Just when it looked like more and more colleges were finding ways to provide a face-to-face learning experience during the continuing pandemic, West Chester University (right in my backyard) announced that virtual learning was being extended into the spring 2021 semester. That’s right…Spring 2021. As this was being announced, WCU’s local school district was moving into hybrid.
That was quite a wake-up call for me and, I would assume, for thousands of students who are in or in the process of entering the higher education system. Sounds like it’s time for a gap year while all this gets sorted out.
Trends and predictions on the effect this on-going pandemic is having on our colleges and universities have been released since we last broached the subject in our July 2020 blog. This includes a significant study from the National Student Clearinghouse whose mission is to provide data, services and insights to the K-20 and workforce continuum.
For Fall 2020 enrollment the impact of the pandemic differs – sometimes significantly – by degree and institution type. Here’s a small snapshot of what we have learned from NSC’s data as of September 24, 2020:
First-Time Beginning Students
This group showed an incredible 16.1% drop in enrollments which compares to a slim 0.4% drop last fall.
69% of all undergraduate enrollment losses come from First Time Beginning Students
Undergraduates
Undergraduate enrollment is down 4% across all institution types in comparison to last year
Private for-profit colleges are up 3.0%
Public 2-year colleges taking a huge hit – down 9.4%
Only 5 states are showing an increase in enrollments – Vermont, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Nebraska, and Utah
11.2% drop in international students
Graduate Students
Graduate school enrollments are up 2.7%.
Private 4-year colleges are up 9.3%
Public 4-year colleges are up in the same period by 4.0%
Enrollment is up in 38 states
All Students
Total enrollment is down 3.0% in comparison to the same period last year.
Only 6 states show an increase in all enrollments including Vermont, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Nebraska, Utah and Arizona
Not sure when things will return to normal – if ever. If you are an Admissions professional, SCG would like to continue the discussion with you.
College enrollments have been steady.
Then, came the virus.
Our nation’s colleges and universities are suffering deep financial wounds as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its sixth month. The devastating results show institutions scrambling to thwart large financial losses and even for some small colleges the possibility of closing.
How large are the losses facing higher education? An ABC News report showed unthinkable numbers. University of Michigan’s three campuses, for example, will see $400 million to $1 billion in losses, while California’s university system lost $558 million in March alone. A major portion of the losses to date stems from rebates on meal and housing that was unused due to campus closings.
So, going forward, it will be more important than ever for schools to focus on capturing a larger market share – getting a larger slice of a shrinking pie. Fortunately, despite a decline in the college-age population nationwide, college enrollments were at least remaining steady.
Statista, a leading provider of market and consumer data, showed public and private college enrollments have hovered around the 20 million mark since 2015. The year 2015 showed 19.99M while 2020 was forecast slightly lower at 19.75M.
However, that was before the COVID-19 Pandemic struck and drastically changed the college experience. Sadly, The American Council on Education estimates a 15% drop in fall enrollments costing colleges and universities $23 billion in lost revenue.
Even more daunting, SimpsonScarborough, a higher education research and marketing company, is predicting a 20% loss in enrollment based on a survey of 2,000 college-bound high school seniors and current college students in March.
Finally, as students are preparing to go to college (or not), admissions professionals are doing a variety of things to keep their enrollments up.
Here are a few:
Extending acceptance deadline
Waiving deposits
Early access to the waitlist
Insurance against dropping enrollment
There’s so much more to this dynamic situation. As the difficulty in attracting a larger number of potential students climbs, it would be wise to have a partner with experience in the higher education market. If you are an Admissions professional, SCG would like to continue the discussion with you.
From the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, public health officials at all levels were quick to identify mis- and dis-information as legitimate threats to public health. Several utilized the term “infodemic” to illustrate how the spread of false information was akin to the spread of the actual virus. Given the media landscape and our hyper-connectivity via social, digital, and mobile media, the analogy is entirely appropriate.
The pandemic – along with sophisticated information warfare campaigns by foreign actors like Russia and China — has helped shine an important light on the considerable dangers associated with the spread of false information. These include mis-, dis-, and mal-information, as well as conspiracies; they’re not new and the threats they pose will outlive the pandemic. Our upcoming election is sure to amplify the problem. Though mis-, dis-, and mal-information are all related to the spread of harmful information, they each are separate and distinct. However, each serves to undermine trust, erode communication channels, and significantly disrupt our democracy, economy, workplaces, and communities. Basically, they attack our entire way of life.
