University Business - September 2012 - (Page 42)

Virtual Viewbooks: Ready? or NOT? Not Quite Digital As some colleges and universities sprint into the digital viewbook model, others are tiptoeing into a you to d to welcome We’re excite College, Brian, new model that bypasses the traPresbyterian ditional print viewbook for other millennial-friendly approaches. Presbyterian College (S.C.) IAN COLLEGE! AT PRESBY TER R BLUE PRIDE DISCOVER YOU launched a personalized “My Blue epride.com Pride” microsite in February that, www.myblu Challengin g when entered via Facebook, is personalized with random Facebook MAN L FORT photos, friend names, and other Relatioasting nsh * Meaningfulips info. The project sprang from focus Service groups with current students. “We Brian’s asked them how they get informaBlue Pride tion and what they found helpful,” www.myblue pride.com says Deborah Thompson, vice president for enrollment management Postcards promote a Presbyterian College and communications. Although microsite that can be personalized via Facebook. students like consuming and controlling information electronically, they explained they often became distracted or discouraged when they couldn’t find what they were looking for. Thompson and her team determined the key pieces of information prospective students wanted—academics, clubs and campus life, and career possibilities—and contracted with Hobsons to develop a microsite focused on those questions. The college’s marketing team promotes the site through personalized postcards and email messages, and then analyzes how many prospective students click into the site and where they go. “More students are going to the microsite than our admissions homepage, which tells me we hit the mark,” says Thompson. The school plans to enhance the microsite during its three-year recruiting cycle to maintain students’ attention. In addition to promoting the site via postcards, Presbyterian shares it via a quarterly print magazine. The College of William & Mary (Va.) ditched its print viewbook in September 2011, but instead of replacing it with a digital viewbook, the college mailed prospective students The ampersandbox, a box of 15 cards. Each card features a word pair, playing on the ampersand in the college’s name, such as near & far and pomp & circumstance. The flip side details how William & Mary epitomizes the pair. Recipients are encouraged to submit their own ampersand words and photos, which get displayed in the “Your Sandbox” tab on the project’s website. A parallel effort at William & Mary entailed a fresh, streamlined website that provides additional depth. A strategic focus on the school’s website may be a smart move and may yield more bang for the buck than a digital viewbook, says Stephanie Geyer, associate vice president at Noel-Levitz. That’s because some higher ed institutions have not yet optimized their websites to provide a high quality experience for visitors. And, Geyer notes, NoelLevitz’ July E-expectations Report shows millennials still crave traditional sources of information, with guidance counselors and brochures topping the list of most-used resources for prospective students. give de.com to w.mybluepri created ww pus. of life on cam our to discover d website read onalize e in action, Visit this pers the Blue Hos s about essors, see find fun fact dedicated prof alumni, and sing, e successful ntation, hou up on som n about orie as also lear to start life PC. You can you’ll need —everything and advising ent this fall. College stud a Presbyterian and we’ve you a preview sions Office of Admis n College Presbyteria Broad St. 503 South 29325 Clinton, SC * © Copyright worldwide. All rights reserved worldwide. Hobsons 2012. All rights reserved 20026/12 © Copyright College 2012. Presbyterian Academics * Presbyter ian College * went live in 2011, features 80 interactive squares designed to pull prospective students into digital stories with YouTube videos or Flickr photo sites. From there, students and parents can dive deeper into the sections of the main website that most interest them. Although Siena abandoned its print viewbook, the college did not completely forego paper. In fact, data gathered via Google Analytics in the digital site informs print messaging. The admissions department budgeted for four postcards to help push prospective students and parents to the digital viewbook. Each postcard highlighted a specific message in the viewbook. One major difference between print and online is the analytics capabilities. Google Analytics can provide data about how many users are in the viewbook, the zip code and county where those users reside, the average time spent in the viewbook, and where people go into and out of the viewbook. Renault noticed a slight bump in traffic after Siena sent its first postcard promoting the viewbook and another blip after the second, which emphasized study abroad and social connections. After mailing the third, which focused on affordability, the spike in traffic was apparent. “We had planned to focus on alumni and careers in the final postcard, but we realized how the money message resonated and added another postcard about alumni scholarships.” Other institutions combine print and digital in different ways. Salve Regina administrators decided on a hybrid digital/print viewbook, with digital as the lead. McPhie-Oliveira and her team repositioned the viewbook budget and contracted with Maryland-based Creosote Affects to develop the digital product. It balanced the increased costs of additional photography, videography, and interactive development with reduced printing costs to stay budget-neutral. The slimmer print version “fell out” of the digital project, and 42 | September 2012 universitybusiness.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - September 2012

University Business - September 2012
Contents
Editor’s Note
College Index
Ad Index
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Independent Outlook
Financial Aid
Virtual Viewbooks: Ready? Or Not?
Technology Changes Everything
Connecting Learners, On Campus and Off
The Changing Face of the CIO
Efficiency Greats
The Administrator's Bookshelf
Oceans of Data
Education Innovators
Internet Technology
End Note

University Business - September 2012