Admissions Marketing: What Ohio State, Harvard and other big colleges are doing differently

At Whipp, we have a 5-step process for driving traffic to college admissions, turning that traffic into leads, and those leads into customers.  We recognize that social media, and online sharing play a big role in Search Engine Optimization, and therefore a big role in traffic and overall interest rate.
 
Curious as we are, we’ve been stalking some colleges online, to give you some interesting ways college’s are using social media, and technology to benefit their admissions marketing campaigns and overall student body.
 
Because sharing is caring, we’ve decided to spotlight 5 of these interesting tactics:
 

1)   Ohio State CollegeSolved

Ohio State took a leap of faith with CollegeSolved, an online social media tool they have put in place for prospective students. It allows these students to connect with not only admissions offers, but with real students. These prospective-Buckeyes can e-mail, instant-message, or telephone any of 68 Ohio State students who work for CollegeSolved. The search can be narrowed to other students with common interests or backgrounds, such as sports, and sexual orientation, personalizing each potential student’s experience. Ohio State has sacrificed all control over the messages and interactions, which means, it’s honest and it’s real. It’s the hail marry of admissions marketing, but it works. Students feel like part of the community, and not part of the persuasion for admission.
 

2)   John Hopkins Interactive.

Another shiny example of a confident school’s uncensored approach, John Hopkin’s interactive is a forum of online student content. The website, all produced by current students for prospective and admitted students features frequently updated blogs, videos and Twitter feeds. It gives potential students an inside look before signing on with the university, making them as confident in their choice as John Hopkins is about their university.
 

3)   Harvard Social Media Dashboard

Harvard University has created an entire page of their website, in dedication to social media. Here, students and future students can catch up with the Harvard Facebook, Twitter, video feeds, photographs, and a full social media directory. This directory gives students and prospective students a taste of all the happenings on campus.
 

4)   University of Washington-Seattle Campus

University of Washington- Seattle Campus, isn’t gaining Twitter and Facebook attention for their official accounts as much as thier  famous KEXP radio station, which has far more Twitter followers than the official UW account. The unique use of their radio station to attract leads is done so smoothly, we are not so sure it’s even intentional.
 

5)   Columbia University #smwknd

Columbia University in New York is putting the education back into Social Media as their school of journalism spends a whole weekend hash-tagging, tweeting, Facebooking, and profile-fixing. This, February 15-16-17, 2013, will be the school’s third annual social media weekend full of workshops. The weekend includes social media doctors, profile photographers, and an assortment of tips and tricks.  While the weekend is not a full out campaign, it brings in over 500 attendees from 50 cities.