Mis-information is false information, though not created with negative intent
Dis-information is false information specifically created to harm a person or group
Mal-information is information based on reality, but used to inflict harm on a person or group
While these threats and their proliferation are well-studied and defined, there isn’t a clear consensus on how to address them most effectively. Organized and proactive disinformation campaigns typically involve detailed research, planning, and targeting. Further, all forms of mis-, dis-, and mal-information – even the basic rumor mill – include a process of seeding, sharing, and amplification. These various phases represent ideal opportunities for mitigation and management.
Just as viruses constantly mutate, so does disinformation. Sources and breeding grounds range from geopolitical rivals to a former employee with an ax to grind, and from those with complex motives to those simply looking for a malevolent adrenalin rush.
Government and media reform are essential … but they’re not assured. So, organizations and individuals must identify tools and tactics independent of institutional change. Further, the actions of individuals are essential elements in the proliferation of all forms of false information and so must necessarily be the centerpiece of any mitigation plan.
Leaders of organizations, and others specifically tasked with addressing false information — including public relations professionals, human resource professionals, and lawyers – need to look beyond their traditional “toolboxes” and consider new mitigation tactics based on the behavioral sciences. As noted by Edward Bernays, father of public relations and nephew of Sigmund Freud, those who understand the group mind are able to manipulate behavior … without those who are being manipulated even realizing it.
When information “tastes good” and is repeated with sufficient frequency, some will believe it – regardless of whether it’s accurate. Those tasked with dealing with mis-, dis-, and mal-information must have a thorough understanding of these illusory effects if they wish to successfully mitigate and manage.
Tools and Tactics for Organizations
Foundational Elements
Understand the source. A long, complex list of behavioral, political, economic, communication, and media issues impact the formation and proliferation of dis-information.
Key Elements Organizations Must Consider
Ability and motivation to understand, prepare, and plan for the threat will ultimately define successful mitigation.
Understanding the value of the organization’s intangible assets, like reputation, trust, and brand, will impact mitigation. Trusted organizations with strong reputations generally have the durability and resilience to resist attack, thanks to their intangibles.
Essential Tools for Mitigating Dis-information
Real-time listening and monitoring to quickly identifying false or misleading information.
Robust communication infrastructure, processes, and channels, along with skillful professional counsel and support.
Firmly established codes of ethics and a commitment to transparency.
Message intervention through pre-bunking, attitude inoculation, de-bunking, and fact-checking. While widely used, fact-checking simply can’t keep up with the volume of disinformation. Pre-bunking and attitude inoculation are shown to be effective at building immunity and reducing susceptibility to dis-information. De-bunking and fact-checking should utilize detailed messaging to counter false claims.
Activate credibility boosters like partnerships with trusted third parties, community relations efforts, and thought-leadership programs that enhance credibility and increase resilience in the face of an attack.
Messaging that is clear, consistent, and concise, and which incorporates stories and visuals. Be mindful not to highlight false claims and consider using the “truth sandwich” – begin and end with the truth and avoid overemphasizing the falsehood (never share false claims without clarification). And, because voids of information provide an opportunity for disinformation, limit voids.
Particularly when dealing with more susceptible publics, activate and support recognized media literacy programs to help create a less fertile environment for dis-information campaigns.
Limiting the spread of misinformation, through pre-bunking and other measures, also helps decrease exposure to dubious claims at the core of many conspiracy theories.
The potential results of a successful mitigation effort are many, and the ultimate goal is enabling key publics to make more informed decisions. This said, organizations need to recognize that there are limitations to what can be accomplished. Total elimination of all sources and adversaries isn’t plausible.
No matter their mission or size, organizations are potential victims of dis-information, either by a direct attack or a shockwave from larger attacks. As the keeper of intangible assets, public relations professionals – especially those who understand the entire paid, earned, shared, and owned media environment – are ideally positioned to direct planning and mitigation efforts.
Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy MarCom professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the industry landscape. Check-in for the latest updates from all over the web.
Despite Super Bowl LIV’s marketing deja vu, several ads break out
Multibrand spots, ads supporting women, “Groundhog Day” and yes, the resurrection of Mr. Peanut, caused some of the biggest stir this year.
