University’s Reputation:
Improving Recognition
DRIVING EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Zoya Zaitseva
January 2016
University on a global arena
• Managing Reputation & Perception
• B2B & B2C Events
• Online Marketing
QS Mission: To enable motivated people around the world to
fulfil their potential by fostering international mobility,
educational achievement and career development
Kazakhstan
KEY CHALLENGES
• Attractiveness as study and research destination
• Recognition in the field and beyond
• Conditions – political, social, economic
Choosing a university – key factors
Source: TopUniversities.com Applicants Survey
Reputation and Recognition
«Recognition and reputation do not come easily, quickly, or
lightly to higher education institutions. The
accomplishments of faculty and students have a direct
impact. Yet in this age of information overload, universities
must be intentional, consistent and persistent in telling
their stories over a sustained period with messaging that is
authentic with the reality of the institution.»
Strategic Action Group Committee on
Local, National, and Worldwide Recognition,
University of Houston
7
What is Event Marketing?
• Event marketing is a promotional strategy that involves
face-to-face contact between providers and their
customers at special events like concerts, fairs, etc.
OR
• Event marketing describes the process of developing a
themed exhibit, display, or presentation to promote a
product, service, cause, or organization leveraging inperson engagement. Events can occur online or offline,
and can be participated in, hosted, or sponsored.
Information channels
CRM
Social
networks
Fairs
Posters &
billboards
Email
marketing
Scholarship
s
Print
advertising
Student
Faculty member
Branding
Rankings
Employer
Alumni
Brochures
Parents
Websites
Forums
Agents
Blogs
Forming perception
Positive visibility
– Gap analysis – current perception vs desired
– Continuous assessment of PR & Marketing impact
Materials
– Analyze materials & messages based on the gap survey
Quality of faculty
– Monitoring, public recognition and PR of achievements
– Nurture your “talking heads”
Forming perception
• Internationalization
– Of programs, students, faculty members and other staff
• Selective admissions
– Analyse the market based on your mid- and long-term goals
– Monitor your campaigns, know your ROI
• Connection with alumni – life-long experience
– Family-feel: area on the web site, CRM, newsletters, career updates
– Events for alums: networking, guest speakers, focus groups
– Endowment fund is not the only thing you can get from alums
Forming perception
• Reputation via your staff members and talking
heads:
– International projects
– Presentations at B2B events
• Be OPEN, INTERACTIVE and APPROACHABLE via
– Social networks
– Interactive tools on your own web site
– Professional networks
EVENTS
• Strategic & Specialized
• Planning and Executing an Event
• Online Marketing
Goals
GENERATE LEADS
ENGAGEMENT
BRAND AWARENESS
EDUCATE / TRAIN
DRIVE DEMAND & UPSELL
Your Logo
Traditional vs New Marketing
Outbound Marketing
 Telemarketing
 Fairs
 Direct mail
 Email shots
 Print
 TV / Radio
Inbound Marketing
 Search Engine Optimization
 Blogging
 Social Media
 RSS feeds
 Free tools / trials
 Video
Interruption based
Permission based
Goals
Define your goals
 Brand exposure
 Brand engagement
 Enquiries
 Applications
 Enrolments
 Conversion rate / cost
 Quality of conversion
 Diversification
Get your data
 Google Analytics
 Facebook Insights
 Social media monitoring
 Event registration
 Ads campaign reports
 CRM / Salesforce
 Data files from web forms
 Tracking “How did you hear?”
Key B2B events
Going Global, NAFSA, EAIE, IREG, QS-APPLE, MoveOn,
European Commission, etc.
Typical:
– Plenary and parallel sessions, fair
– Topics: Internationalization, academic mobility, student
recruitment, joint programs, etc.
What to look for:
- Access to the delegates lists in advance
- Plan your schedule – sessions, meetings
- Follow up – FAST!
First Russian avenue
2012
Key B2C events
• Interstate collaborations – like Beijing fair
• Direct recruitment – Begin Group, Education USA, Study in
the UK, QS World Grad School Tour, etc
• What to look for:
– Booth or table
– Panel discussion, presentation, workshop
– Promo campaign
– Social media referrals
– Access to all registered candidates, not just the ones
collected
– Follow up – instantly!
Planning an event
Event marketing mistakes
• Going in blind – plan, plan, plan!
• Your data is old
• Not knowing who exactly you need
• Missing deadlines
• Forgetting relevant conversations
• Not standing out from the crowd
• Not tracking the results
• Spamming the planet
• Disregard the calendar
What to remember before any event
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Set realistic and targeted goals up front
Incorporate a strong theme and a cohesive look & feel
Be creative
Include multiple touches in your promotion
Segment your promotion to reach the right audience
Include social media in your event plans – in all stages
Be the first to follow-up with attendees & non-attendees
Measure ROI – basic, progressive, pipeline
BUT!
“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not
everything that can be counted counts.”
Albert Einstein
Marketing an event
Before the event
– The event page or web site:
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Compelling description – what, when, why; benefits; quotes
Speakers pictures and bios
Event images and videos
Curation of content - buzz
- Pre-event Email
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Subject line
Timing – send during the weekend or weekday?
