Andrew Crisp, Co-Founder of CarringtonCrisp; Ira Amilhussin, Sr. Marketing Manager at LinkedIn; and Lorraine Hester, Market Research at LinkedIn present new research about the return on investment of higher education, what factors drive student satisfaction and successful career outcomes, and what Admissions and Career Services departments think of social marketing platforms' efficacy.
(Generative) AI & Marketing: - Out of the Hype - Empowering the Marketing M...
Using social media insights to improve higher ed outcomes
1. Platform Research & Insights
for Higher Education
Andrew Crisp
Owner
CarringtonCrisp
@agcrisp
Lorraine Hester
Senior Marketing Research Associate
LinkedIn
@lorrhes
Ira Amilhussin
Senior Global Marketing Manager
LinkedIn
@iraa
#inEDU16
5. Social media can help schools improve
quality at all points of the journey
QUALITY
PROSPECTS STUDENT
RESOURCES
ALUMNI
OPPORTUNITIES
#inEDU16
6. Analyzing Successful Grads
to Inform Lead Gen
Today’s Agenda
Social Media in Admissions
& Career Services
Key Findings and Implications
1
2
3
#inEDU16
7. Social Media in Admissions
and Career Services
Part 1
#inEDU16
8. How is social media being used in business school
admissions and career services?
+80%
from accredited
business schools
25
Respondents in
Canada
90
Respondents in the
U.S.
#inEDU16
15. Social media meets 2 important needs
for admissions
• Add another dimension to admissions
• Assess whether a candidate is a good fit
• Engage potential applicants in conversations
• Connect applicants with alumni or students
• Inform candidates about application process
Connecting
with applicants
Supplementing
Admissions Info
Admissions
#inEDU16
17. Social networks are particularly valuable with
international grad school applicants
MBA / MASTERS
43
find social media particularly valuable
when considering international
applicants
%
#inEDU16
18. Social media meets 3 important needs
for career services
• Connect current students
with alumni
• Find and connect with
alumni to discuss their
support for student careers
Facilitate
alumni mentoring
• Help current students build a
strong social media profile to
support job search
• Provide information about
campus career services to alumni
Student &
Alumni support
• Research companies
in a given sector
Career
research
AdmissionsCareer ServicesCareer Services
#inEDU16
19. LinkedIn is by far the most useful for
career services
Career Services
Social networks used by career services
staff
73%
14%
11%
Career Services
#inEDU16
21. Believe better candidates
have a single, strong
social media profile
2670
Say that applicants
include a link to their
social media profile in
their application
% %
Admissions
yet…
only
Room for improvement
#inEDU16
22. have not discussed the
need for controls over
social media use
553
have formal guidance or
policies in place to ensure
no discrimination
% %
Admissions teams could use more
controls and direction around social
Admissions
#inEDU16
24. Career Services
• Teach social media networking skills
• Provide training on building a personal
brand
• Give advice on developing a strong social
media profile
• Avoid having hard to find, inactive or non-existent
profiles
• Ensure profile supports a professional career search
• Have the evidence to back-up content on their profile
• Understand how profile material will used by potential
employers
How students can improve: How schools can help:
How to make better use of social
media when job hunting
#inEDU16
25. Key Findings
Social media usage is very high in
admissions (71%) and career services (98%)
LinkedIn is the best place to find quality
candidates (88%)
1
2
3
4
LinkedIn is the most useful network for
career services (73%)
In the admission process, 90% use social
media to engage in conversations with
potential applicants
#inEDU16
28. move into a new job
function or industry
get a better job in the
same industry
start a new company or
join a startup
Career
Switcher
Career
Enhancer
Aspiring
Entrepreneur
#inEDU16
29. 346
in Canada
469
in the U.S.
What motivations & behaviors are associated with
successful graduates?
#inEDU16
30. The master’s degree is still valuable
Base: NAMER MBA and Masters Grads (n=815)
of graduates reported that
their degree had a positive
impact on their career.
7389
of graduates are very /
extremely satisfied with the
impact of their degree on their
career.
% %
#inEDU16
31. …even for recent grads
Base: NAMER MBA and Masters Recent Grads (n=243)
#inEDU16
32. Base: NAMER MBA and Masters Grads (n=815)
The majority of grads were able
to accomplish successful
outcomes
33%
16%
Aspiring
Entrepreneur
Career
Enhancer
Career
Switcher
6%
55% SUCCESSFUL
OUTCOMES
#inEDU16
33. Understanding the different drivers
• meet family expectations • personal achievement
• passion for learning (no professional requirement)
• increase self-confidence on the job
• increase salary • upskill for new role
• accelerate career • start my own business
• impact communities • reached a plateau at work
Tangible Motivations Intangible Motivations
#inEDU16
34. Base: NAMER MBA and Masters Grads (Hard n=463; Soft n=285)
Tangible motivation matters
48
more grads with tangible
motivations achieved a successful
outcome
%
#inEDU16
36. Base: Global MBA and Masters Grads (High Grit n=1421; Medium Grit n=1779; Low Grit n=204)
High grit correlates with satisfaction
37
more high grit respondents were
satisfied compare to low grit.