Super Bowl LIV made for a tense showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the victorious Kansas City Chiefs, but few marketing surprises turned up during a night that leaned heavily on humor, multibrand team-ups, and newcomers in areas like politics and women’s representation. Read more…
Google plans crackdown on ‘disruptive’ video ads
Google’s Chrome web browser on Aug. 5 will stop showing all ads on sites that repeatedly have “disruptive” video ads, as defined by new standards from the Coalition for Better Ads (CBA) Read more…
Market share for some products advertised in Super Bowl commercial spiked on Amazon during and after the game, according to a Profitero report shared with Marketing Dive. Coke Energy and its zero sugar version saw surges of 111% and 197%, respectively. Read more…
The marketing sector can be a complicated place as new marketing tools and techniques are launched, almost on a weekly basis. Ever-evolving marketing technology and the proliferation of communication channels means that ‘communicating,’ or getting your message out there, has never been easier. Read more...
Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy MarCom professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the industry landscape. Check-in for the latest updates from all over the web.
Ben and Jerry’s CEO discusses embracing different ways of doing business from side-stepping research to prioritising activism. Ben & Jerry’s CEO Matthew McCarthy has been in his role for a little more than a year but, from side-stepping research to prioritising activism, he is fully embracing the different ways the ice cream maker does business. Read more…
The New York Times Opinion desk published an investigation last week into the location data industry, showing how companies quietly collect and profit off the precise movements of smartphone users. Read more…
8 Digital Marketing Trends for 2020
2019 was a busy year for marketers. With dozens of new marketing tech flooding the market, hundreds of courses on marketing mastery and thousands of sales funnel videos, predicting marketing trends for 2020 became as hard as cooking a perfect macaron. We wanted to share our perspective, as a pioneer in the MarTech space, a community with hundreds of successful digital marketing agencies around the world. Read more…
In 2019, Instagram’s US user growth rate will have dropped to single digits for the first time to 6.7%, down from 10.1% in 2018. Starting in 2020, and through the end of our forecast period in 2023, we estimate that the social media platform will grow slower than previously expected. Read more...
Who would have thought that webinars – the bleeding edge technology innovation when they were introduced in 1996 by Microsoft’s NetMeeting and Xerox PARC’s PlaceWare – would have such staying power? In the past 20 years in marketing have taught me anything, it’s been to never doubt the good ol’, tried and true webinar. They have proven ability to boost organizations’ training, marketing, sales and customer engagements. Read more…
Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy MarCom professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the industry landscape. Check-in for the latest updates from all over the web.
YouTube masthead ads hit TV app
YouTube is rolling out masthead ads for TV screens, offering brands prominent placement within its TV app. Same as YouTube’s desktop and mobile feed masthead ads, the masthead ads for TV screens can be purchased on a cost-per-impression (CPM) basis and will be available via reserved placements.
The masthead ads will autoplay a few seconds after being served up, and brands will be able to target the ads to customized audiences. Read more…
Facebook Publishes New Report on the Benefits of Combining Facebook and Outdoor Advertising
Outdoor ads – including bus shelter campaigns and billboards – might not be within the budget of most SMBs. But for those businesses that can afford it, there can be significant benefits to running outdoor campaigns in combination with Facebook promotions. Read more…
Macy’s back-to-school push debuts with Snapchat shopping, TikTok challenge
Macy’s back-to-school promotion includes its first shoppable commercials on Snapchat and a video-sharing challenge on TikTok. The department store’s “All Brand New” campaign also includes digital and TV spots aimed at celebrating kids’ individuality and self-expression. Read more…
Fanta targets mobile-savvy teens with Snapchat-powered OOH campaign
Coca-Cola’s Fanta brand of fruit-flavored sodas paired its traditional out-of-home (OOH) advertising with Snap’s augmented reality (AR) technology for an immersive campaign. The “It’s a Thing” campaign lets Snapchat users point their smartphones at Fanta’s billboards and posters to unlock digital content including shareable AR filters and sticker packs, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer. Read more…
Engaging students in a post-email world
Too much email?
Each Texas A&M student has a dedicated email address. After years of using email as the primary way to communicate with students, we started to encounter some challenges: many students began to only monitor their personal email address, spending little to no time checking their university email address. It resulted in them not completing important administrative tasks such as signing up for direct deposit, and failing to meet important deadlines and requirements such as submitting a photograph for their identification (ID) cards or to complete financial agreements. Read more...
