Marty Bennett from EducationUSA and Lee Pichette from CollegeWeekLive discussed the various uses of video in the student recruitment process both live and after the event.
1. Lee Pichette, Director of Strategic Marketing at CollegeWeekLive Yield 2.0 Live Video and the Enrollment Process
2. Agenda The Growth of Video Video in Higher Ed Live video verses on-demand Video and the Enrollment Process Content for Different Stages Case Studies How to promote live video to international students Q&A Discussion
3. Did You Know… #1 Search Engine #2 Search Engine 50% more than Yahoo web search (3.918B vs 2.629B) By 2014, Digital Video Advertising will Grow 360% $1.5B in 2010 to $5.5B in 2014 Source: Reelseo.com/youtube-search-december Source: Reelseo.com/youtube-search-december Source: breakmedia.com/video-study
4. Live Video Growth One-to-One Video Conversations Skype had 30 million concurrent users in March 2011 40% of all Skype minutes spent on video calls Webcam market expected to grow 170% by 2015 One-to-Many Video Presentations YouTube launched live broadcast offering Live video sites like Justin.tv growing at 88% YOY Source: http://moconews.net/article/419-report-skype-to-buy-video-sharing-service-qik-for-100m/ http://blogs.skype.com/en/2011/03/30_million_people_online.html Visitor Growth – www.justin.tv Source: MocoNews.Net: http://moconews.net/article/419-report-skype-to-buy-video-sharing-service-qik-for-100m/Source: Compete.com
5. Growth in Adoption by Colleges Notes: Spring 2008 Fall 2008 Spring 2009 Fall 2009 Spring 2010 Fall 2010 Source: CollegeWeekLive.com
208. Live ‘vs’ On-Demand What Will Engage More Prospects? Email Subject Line Test Email 1: “Live Video: Berkeley, Illinois, Wesleyan… ” Email 2: “On-Demand Video: Berkeley, Illinois, Wesleyan…” Live Video Wins: Open Rate: 2-4% Higher 100,000 emails = 2000-4000 additional respondents When a Promoted as Live or On-Demand 89% of viewers choose the live broadcast 5% longer view time http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/683233/worldwide_webcam_market_shares_strategies.htm
209. Long Live Video ‘vs’ Short On-Demand Isn’t Our 3 Minute Video Good Enough? Viewing Time Live Video: 73% (42min out of 60) On-Demand Video: 42% (1.5min out of 3.25min) Response to a 2nd Marketing Campaign 12% of live broadcast attendees schedule next step 6% of 3 min video registrants schedule next step
210. A Robust Live Video Strategy Host Live Video Broadcast High response rates from marketing outreach Maximize engagement & relationship building Results: Engage the most qualified students Promote On-Demand Version Incremental increase in responses Results: Move students further down the funnel Create Video Highlights Distribute across video share sites to drive new traffic Results: New students enter top of funnel
212. Stages of the Enrollment Process Case Study: UMBC Meeting New Students Case Study: University of New Haven Engaging Prospect Database Case Study: North Carolina State Improving Yield
213. Video for Lead Generation Marketing Strategy: Market to external databases Promote through social media Host presentations at online events Content Strategy: Provide a high level overview High profile alumni or campus reps Get students excited
214. Case Study: Lead Generation University of Maryland, Baltimore County Target Audience: New Prospects Strategy: Provide a compelling opportunity for new prospects to look at UMBC, using latest technology Increase geographic reach Goals: Increased # of qualified applicants Convert prospects to inquiries Content: Admission overview with focus on student life
242. Case Study: Yield North Carolina State Target Audience: Accepted Students Results: 200 attendees 30% watched 2 or more sessions Geographic reach 14 Countries 31 States
251. Why is video so powerful? More dynamic More visually stimulating More engaging More likely to get a response A call to action, a motivator IMPORTANT: we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, and a whopping 50% of what we hear AND see! www.educationusa.state.gov
252. EducationUSA’s View on Videos for Internationals Principles same: alumni, current students– best advocates 90% of customers prefer peer recommendations over ads* Days of slick, expensive marketing videos over, wasteful K.I.S.S. applies more than ever * Source: Social Media Revolution 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo&feature=youtu.be&a
253. Musical Videos: in College Admissions Why I Chose Yale GVSU LipDub www.educationusa.state.gov
254. EducationUSA YouTube Channel 72,000+ video views 4 regional U.S. college video playlists 1 national list (100+) institutional videos profiled (free) www.educationusa.state.gov
