Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The (Recruitment) Long Tail

Late-blogging (not live-blogging) the Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference
The (Recruitment) Long Tail
Brad J Ward
Butler University

The conversation is in the Long Tail

If the conversation - the answers, the dynamic content - isn't there, users (prospects) go elsewhere. (This is why we need blogging at DU)

Having this all on your website makes your job a lot easier-because ...

As participation increases, content increases and engagement increases. The more you can engage, the more likely they are to start/stay

Question on how to find bloggers:
Facebook ad: Do you want the coolest job on campus? Email me. Got 76 responses for 9 spots. Butler pays bloggers $8/hour for 3 hours a week

Cautionary to bloggers: Parents, peers, professors are reading.

Twitter is between the blog posts. It's not the tool for recruiting, but by embedding in the blogs, it enhances

Getting buy-in from the admissions reps has been a struggle (I can bet)

We are in the middle of a huge shift in how we communicate. You need a whole set of tools - not just one-way sell

Social media is people having conversations online

Return on conversation:

monitor the conversation - opportunity to make sure the information out there about you is correct

information in those conversations is ongoing and accurate; authentic, what prospects want to know

Seth Godin - It's not about what you think the (students) want ... it's about creating and assembling a collection of tools that captures the attention of people who truly care

Are you listening? (Get the RSS from Twitter on Davenport University; expand on my Google alerts - DU Panthers, etc.)

The train is coming - What would it look like if you could spend 20% of your time each week on new stuff? Four hours?( that would be so sa-weet I can't imagine. But I need to! )

Secrets:
  • Think niche - where can you really connect with certain kids? target. Become as good at narrowcasting as you are at broadcasting
  • One size does not fit all - no one strategy is the be-all
  • Lose control - you no longer control the conversation
  • Crowd source - example: give video cameras to your bloggers and tell them to go out and have fun
  • Think 'and' not 'or' - think bigger. Facebook AND MySpace
  • Understand 'free' - Most of these tools are; don't pay if you don't need to.
  • It's about relationships not technologies

Check out Class of 2012 research etc. on SquaredPeg.com

****How many apps did you get out of it? It's about the connection (YESSSS)

2 comments:

Bradjward said...

Thanks for taking the time to view the video and blog!! Appreciate it a lot. Nice to see your key takeaways and great to meet you! :)

Kathleen VanderVelde said...

Brad, your presentation pretty much tied everything together for me - I want to use your ideas and experiences as a stepping off point for getting DU seriously off the ground in social media. (I REALLY wish I had been there in person though)

Great meeting you, too - and all the presenters that made the conference as great as it was