Photorealistic CGI product placement ads could soon invade your favorite movies
We’re all used to personalized advertising in the age of the internet. Known as “identity marketing,” this brave new world of selling means we are shown only advertisements considered likely to appeal to us. Whether it’s Amazon recommending a new book, Netflix suggesting a particular movie, or Google selling us on a certain holiday after something we mentioned in an email, advertisers draw on information about individuals and use this to decide whether to bother targeting us with a particular ad. Read more…
Welcome to your monthly round-up for the marketing and communications world. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools, and marketing trends affecting the landscape. Check in each month for the latest updates from all over the web.
Many traditional business practices over the past few decades have evolved into having some sort of digital or mobile alternative. Technology is continuously creating new ways to do just about everything, including networking. What used to consist of simply shaking hands and in-person conversation has also hit the digital world with the emergence of social sites such as LinkedIn and some cool networking tools.
Although they can provide a way to foster a professional connection that would be otherwise difficult to attain, the way people use social platforms in general can take away the true intention which is to develop a personal relationship that is mutually beneficial. If you are trying to connect with someone for a specific reason, they may accept your request, but they could have also accepted any number of people that day and now you’re just another connection they may or may not interact with.
The good news is, there are many tools out there in addition to LinkedIn that can be used for meeting people and networking, and they take a different approach compared to traditional social and networking platforms. They aim to create an experience that encourages people to go beyond the platforms to actually meet with people for lunch, coffee or at an event to form a genuine professional relationship.
Some of them are specific to certain kinds of meetings or interactions like Extendee and Let’s Lunch, while others, like Shapr, are a tool simply for networking with people in the area. One of the more specific-use platforms, Extendee, is used to meet people that are attending the same conferences, festivals, marathons or any other type of event. You can then begin a conversation with like-minded people before even getting to the event, or even share a ride from the airport to the venue. The most important element that the Extendee boasts is maximizing ROI. When you have invested time and money into traveling to and attending an event, you want to get the most out of it, and Extendee helps you do that.
Another one is called Let’s Lunch, which has a mission to empower people to get more out of their lunch time in a unique way. Let’s Lunch connects you to companies that you could go have lunch with and experience the company culture and even discover job opportunities. Forbes said, “while there are a lot of incredible tools and resources that make it easier to network with people from all over the world, there’s still nothing quite like Let’s Lunch.”
The platform that I have interacted with the most is the Shapr app. The easiest way to describe it is to say it is similar to Tinder or Bumble, but for professional networking. It has a very similar interface and you swipe left for “no” and right for “yes” on the people you come across. The app shows you approximately 15 people per day based on your location, but there is more to it. You can log in using LinkedIn, and the algorithm also uses your professional experience and tagged interests. So, if you are interested in entrepreneurship, technology and marketing, you can make that a part of your profile and Shapr shows you people that are also interested in those topics.
According to the app’s founder, Ludovic Huraux, the limit of 15 is important to the central idea of Shapr which is to “make networking a habit.” The limit forces people to come back daily and people don’t have the ability to swipe through tons of people every day, which would diminish the impact and effect of the app.
In the Shapr app, you swipe anonymously and get notified when both people swipe yes, and then a conversation can be started. Unlike some other platforms, it is less focused on sales or jobs and instead intended to cultivate relationships and get people to meet up offline. The app has been used by all sorts of people, from company executives to entrepreneurs, recruiters, and students looking for some guidance or mentorship. Shapr is great for finding people and simply starting a conversation. If you are not looking for a specific type of meeting or for people going to a certain event, you might use Extendee or Let’s Lunch instead.
I stumbled upon Shapr from a social media post and thought it sounded very interesting so I downloaded it right away. I began using it and swiping through people without much of an expectation. I was interested in talking to people working in the marketing field who could offer some career advice. I was able to speak with people in the industry who were more than willing to provide some insight on their own career path. That is why the Shapr app is an excellent tool for more personal (but still professional) networking. Instead of a pool of thousands at your fingertips, Shapr shows you a limited amount everyday based on what your profile says you are interested in.
These tools put a spin on networking on bigger platforms which gives you a pool of thousands at your fingertips. They are more focused, and most users are looking for some insight just as much as they are willing to share knowledge and guidance, which is what makes them powerful. Most users are looking for help just as much as they are willing to share knowledge and guidance, which is what makes these tools so great.
At the beginning of each year the recruitment pundits make their predictions as to the trends that will take place in the coming year. They are hoping to give recruiters a head-start in preparing and implementing new strategies. For the most part they are all interesting and informative.