255. Paid Video Services—Online Video Platforms Brightcove US Dept of State Fox Kaltura www.educationusa.state.gov
256. New Uses for Videos in EducationUSA www.educationusa.state.gov
257. Extending the Shelf Life of Live Video EdUSA Connects sessions For international students – be an expert on our 5 Steps to U.S. Study presentations live via Adobe Connect to our centers & students globally (over 60 US reps have signed up so far) For U.S. higher ed reps – Sessions by our REACs and senior advisers on national scholarships, recruitment opportunities, and credential evaluation issues. Starting this fall Virtual College Fairs opportunities for U.S. states (up to 10 institutions per state) connecting with EducationUSA Advising Centers directly for admissions presentations and conversations. Live: 1600 attendees Post-event views: 9100 iTunes podcast downloads: 16882 www.educationusa.state.gov
261. Why Live Video Achieve Higher Response Rates Students perceive as a “can’t miss” opportunity Time is set aside for college research Form Personal Relationships Interactive Q&A with speakers Twitter hash tags enable conversations w/other students Improve Online Marketing Fill gap between a campus visit and a static website Identify the most qualified students
262. Contact Information Lee Pichette Director of Strategic Marketing CollegeWeekLive (617) 938-6017 lpichette@collegeweeklive.com Marty Bennett EducationUSA Marketing Coordinator Institute of International Education mbennett@educationusa.info : www.educationusa.info Skype: iiembennett Twitter: @EdUSAtips Blog: http://marketingeducationusa.blogspot.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/martybennetthttp://facebook.com/EducationUSA EdUSA Connects: http://edusaconnects.acrobat.com/martybennett/
264. Summary Live video is here to stay Rapid adoption by colleges Students are already there Expanded reach is needed more than ever Colleges are achieving specific goals A robust video strategy starts with a live broadcast You don’t need an on-campus studio
265. What about Skype interviews Only 6.6% of colleges place importance on interviews (NACAC 2010 State of College Admissions) Our Assumption: One-to-many session will appeal to more students than a one-to-one and will have greater impact Recommendation for the 6.6% Use to attract higher quality applicants A/B test using Skype If successful, move to a more robust , college branded platform
266. % change in public high-school graduates by state:2005-18 Source: eRecruitment Web Forum: Economist Stephen H. Brooks
Notas del editor
-Technology continues to change the admissions process-Colleges need to expand reach and while cutting costs-When students can make a personal connection to a campus they are more likely to enroll-In this presentation, we will discuss the opportunity to improve enrollment thought leveraging live video
-The growth of video on the net and in higher ed-Live verses on-demand or pre-recorded video-We will then discuss how colleges are leveraging video in the enrollment process and content strategies for different stages of the process-Ask questions and share ideas throughout the presentationsNOTE: Poll the audience before leaving this slide:How many of you have pre-recorded or on-demand video on your website or you-tubHow many of you are using live video, eit
-Most people are not surprised to hear that Google is the #1 search engine-Does anyone here know what is number two?-It is often surprising to hear that youtube is number two, surpassing yahoo by a large margin-Marketers are recognizing this trend and digital video advertising is expected to grow substantially in the coming years. POLL: Ask audience Who has pre-recorded video on their websiteWho has emailed those videos to their studentsWho is using live video, such as skype? (Make note of who is using skype)
-When looking at live video broadcasts, we consider to different categories: One to One video conversations (such as a video phone call) and One to Many presentations (such as a video webcast presentation)-Skype is clearly the leading host of 1 to 1 video conversations and 40% of all skype minutes are using video calls-The webcam market is expected to grow 170% by 2015-All of this points to points to more people will be interacting via live video and more students expecting these types of opportunities to engage with colleges-We are also seeing growth in use of one to many live video presentationsYoutube has launched a live video broadcast service.Other lesser known live video broadcast websites like justin.tv are experiencing growth of 88% YOYNOTE: Ask the people using skype if they will share how they are using it.
