Loyola University Harnesses Mobile Marketing: It’s not just for business anymore

written by Marilyn Canna, CAMA blogger

Nicole O’Connell had just returned from an AMA mobile marketing symposium, ready to implement the new platform at Loyola University where she is director of enrollment marketing.  The story of how she convinced colleagues to devote budget and staff resources to supplement traditional print and online marketing to potential undergrad and graduate students with mobile technology--then made it happen--was an eye-opening Higher Education SIG event on January 19.

Choosing to integrate mobile marketing into your mix means rethinking your content, how it’s viewed, and who’s searching for it.  Academics, like many business leaders, need to be convinced that not everyone wants to read long content on static websites or in direct emails all the time to make informed choices—especially a mobile-friendly, college-bound audience.

O’Connell opened her presentation with some of the stats she used to make her case on campus, including that nearly half of 18-34 year-olds on Facebook check it right after they wake up and get most of their news from it and that mobile Web traffic is expected to surpass PC traffic by 2013.  O’Connell also shared that Boston University no longer provides its students with email addresses, so convinced are they that their incoming students are more likely to tweet, text, or share comments on Facebook.

Educating her supervisors and peers to get mobile buy-in took eight months, O’Connell stated.  Research helped.  A university’s own analytics can determine how users come to your website, how many access the site via smart phones each month, and how many are unlikely to visit a site that was not mobile friendly (nationally, 61%).

Marketing in academia is a challenge--following students through a cycle that starts with campus tours and application essays and continues through their status as alumni.  Building and maintaining databases via re-designing mobile opt-in forms is important.  Finding out what information students want along that academic lifecycle is vital and becomes more tactical than content-heavy broadband to reduce, for example, “melt,” that period of time between orientation and classes starting when new students can slip away.

So, when you create a Web page, create a mobile version at the same time.  Optimize for a variety of platforms in order to reach segments of your enrollment audience, like new or transfer students.  Mobile landing pages should push audiences to your brand through what they’re searching for or want to talk about, such as tuition and fees, scholarship info, testimonials from current students, and rankings.  Several Loyola Facebook pages that O’Connell shared are home to the Class of 2016, or invite potential students to visit, or get to the basics on the Financial Aid Office page (with an invite to “like” them for aid updates). Monitoring these platforms is key, but, in at least one instance, students answered a question posed on a Facebook page before staff even got to it.

The results?  After mobile integration, enrollment numbers are still consistent with those achieved with old media tactics; and print, though scaled back, is still used.  But O’Connell is still very pleased that she pushed for implementation and that mobile is now a vital part of the marketing mix at Loyola.

View Nicole O’Connell’s presentation, now posted to SlideShare.

Mark your calendar for the next Higher Ed SIG event: “Marketing Leaders: Born or Made?” by Deborah Maue, Associate Vice President for Marketing Strategy, DePaul University, February 29, 2012, 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the DePaul Club, 1 E. Jackson Blvd. 11thFloor, Chicago, IL  60604. 

The Higher Education SIGs is one of nine new special interest groups that CAMA members developed in response to a growing, diverse membership looking for content and thought leadership relevant to their disciplines.

SIG events and activities are open to Chicago AMA members and non-members.  Visit the SIG website for news and activities about each groupat http://www.chicagoama.org/chicago-ama-sigs . The page includes a link to join the SIG(s) of your choice.