore new technologies, we can’t forget that the simple methods are sometimes the most effective.