Trends In College Marketing

College marketing is at an interesting crossroads today. Students and colleges have become more concerned with saving money, while at the same time, more technologies for marketing and communication have developed. Often, this means that college marketing departments are able to work smarter and leaner, saving money while at the same time more effectively targeting and attracting the right students to the right campus. Other times, it means that they’re able to better pinpoint what works and what doesn’t, focusing their efforts on what really brings students to campus and keeps them there. Read on, and we’ll take a look at how social media, mobile interaction, and even good old campus visits are working in college marketing these days.



You Tube to get the word out, TV commercial campaigns can be expensive, and with typically just 30 seconds per spot, there’s not a whole lot of time to be creative and engaging. Colleges still employ this marketing tool, but more and more, they are supplementing, or replacing, TV spots with YouTube videos, which offer much more flexibility. By creating their own YouTube channels, colleges can give potential students a view into what life on campus is like. In one particularly funny and engaging video, the president of Macalester College goes about his day on campus, feeding squirrels, shoveling snow, and even conducting a rehearsal for the campus a Capella singing group. The video is more than five minutes long, and embraces the possibility that a longer, less direct video can be more valuable when it comes to attracting new students. Colleges love using YouTube in particular because it provides metrics for channels, allowing the admissions office to see how many times a video has been watched, and how many subscribers the channel has. Additionally, referring visits can be tracked through Google Analytics, which allows colleges to find out which marketing efforts are successfully driving potential students to their channel. 
Facebook accounts are ubiquitous among the college-age set, and you’d be hard pressed to find a student that doesn’t spend at least a little time on the social networking site. So it’s no surprise that colleges are using Facebook for its recruiting possibilities. In fact, in a recent study by Kaplan, it was revealed that 80% of America’s top colleges use social media in their recruiting process, and often, that social media is Facebook. Additionally, 70% of colleges say that Facebook profiles of potential students are very important to the admissions process, with 21% indicating that they’re developing social media recruiting policies, and 13% of colleges with a policy already in place. The University of Kentucky in particular made news for encouraging students to check in on Facebook with two huge Facebook Places logos. Kelly Bozeman, University of Kentucky’s marketing director shares, "We’re encouraging students to check in, so when they do, it’ll show up in their news feed and maybe their friends still in high school will see it over and over again."
More and more colleges are realizing that to get students in the door, you’ve got to get them on campus first. This is not a new idea, but it’s enjoying a renewed interest as more students decide to stay closer to home in order to save money on college, and are thus more able to actually visit several campuses in the area. Many colleges are offering the ability to request campus visits online, making it especially easy to get connected and see the school live and in person. According to Noel-Levitz, campus visit days for high school students are 98% effective, almost perfect.