%
#inEDU16
39. Feeding the positive cycle
Successful alumni are more active on LinkedIn
43
more shares on
LinkedIn*
%
43
more page views
on LinkedIn*
%
35
more connections
on LinkedIn
%
*In the 30days before the analysis was run.
Grads whose outcomes met our success criteria compared to: respondents who dropped out of their degree (MA/MBA only
Base (Global): Successful grads n=1793; Drop-outs n=499
#inEDU16
41. Key Findings
1
2
3
4
Business schools are going social
The master’s degree is still valuable
LinkedIn is rated #1 for quality candidates
Tangible motivations and high grit correlate
with satisfaction and successful outcomes
#inEDU16
42. Top tips for admissions & marketing
Broaden the content you share to include
program info, faculty bios, and news
Use Sponsored InMail to support
candidates through the application
process
Identify and engage quality candidates at
scale on LinkedIn
Connect applicants / admits with alumni
ambassadors
Use specific career goals in your
messaging
Prospects
Inquiries
Applicants
Admits
#inEDU16
43. Who is most directly responsible for
student outcomes?
#inEDU16
44. With LinkedIn, all aspects of the journey are unified
MARKETING
ENGAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT
ADMISSIONS
EDUCATION
/FACULTY
IP / THOUGHT
LEADERSHIP
CAREER
SERVICES
CAREER
SERVICES
#inEDU16
Notes de l'éditeur
Quality not quantity. That term gets thrown around so often nowadays that you almost ignore it and continue what you’ve always been doing.
But today in higher education, it’s becoming an imperative. Especially with regard to outcomes and return on investment.
State of Higher Ed today:
High tuition costs + Increasing student debt = Questions about ROI
Rising tuition, increased student debt, coupled with the slow economic recovery have raised some questions about whether an advanced degree is still worthwhile.
The key benefits of the graduate degree are made more valuable with social media – quality of peer student group, interaction and knowledge exchange in school, alumni networking. By using social media to improve quality from the very beginning of the student journey, schools can recruit higher quality candidates, improve the academic experience with a higher quality cohort and increased collaboration, and connect alumni networks to mentor current students, refer new prospects, and drive engagement with their alma mater – which creates a positive cycle that continues to feed itself with their university at the center.
Why: discover how social media is being used in business school admissions and career services, what are the pluses and minuses, what are the best and most innovative uses.
How: separate online surveys for admissions and career services staff
When: June and July 2016
Who (globally):
173 respondents to the admissions survey. 152 respondents to the career services survey.
More than 80% of both respondent groups are AACBS or EQUIS accredited
37% North America, 41% Europe, 22% Rest of the World
Callout: North American admissions directors were more likely than other regions to also be responsible for marketing activities. 43% in NAMER stated they were responsible for both Marketing and Admissions within their business school vs. 8% who said that in Europe and 17% in the rest of the world.
Opportunity to use social media throughout the entire student journey
Only about 40% defined a better candidate as having a higher GMAT or GRE
Connecting with Applicants
Engage potential applicants in conversations with our team – 90%
Connect applicants with alumni or current students – 55%
Inform candidates about elements of the application process – 55%
Supplementing Admissions Info
Add another dimension to admissions – 60%
Assess whether a candidate is a good fit for our program – 40%
Adds another dimension to other tools, but does not replace previous activity.
Where social media networks are used to review a candidate’s digital profile as part of an Admissions Committee’s discussions, to assess whether a candidate is a good fit for a program and to engage potential applicants in conversations with an admissions team, it is most likely to be at a North American school.
Where social media networks are used to draw key information to prepopulate online application forms, it is most likely to be outside of Europe and North America.
A third of admissions staff agree that as social media is widely used by employers to check candidates so it is inevitable that schools would use it to support their admissions work.
More than half indicate that if a candidate puts something on a social media site that can be seen by the public, they must expect that school admissions staff may consider that information.
Facilitate alumni mentoring
Connect current students with alumni – 79%
Find and connect with alumni to discuss their support for student careers – 63%
Student/alumni support
Help current students build a strong social media profile to support job search – 84%
Provide information about campus career services to alumni – 65%
Career research
Research companies in a given sector – 67%
When social media is used to connect staff within the career service team and to identify job vacancies to pass on to students, it is most widely used outside of North America and Europe
Where social media is used to track graduate career outcomes it is most likely to be used in Europe
Where social media is used to analyse recruitment trends, it is least likely to be used in North America
Clearly, there are opportunities for candidates and admission staff to make more of social media.
