The Recruiting Revolution Blog

• 154+ at iThink. 347+ at iDrink. Thanks to everyone that came out. What a blast! Stop by at booth 1020 Friday and Saturday! #
• Congratulations to Albright College as the 2008 X-Award winner for revolutionizing recruiting online, in-print and in-person! #

On November 8, 2002, Ray Ulmer (TargetX’s Vice President for Communication) launched An Email Minute - a weekly email message that takes no more than 60 seconds to read. Today, I can’t tell you how many people approach me on the road saying “I love those emails I get every week”.  I share the same opinion - Ray has an amazing gift for taking sometimes complex ideas and craft them into a quick read.

But 302 weeks and 281 Email Minutes later, it’s time for a change.

Today’s Email Minute announced a change to the thousands of weekly subscribers.  The Email Minute will now be called the “Recruitment Minute” to reflect a more appropriate shift in topics to be shared with recipients.

According to Ray, “… colleges have to work harder than ever to know as much as possible about a prospect, and to use that knowledge to develop a strong relationship. That relationship is built through online and offline communications and through effective in-person encounters such as campus visits and open houses.”

I can’t agree more.  And I personally look forward to reading what Ray pulls together each week to help all of us see through the clutter of change that is facing college recruiting today.

Subscribe to the Recruitment Minute

Above: Ray Ulmer, VP Communications, employee #1, conceptual designer and author of the most popular email newsletter in college recruiting.

Bob Sevier of Stamats Communication and I recently had a discussion about his new book, “Building Brand Momentum: Strategies for Achieving Critical Mass.”  We talk about differentiation, collaboration on campus and other important topics to help colleges build brand momentum that extend beyond that of the current management tenure at an institution.

To stream, download and subscribe to the Recruiting Revolution Podcast, click here to launch the iTunes Podcast Store.

Bob is also participating in “iThink” - a unique event being sponsored by TargetX at this year’s NACAC conference in Seattle.  To learn more about iThink, click here.

Recently I had a very interesting conversation with my friends from Scannell & Kurz including Jim Scannell, Kathy Kurz and Samantha “Sam” Veeder. We discussed what some have called “the perfect storm” around the financial aid crisis hitting colleges and families. They also provide information about their conference in 2009. More information can be found at www.scannellkurz.com

To stream, download and subscribe to the Recruiting Revolution Podcast, click here to launch the iTunes Podcast Store.

Long time TargetX friend and talented storyteller, Michael Vitez, joins me, Jeff Kallay and Adrienne Bartlett on this podcast recording to discuss the power and impact of stories in marketing and recruiting. Michael is the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at the Philadelphia Inquirer and author of the really awesome book, Rocky Stories. In February Michael provided the lunch time keynote address at our annual user’s group meeting and was a tremendous influence on the attendees.

Tip: If you are part of organizing an industry conference, be sure to add Michael Vitez to your list of possible keynote addresses. It’s an important topic and he’s an incredible talent to be added to your agenda.

Subscribe to the Podcast Here

• Is blogging dead? Tech guru Jason Calacanis believes it, and I’m starting to think times are changing too. http://tinyurl.com/jasonretires #

Just posted a really fun conversation I had recently with long time friend Dr. Joe Merante, former enrollment manager at Duquesne University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, Loyola University Marymount, and the director of the Snowmass Institute for the past 24 years.

Joe is now retired from enrollment management and provides a context to where we are today. He has an amazing understanding of the power of technology in recruiting and provides a challenge to get admissions offices to get rid of wasteful recruitment travel. It’s worth taking a few moments of your time to listen.

Subscribe to the Podcast Here

As you know, I’m a big fan of story telling in the recruiting process. There’s enough research to show folks are frustrated by advertising and marketing and are seeking out the truth through individuals. Many times this is without the participation or knowledge of the college or university. And up until now, the most popular way for the admissions office to embrace story telling is to hire bloggers and get them telling their story. Unfortunately, many times the blog posts are way too long and not frequent enough to get the intended audience to stay attentive.

