Visitors from social media sites are spending 67% more time engaged in the program’s website than the average visitor.

The Challenge

The NC State Jenkins MBA program realized the importance of social media, especially  in today’s higher education marketing efforts but was struggling to utilize it in an  effective way. The program reached out to VisionPoint for help developing strategic social media resources for its current and prospective students that would propel the program forward while driving more leads for qualified and interested applicants.

What we did

Because the Jenkins MBA program did recognize the importance of social media, they had already registered with a lengthy list of sites and tools. VisionPoint began by auditing and assessing the list of social media sites and determined that better results would be yielded with a more focused approached.

Based on the usage patterns of the Jenkins MBA program’s target audience, VisionPoint selected the most important and influential social media sites and recommended that the Jenkins MBA program focus its efforts on promoting and maintaining their Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and LinkedIn accounts.

With the program’s leadership on board, the selected social media sites were integrated throughout the newly redesigned website and allowed current and prospective students to easily access them from each page. A “share” toolbar was introduced and allowed visitors to the website the opportunity to easily share the news stories or media content that the site made available. A page on the website was created and devoted to promoting the MBA program’s social media efforts, RSS feeds, student and faculty blogs, and even allowed students to submit a story or event to the program that they thought was important. With these practices in place, VisionPoint advised the Jenkins MBA program on the best way to facilitate content for the various social media sites.

On the Jenkins MBA program’s YouTube channel, VisionPoint designed the channel page to be consistent with the branding of the program’s website and then advised the faculty on how to put processes in place that would encourage current students to generate content. The students also received instruction from VisionPoint explaining  how to best create a new video, title it, present it, and more.

Twitter, one of the Internet’s fastest growing social media sites, is a micro-blogging  platform that asks users to share what they are doing in 140 characters or less. Though the Jenkins MBA program had already registered for a Twitter account, VisionPoint informed the program’s faculty on how to best use it. VisionPoint suggested that the Jenkins MBA program use Twitter to promote upcoming events, mentions from the news media, distinguished student body accomplishments, and other happenings that current and prospective students might find valuable.

One of the more widely used and recognized social media sites, Facebook, was an  excellent tool that the MBA program was using, however they were not fully utilizing the site to its greatest potential. VisionPoint worked with the Jenkins MBA program to establish a Facebook Fan page that would allow current and prospective students to connect with each other and provide prospective students with an opportunity to get to know the Jenkins MBA student body prior to attending classes. VisionPoint also created and marketed advertisements along the sidebars of related Facebook pages to drive prospective students to the MBA program’s site.

With so many social media sites out there, VisionPoint recommended to the Jenkins MBA program not only on how to pick the best and most influential social media networks but also how to establish a system that would integrate the social media sites with each other. This ensured that resources were being used wisely and that a uniformed look was maintained from site to site. Finally,  VisionPoint implemented a tracking service that traced the referrals driven by each of the social media networks to the program’s  main website and gave the Jenkins MBA program an opportunity to see the amount of traffic that the social media sites  generated. The numbers couldn’t lie - the practices established through VisionPoint’s consultation led to approximately 1,200  YouTube channel views in two months, 125 followers on Twitter, nearly 150 Facebook Page fans, and perhaps, most notable,  visitors from social media sites, like Facebook, are spending on average 67% more time engaged on the Jenkins MBA  program’s website than the average visitor.

Results

As a ‘technology MBA,’ the NC State Jenkins MBA program was attempting to live up to its name, but found itself falling short.  VisionPoint was able to position the program strategically throughout the most relevant social media sites and saw a significant  increase in the program’s social media efforts which continue to generate followers on a regular basis.