Of course, in a recruitment marketplace that is showing great job growth (January-March had the strongest average monthly job growth since 1997) and extremely low unemployment (January-March holding at 4.1%), successful talent acquisition becomes a much more daunting task. Recruiters are looking for anything that will provide the edge they need. (For more information on why the market is tightening click here.)
In trying to digest all of the suggestions, I noticed that a great number of them were saying that in 2018 recruiters need to be marketers. Hmm. Good and very pertinent suggestion; but shouldn’t talent acquisition professionals always act like marketers?
The objective of a professional talent acquisition team is to identify, attract and onboard talent that will enable the company to meet and even exceed their goals. They strive to put together strategies that will bring the best and brightest to their team. That requires constantly selling the company and continually building the employer brand by consistently repeating the employee value proposition (EVP) – what the employee receives in return for the expertise brought to the table. That is certainly no different than a marketer approaches building their brand.
Below are some things that as a recruitment marketer you can be concentrating on:
Build a consistent employer brand
This will make the candidates predisposed to applying.
Gather market intelligence
This will help you to know your competition and where you can find your next superstar.
Put your advantages front and center in copy
This will help to attract more individuals from which to choose.
Choose your media wisely
There are so many channels out there they can be confusing or the perfect targeting tools. But it takes homework.
Don’t stop No matter the job market’s supply and demand, always think like a marketer.
Of course, it would help to have a partner in your recruitment efforts with experience in recruitment and marketing such as an agency full of talent like SCG. At SCG, in our daily practice we use the Peso model (Paid, earned, shared and owned media) specifically designed for HR,shown below, as the center of our strategic planning to help you achieve your goals. Contact the SCG location nearest to you.
Privacy has always been a concern for users on social media and across the internet, but these issues have come into the spotlight amidst recent reports of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. And both users and brands are wondering is it finally time to dump Facebook. Across Twitter, #DeleteFacebook began trending. Celebrities made announcements that they were leaving Facebook. Several big name brands including Mozilla and Sonos temporarily suspended their Facebook advertising.
But what does this really mean for marketers? Should you pull back on your Facebook ad spending right now? Here are four reasons why companies should not be afraid to continue business as usual on Facebook.
1. Only a small number of people are leaving Facebook.
There are still over two billion users on the world’s largest social media platform, whose daily lives are entwined with Facebook. Although people are concerned, most are taking steps to be more cautious about data being shared rather than outright deleting their accounts.
Few companies are making changes to their ad spending as a result of the news, at least for now. According to Pathmatics, digital intelligence platform, of the top 1,000 ad spends on Facebook, only seven pulled ad spending following the Cambridge Analytica reports.
2. Facebook has been through issues before – and survived.
Facebook has already begun to make changes, including removing 3rd party data providers from its ad targeting, pausing all messenger bots and developing a new certification tool for marketers to guarantee email addresses used for ad targeting. Right now, Facebook’s priority will be to actively pursue solutions to earn back the trust of consumers.
Last year when Google-owned YouTube came under fire for showing brand ads next to hate speech and offensive content, brands boycotted YouTube but returned after a few months because of their quick response to remedy the situation. YouTube did not suffer any losses in earnings or growth.
3. Facebook advertising works.
The effectiveness of Facebook advertising has always been due to its hyper-targeting abilities. As the demand for transparency increases and access to data is limited, marketers may have to get more creative with targeting and begin to rethink their digital strategies, but as long as Facebook ads continue to deliver results, brands will continue to use it.
4. It could have happened to anyone.
This is the time we live in and privacy has been the tradeoff for the benefits of technology. And while the target is on Facebook right now, this is an overall consumer privacy issue across all digital media that needs to be addressed.
At the end of the day, leaving Facebook is a personal decision. As an ad agency, our job is to stay educated on the matter, monitor the situation closely for further fallout and help our clients determine the best strategy moving forward. And for brands, unless enough users leave or if the targeting regulations hurt performance, there is no reason to panic.
Regarding your personal account, learn ways to protect your data here.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Just when it looked like more and more colleges were finding ways to provide a face-to-face learning experience during the continuing pandemic, West Chester University (right in my backyard) announced that virtual learning was being extended into the spring 2021 semester. That’s right…Spring 2021. As this was being announced, WCU’s local school district was moving into hybrid.
At the beginning of each year the recruitment pundits make their predictions as to the trends that will take place in the coming year. They are hoping to give recruiters a head-start in preparing and implementing new strategies. For the most part they are all interesting and informative.