Video thumbnail
Social proof – from previous events
Reminders – based on user behaviour
Online strategy priorities
Facebook
YouTube
Social
Bookmarking
External Blogs
Institutional
Blogs
1
Campus Life
Events
Courses
Faculty
Campus Life
2
Sports
Campus Life
Projects, NonResearch
Research,
Physical Sciences
Events
3
Technology
Faculty
Research,
Physical Sciences
Institution Overall
Institution
Overall
4
Product
Services
Courses
Events
Expert
Commentary
Institution SubGroups
5
Events
Institution
Overall
Faculty
Events
Admissions
Importance of social media by
region
Marketing an event
Social activity
• Hashtag
• Links in social media bios – in your existing profiles
• Relevant people on Twitter, Facebook, etc – mention them
• Schedule your messages in advance (HootSuite, Buffer, etc)
• Registration Thank you! page – offer to share and include
hashtag
• Registration autoconfirmation email
• Pre-event blog posts – use the speakers
• Cross the streams – thank those who share on FB on Twitter
• Use your partners – ask them to share pre-written posts
Examples of tweets
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Registration opens
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Early-bird registration is ending soon
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Countdown: “Just X days until the event!”
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Reminder of time and location
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Thank your sponsors (mention sponsors)
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“Just saw Jane’s presentation. Wow!” (mention speakers)
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“See you at the event!” (mention registrants)
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Thanks for sharing, posting and re-tweeting (mention anyone who shared)
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Tweets with a testimonial quotes about a speaker (find these on LinkedIn)
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Tweet to the pre-event blog post using a quote from the interview. (mention
speaker)
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“Thanks for registering! See you there!” (mention registrants, especially
social media influencers)
Social media are there for you
Work with local media
and industry web sites
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Submit to local media outlets
Submit to relevant associations
Let the press know
Make friends with journalists
Ask local experts about what they read
Identify the influencers
Customise your communication
Who to make friends with
Top 20 most searched universities by Google users worldwide, 2014
1. University of Phoenix
11. University of Mumbai
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
12. University College London
3. Open University
13. University of Oxford
4. University of Calicut
14. Florida State University
5. University of California, Los Angeles
15. Harvard University
6. Anna University
16. University of Cambridge
7. Stanford University
17. Liberty University
8. London School of Economics
18. University of Rajasthan
9. Columbia University
19. University of Michigan
10. New York University
20. Annamalai University
Research
Marketing an event
SEO
o Identify your keywords and target them
o Title tags and headers
o Search-friendly description
SEO & Keyword tools
o Wordtracker - freekeywords.wordtracker.com
o Yahoo clues – clues.yahoo.com
o Google insights
www.google.co.uk/insights/search
o SEObook – www.seobook.com
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981 Likes
168 People were there
5.0 out of 5 stars
6 Reviews
During and Post-event Marketing
During the event – tweet, check in, share, run
contests and “make friends”
After the event:
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Thank you letters
Summary of presentations
Quotes
Gallery of event photos
Lists – top tweets, speakers, highlights.
Feedback surveys
Invite to follow you
Offer to keep notified of the future events
Old-style Visualisation still works
Planning an event
If Marketing
Events is Your
Job
Make your life easier
by helping your
colleagues – create:
-Useful links
-Check-lists
-Exhibit kits
-Image gallery
-Brandbook
How HE Marketing will change
• Post-click personalization
• Real-time, data-informed decision making
• Mobile-ready marketing
• Marketing through graduation
• Know what you don’t know
Evolllution.com
Keep Learning!
University Website
• Digital Strategy
• Personification & Interaction
• Sell Experiences
Web site is your face
for the rest of the world
 Has to communicate:
o Main mission
o Research priorities
 Quality content:
o Your journals and publications
o Media – video, webinars, virtual tours, etc.
o Repository and archive
o Social projects
 Internationalization:
o Multilanguage options
o Guides for international students and faculty members
o Intuitive structure
o Multilanguage search
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Best Homepage
www.edustyle.net
Virtual tour
http://www.youvisit.com/colleges
Requirements
- Clear «call for
action»
- Understanding of
Target Audience
- Usability
- Interactivity
-«Personas»
Snowball method
Remember – it is always a dialogue
Read and Write
http://iu.qs.com
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Ben Sowter Intelligence Unit
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MattHerzberger.com [http://www.mattherzberger.com]
SquaredPeg.com [http://www.squaredpeg.com]
Higher Ed Marketing [http://highered.prblogs.org]
.eduGuru [http://www.doteduguru.com]
Mark Greenfield - Higher Ed Web Consulting [http://www.markgr.com]
Marketing Higher Ed [http://higheredmarketing.blogspot.com]
Future Endeavour [http://futureendeavour.blogspot.com]
Interactive Media for Higher Education [http://imhe.blogspot.com]
Jeremy Wilburn - UIS The Real Deal [http://jeremywilburn.wordpress.com]
The Higher Ed Marketing Blog [http://higheredmarketingblog.wordpress.com]
eduStyle [http://www.edustyle.net]
Tales from Redesignland [http://redesignland.blogspot.com]
Web Development Blog [http://blog.case.edu/webdev/]
UBrander [http://ubrander.wordpress.com/]
GlobalHigherEd [http://globalhighered.wordpress.com]
Karlyn Morissette [http://www.karlynmorissette.com]
HighEdWebTech [http://www.highedwebtech.com]
Keeping on Top of Higher Ed [http://keepingontop.azorus.com]
Useful stuff
• Marketing and Student Recruitment Practices Benchmark
Report for Four-Year and Two-Year Institutions
• HE in Australia: https://higherediq.wordpress.com
• Industry reports: http://monitor.icef.com
• Event template web sites: http://bit.ly/1FoveZp
• Rutgers University tips: http://bit.ly/1WcHtg9
• HE Social Media online conference: http://bit.ly/1LHpYNB
• HighEdBlog.org
• YouVisit.com
Goal: Effective Communication
• Promote
• Optimize
• Engage
• Measure
Stay tuned with QS!
Rankings: TopUniversities.com
Methodology: IU.QS.com
Country analyses: iu.qs.com/library
Twitter: @bensowter, @worlduniranking
Facebook: www.facebook.com/universityrankings
СПАСИБО!
Thank you!
Zoya Zaitseva zoya@qs.com