-As some of you may know, CollegeWeekLive helps colleges improve enrollment through virtual events that feature live video presentations. -This graph shows the number of live video presentations that colleges are hosting at virtual events and you can see adoption is growing at an even higher pace. -This spring alone we have seen over 100% growth in the number of schools reaching students via live video presentations.
-It is also important to note that colleges of all different shapes and sizes are using live video presentations to achieve specific goals.-It ranges from large publics like UC Riverside to small private colleges like 2500 student grand view in Iowa.
There are a couple of key factors driving the growth in adoption by colleges.First, the students are interested in videoNoel-Levitz does an annual eExpectations report that covers the use of technology in the admissions processThey find that the majority of students are watching videos during the enrollment processAlso interesting, students hey want videos produced by current students and videos on student lifeThe second factor driving growth is a changing enrollment environmentIn a tough economy, many colleges are seeing cuts to their travel budgetsThis also affects parents and students. Kids are applying to more colleges and it is difficult to visit campus with increase travel costs.There is also a need for expanded reach. Many states will see declines in the number of high school students. Illinois is projected to see a slight decline and colleges will need to recruit out of state to make up for the differenceAdditionally, the majority of colleges are also focused on recruiting international students.
-Since most colleges have pre-recorded or on-demand video, I’d like to spend some time discussing why live video is attractive
-We all have an e-mail list and we are looking at ways to gain the most engagement from our e-mail marketing strategy. -When making a case for using live video, we need to determine what will engage more students-At CollegeWeekLive, we run all kinds of tests to improve our outreach to prospective students -One great way to gauge what students prefer is by running an email subject line test-In this test example, we tried to see whether students were more interested in an email promoting a live video presentation or an on-demand-Live video wins! 2-4% more students opened the live video email and on a database of 100K students, that can have a significant impact-We have also looked at what students will choose to participate in-When we have promoted a video presentation as available live at 2pm and available on-demand for a week after, the 89% of students set aside time on their schedule for the live event and attended while it was live-Also important, the people who are involved in the live broadcast tend to stay longer-On a side note, we also often find that it is often better to make decisions off of what students do rather than what they say-A few years ago, we asked students when they would like to attend a live video event. They all said on Saturday. We tested Saturday events and found that while students thought Saturday would be more convenient, in reality they were not able to attend due to other weekend activities.
The next question I want to answer is, isn’t the 3 minute video we already have good enough?-Ultimately, when we email prospects it is to get a response but it is also to form a deeper relationship. -In looking at the impact on relationship building, we looked at two key metrics.-When looking at viewing time, the students who set aside time for a live video presentation will watch 73% of the session on average-If you take that same exact presentation, cut it up into a 3 minute video clip, people will watch only 42% of that same video content. -The second and more powerful way to measure relationship building is in how likely a respondent is to continue a relationship with your university. -When we look at how likely someone is to respond to a follow-up campaign, we find that the people who attend a live video presentation are 2 times more likely to respond to a follow-up campaign.
-I am not recommending that you only do live video, however, I do believe a robust video strategy starts with a live broadcast-By starting with a live broadcast you will engage the most qualified students and form the deepest relationships-You will need to make the on-demand version of the full presentation available, because around 10% of the audience will be looking for that opportunity-And finally, once you have the video, it is smart to get a student intern to cut it up into a 3 minute highlight reel. You can distribute this video across youtube, facebook, and twitter to drive new traffic to your college and get new students into the funnel.