North American schools were the least likely to have controls or formal guidance compared to international schools
Just over a quarter are concerned about possible damage to school brand through misuse of social media tools and misleading profiles.
The two key reasons for not using social media are:
a lack of time and resources to make use of social media
uncertainty regarding the value of the information in supporting application processes.
Provides the authentic voice that both prospects and current students seek. Alumni are the engine that keeps the virtuous cycle going.
Grad schools are under increasing pressure to prove successful career outcomes and to demonstrate the ROI of the degree. According to GMAC’s 2015 Prospective Student Survey, these are three main career goals for graduate students.
Career Switcher: move into a new job function or industry
Career Enhancer: get promoted in my current company or get a better job within another company.
Entrepreneur: start a new company/I am in the process of starting a new company/I join a startup company with less than 10 employees,
For this study, if a graduate was able to accomplish any of these goals, we considered that a successful graduate outcome. If we analyzed LinkedIn members who experienced successful outcomes after graduating, how could that inform higher ed marketing?
For MA/MBA Grads:
Canada: 346
USA: 469
Global: 3404 (we use global data for some analysis)
We also reference dropouts in the deck:
MA/MBA drop outs
Global: 499 (we use global data for behavioural analysis)
Which of the following best describes what occurred as a result of your Masters/MBA degree?:
Positive impact refers to one of the following: I was promoted in my current company or got a better job within another company, I was able to move into a new job function or industry, I started a new company/I am in the process of starting a new company/I joined a startup company with less than 10 employees, or None of the above apply, but I feel my degree has had a positive impact on my career
Overall, how satisfied are you with the impact your Masters/MBA has had on your career? Extremely /Very satisfied
This held up when we looked at recent grads (those who graduated between 2010 – 2015).
Positive impact: 88% of recent grads
Satisfaction: 67% of recent grads
Which of the following best describes what occurred as a result of your Masters/MBA degree?
Career Switcher: I was promoted in my current company or got a better job within another company, I was able to move into a new job function or industry, I started a new company/I am in the process of starting a new company/I joined a startup company with less than 10 employees,
Explain why there is a discrepancy with 89%: 34% did not achieve one of the 3 major successful outcomes, but still felt the degree had a positive impact.
Which of the following best describes what occurred as a result of your Masters/MBA degree? (Enhancer/Switcher/Entrep)
Tangible motivations = More Tangible than Intangible motivations in top 3 = 65% with successful outcomes
Intangible motivations = More Intangible than Tangible motivations in top 3 = 44% with successful outcomes
Tangible motivations: increase salary, upskill for new role, start my own business, accelerate career, reached a plateau at work, impact communities
Intangible motivations: meet family expectations, personal achievement, passion for learning (no professional requirement), increase self-confidence on the job
GRIT: 8 question resulting in a total Grit score (out of 5): Low Grit = less than 3; High GRIT = 4+, Medium Grit = else
Satisfaction: Overall, how satisfied are you with the impact your Masters/MBA has had on your career? Very/Extremely Satisfied
Interestingly, high grit scores didn’t significantly correlate with any undergraduate majors or company size.
Undergrad major (global) and % of high Grit
Comp Sci (n=1005) 32%
Engineering (n=1292) 34%
Business/Finance (n=1568) 40%
Science/Math (n=713) 40%
Humanities (n=1507) 40%
Industry Sector (global) and % of high Grit
Government (n=386) 46%
Non-profit (n=273) 45%
Medical (n=697) 42%
Transportation (n=270) 41%
Construction (n=312) 41%
Finance (n=1222) 39%
Educational (n=863) 39%
Manufacturing (n=1065) 39%
Arts (n=251) 39%
Consumer (n=608) 38%
Corporate (n=853) 38%
Recreational (n=479) 37%
High-tech (n=1957) 36%
Legal (n=103) 34%
Media (n=235) 34%
Service (n=196) 32%
Company size (global) and % of high Grit
Myself or 1-10 (n=427) 39%
11-200 (n=1443) 35%
210-1000 (n=1012) 37%
10001-5000 (n=1209) 39%
5001 + (n=2920) 37%
You have to message to attract the high potential prospects. Hard motivations
EduVentures report, based on a survey of 218 high-ranking administrators -- including presidents, vice presidents and provosts -- explores the barriers preventing colleges from improving student outcomes.
The No. 1 answer, selected by more than 40 percent of respondents: everyone.