This is nothing unique to higher education marketing. Tech guru Jason Calacanis has “retired from blogging.” While he is a bit sarcastic in his announcement, he makes some good points. He’s jumped on the twitter bus.

The biggest trend now is “microblogging.” If you’re not familiar with Twitter, think of your Facebook status items and for some their IM away message. This system (and there are others, but this is clearly the most popular with millions of active users) lets you post in no more than 140 characters from a variety of tools. These include the website, your phone, your IM account, etc. You follow others, so it has a very social aspect to it. You can even install a Facebook app and Wordpress plug-in so updates to your Twitter account gets updated automatically. I’ve been Tweet’ing for a few months now on my personal account that posts a digest to our family website daily of tweets as well as updates my Facebook status.

What I like about Twitter and other microblogging services is that when I find something I want to share, it’s quick and easy to share it with those that are following me without writing a complete blog post. Sometimes my thoughts aren’t fully together yet on the topic (yes, it’s true) but yet I can share a thought that will grow in time.

How will colleges utilize Twitter and microblogging in the future? Not completely sure. But I think it’s worth considering how this might be a game changer or at least an addition to the arsonel for telling the college story.

NOTE: While I will continue to post more complete thoughts, I too am jumping on the Twitter bandwagon for the Recruiting Revolution blog. I have started a separate Twitter account just for this blog. Daily it will automatically post my tweets from the previous day to this blog. But if you want to follow along on a more frequent basis, get a Twitter account and follow my RR Tweets!

My Personal Twitter Account
My TargetX Twitter Account

Today we posted podcast episode #34 - an interview with Gina Bianichini, CEO of Ning and recent Fast Company cover story, the social networking platform TargetX utilizes to power our eXpressNet admissions social networking sites.

Gina and I talk about the differences between setting up a Facebook or MySpace group vs. building your own fully branded social networking site, how to generate and keep traffic flowing on the site, where things are headed with respect to social media, and what she’s going to do now that Ning is valued around $500 million! We want to than Gina for taking time out of her very busy schedule to join us and share her thoughts.

NOTE: We’re regularly recording podcasts now and will post a new episode on Monday’s - so be sure to subscribe in the iTunes Podcast store by clicking here:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=73801100

If you would like to be part of the podcast, please drop me an email and we’ll add you to the list of folks we may be speaking with in the future.

If you want to see the schedule of recordings or see if we’re online live, go to http://www.targetx.com/live.

Think back to when you were 8 years old. For me that was 1976, the year after we moved from Buffalo, NY to Malvern, PA (about 35 miles outside of Philadelphia). I had started to ride my bike and had a habit of riding a little further each time away from the house. Doing a cursory Google Maps Pedometer look up, I figured I went at most about 2 miles on bike and 1 mile on foot without an adult. Those were different times than today or when our grandparents were the same age. Just ask George Thomas.

• How children lost the right to roam in four generations

When George was eight (in 1926) he could walk six miles without an adult. George’s son-in-law was eight in 1950 and was able to walk up to one mile without an adult. George’s grandson, Ed, who is now eight years old, can only walk about 300 yards - or to the end of the street.

It’s no different with my daughter - without an adult until this year (she’s now nine) it was to the end of the street. Now she can walk to school - about a 1/4 mile - but never by herself, but with a classmate or two - and always the same route every day. In fact, many of her third grade classmates have cellphones already (I know, can you believe it? You can imagine the pressure she puts on us to get her one).

My point here is that as recruiters, we need to be cognizant that we are recruiting the most sheltered, protected generation ever. What you say about your security and other campus protection not only has to be visible, it has to be real. Mom and dad are not only looking for a return on their investment, they are looking for a return of their child - safe and sound. And while financial aid may have jumped security as the number one issue on parent’s minds, security is probably a close second.

And this doesn’t stop at undergraduate school. I’m writing this from Chicago at this year’s annual GMAC conference where graduate admissions professionals are still trying to figure out how to deal with mom and dad showing up for admission interviews with their sons and daughters. Remember, mom and dad are always in the picture with this generation and they need to be sold on the fact that you will be good for their child, no matter what age they are.