POLL AUDIENCE: -Key Strategies on top of the funnel-Key Strategies on bottom of the funnel
-We are now getting into the area of the presentation where we will discuss strategies for different stages of the enrollment process. -At the top of the funnel, we are going to discuss strategies for meeting new students and share a case study from UM Baltimore County-We will then discuss how to engage the students you already have in your prospect or inquiry database-And finally we will share a case study from NCS on how they are using live video to improve yield
-For leadgeneration campaigns, you need a marketing strategy that will enable your live video broadcast to reach new students-These live video presentations will need to be marketed to external databases and promoted to social media. -The most common opportunity, however, if hosting a presentation at an exisiting online event where there are already students planning to attend-The most effective presentations at this stage is going to appeal to a broad audience. -When possible, if you can have a high profile alumni or campus representative involved, this is going to help boost your attendance and get people excited
We see that colleges often start using live video for the first time at the lead generation stage and that was the case for the University of Maryland Baltimore County UMBC was looking for opportunities to expand their geographic reach and provide a very compelling opportunity for new prospects to take a look at UBMCThey wanted to increase the number of qualified applicants and also convert more prospects into inquiries
-The easiest way for UMBC to get their feet wet was by hosting live video presentations at existing virtual events. -They hosted two presentations: One presentation was at an national virtual college fair that enabled them to reach out of state students. The second presentation was at a specialty event hosted by the Baltimore College Town network, which is an consortium of Baltimore area colleges.- You can see in these images, that they had the sessions co-hosted by an admissions representative and current college student. In these sessions the admissions rep provided an overview, the student introduced themselves, and then they had an informal Q&A session where the online audience typed in questions and they answered live on video. - Often people just don’t now where to start. I like this example because UBMC didn’t have to have an on-campus studio or make a large investment here. They pinned up a banner on the wall and turned on a webcam. To the audience, it is much more authentic this way
-With these two presentations, 72% of the attendees were from out of state, representing 16 states and 6 countries-Like most colleges, UBMC is always thinking about how to keep parents and guidance counselors in the loop and they were happy to see 15% of attendees from these categories-Because it was a fall event, the majority of students were seniors. In the spring we see much more underclassmen at presentations hosted for lead generation
-The session was fun and engaging for everyone involved-90% of the students were new to UMBC’s database-10% of the attendees were invited by UMBC, which showed them that they could use live video events to engaging prospects and convert them to inquires-Of the seniors who attended, 43% applied and 72% were accepted. -We often see that after colleges get their feet with a couple presentations with UMBC, if they track results and they find that by hosting a couple presentations at a low investment they can enroll a handful of students. After seeing they ROI, they scale their live video strategy and host more presentations, for out of state, internationals, transfer, and other key targets – all knowing that each presentation they host will result in new enrolled students that meet or exceed their criteria
-The next stage of the funnel is where students who have expressed interest, and you want to continue your engagement with them and peak their interest. -To start forming person relationships with these students, you can sharing information that is aligned with their areas of interest-As the end goal at this point is to get students to apply, you will want to also discuss the application process and how to get in
-UNH had two segments they wanted to focus on in this stage. The students who have already been engaged and the list buy prospects who had not responded to previous campaigns. -While deciding on how to segment the content could be more challenging for some institutions, for UNH it was easier. They have 4 colleges at the university so it is easiest to segment by majors of interest
University of New Haven marketed an virtual event to their students that highlighted 4 of their premier majors as well as a general campus presentation. New Haven did a great job of segmenting and targeting here. If I was a student who expressed interested in the college of business, the email invitation I received invited me to the campus overview and the college of business session. If I was a student who didn’t specify a major of interest, the email I received highlighted the entire agenda.
-The results from the program were great.-More than 700 attendees from 42 states. When UNH has an traditional on-campus event they typically have students from 10-12 states attend-The balance of students at different stages was also optimal. 2/3s of the audience were from the two groups they set-out to re-engage. -The part that was also interesting was that 1/3 of the audience were new prospects. New Haven did some promotion of the event on social media and other channels. However, it was interesting to find that with little effort they were able to generate more than 200 new leads
-For many people, the most interesting application of live video is at the accepted student stage-At this stage of the process, the marketing strategy becomes easier as you are inviting the students you have accepted to the event. -We most often see people segmenting the in-state and out-of-state accepted students for different events. This is mainly because colleges often are focused on the out of state students who are less likely to visit on-campus events and the financial aid discussions and housing concerns may be different.-On content, you want to help students understand what is different and unique about student life on your campus and you want to answer the key questions that accepted students have that affect enrollment. -While the content must be designed to distinguish your campus, lets keep in mind that the fact that you are offering the chance to meet a current student of faculty member in itself will set your college apart. A student might be accepted to 4 or 6 colleges but if your college is the only one who invited them to meet the director of financial aid, it could make the difference.
-NCS realized that they didn’t need to worry about the accepted students how attended their on-campus events. The best opportunity to improve yield was with the students who didn’t attend campus. -They invited their accepted students to a series of live video presentations that focused on the FAQs with the goal of improving yield
-There were 4 presentations in this program, only two are shown here. -NCS chose a mix of current students and campus reprentatives-What I liked about their approach, was both student sessions had a slide where the student reviewed why he chose NCS. -Note: Make joke on how the kid looks like he is 12-While we can say campus is great and it is the best place on earth, when a student explains why he chose NCS over similar schools and what it was the right decision… that can’t be beat.-They also had sessions on housing and financial aid. In addition to having questions answered, it also must be reassuring for students to be introduced to the financial aid representatives and know when they get to campus there will be a familiar face in that office.
-The saw 200 accepted students -While this is much smaller attendance than you would expect at a program for inquiry students, we need to keep in mind that these programs are only open to accepted students or a segment of the accepted students.-It is also important to note that 30% watched 2 or more presentations. It is often difficult to get an attendee to watch one full online presentation. -The fact that students were staying for more 1-2 hours some time, it shows that there was a high level of engagement and that students were getting information that was very valuable to them. NOTES: Applied18992Admitted10445.6Enrolled4804.976
The final case study is from UCRWhile we always recommend that colleges use live video to compliment what they are already doing, that isn’t always possibleThe UC system has had deep budget cuts and UCR was put in a position where they had to make a bold moveThey replaced an on-campus open house with a virtual open houseThe agenda featured the same sessions that they would have in their traditional programIn the end, they realized an 87% cost reduction. I am sure you all know how expensive it can be to provide bagels and lunch at these traditional events. They were really pleased because they also doubled the number of students who attended.
-Since most colleges have pre-recorded or on-demand video, I’d like to spend some time discussing why live video is attractive
To summarize what we discussed today, we think Live Video is going to be an influential part of the enrollment process.It enables colleges to achieve higher response rates (read bullets)There is increased relationship building through interactive Q&A with presenters and sometimes other participantsAnd final, it will play an important role in online marketingToday everyone does campus visits and has a traditional websiteAs colleges begin hosting more live video events and find a high ROI, we will begin to see colleges fill in that gap and offer students a chance to have live, online conversations with colleges before visiting campusUltimately, this removes the barriers some students face and will enable colleges to identify and engage the most qualified students regardless of location
Thank you for your interest and please feel free to contact me with any questions.
NACAC 2010 State of college admission said only 6.6% of colleges place considerable importance on Interviews in the admission processOur recommendation would be to use the interview to affect quality of students. We don’t have any data to support, but our assumption is that a one-to-many session will appeal to more students than a 1-to-1 session and therefore will likely have a more powerful impact on yield. We do have schools who use their virtual booth as a place to host video interviewsIf you are one of the 6.6% of schools who does place high value on interviews, it is easy enough to use skype to run a test and if it is successful then move to a branded platform