How Social Media Saved My Niece From Sponge Bob

In recent memory, there have been several shows in the children's television milieu that have been very disturbing to me, Barney & the Teletubbies come to mind. Thankfully, our first child didn't come along until after these fads had passed out of popular consciousness. But my nine-year old niece, Rachel, had her sights set on convincing my now 18-month old son, Charlie, about the inherent value of Sponge Bob Square Pants. Somebody had to put a stop to this madness!

While you're thinking how on earth can you tie social media & Mr. SquarePants together, rest assured I'll get there. About two weeks ago, while on my commuter bus ride home, I read a story on one of my news apps on my iPhone about a study that proclaimed Watching Sponge Bob is Bad For Kids. This was the evidence I needed to make my move. That night, I posted the following on Facebook, and see how the conversation unfolded:

Obviously, my last comment was only half serious. But a short two weeks later my sister-in-law confided that after she shared my post with my niece, and the accompanying news story about the effects of SBSP on kids, Rachel decided to give up on SpongeBob. Why? As a nine-year old, she is beginning to come to grips with herself as a student, and is incredibly self-aware. She stepped back to think about some issues she was having in school, thought about what the study was saying about attention issues, and realized that she did not need to watch SpongeBob any more. What a relief! My son is safe, at least for the moment. So what does this all mean? Other than Rachel having to get rid of a lot of SBSP clothing and toys (Christmas is coming, I hear her saying), I must say I'm very proud of her for making such a life-altering decision. 

Moreover, this interaction demonstrates how social media can influence your intended audiences. As admissions reps know, guidance counselors and advisers say how important it is to have the "experts" speak to their students when we visit their schools and centers. In the end, we reinforce the messages that counselors/advisers have been hammering home for months, but, for whatever reason, our message has a greater impact because we're the "experts." 

In social media land, while I firmly believe there are very few true experts, and even fewer (if any, myself included) who are successfully using social media in international education, our goal is to achieve the same things we have done in print, in person, and email recruiting in the past, but with different, yet more immediately impactful tools. 

Other than this blog forum, I encourage you to join in a more regular conversation at Marty B on Social Media & Intl Ed Facebook page or if you prefer LinkedIn, a group of the same name.

                                     

EducationUSA Weekly Update: New & Improved!

EducationUSA PDF format

As we all come to grips with how to reach our intended student audiences overseas, as international educators, at EducationUSA we've taken a huge step forward. Those who know our network of 400 advising centers in 170 countries, may have heard of our Weekly Update before. This newsletter goes out every week to all centers, and up until the last three months was a simple email, PDF or word document that then got parsed out by centers, or simply posted to their center's student contact, put up on their websites or in their centers.

While there was certainly value in this approach, it didn't always meet students where they were. After surveying our advisers earlier this year we learned that we needed to provide them greater control and choices over how they receive and distribute Weekly Update content. For those not familiar with Weekly Update (WU), it contains typically announcements of scholarship & financial aid assistance available for international students, and a "Campus News" section highlighting new academic programs that might be attractive to international students, or major events that would be relevant for international students to know. We collect these stories from U.S. institutions that submit information through the higher ed section of our EducationUSA site. The online form (for those institution representatives who have been approved for login access to our site) allows for a substantial amount of information including institutional logo, website, all social media links, related video url/embed code for the post, as well as specifics on the award or news story.

The end result allows us to maximize the effectiveness of this higher ed institutional content for our student audiences abroad. In so doing, when we publish our WU each week, our EducationUSA Advisers have the ability to choose how they wish to receive these announcements (in html email, PDF, and/or in pre-packaged social media-ready posts, all versions replete with bit.ly url shorteners that allow us to track globally how and where these posts are read. Since we launched this program in June, our WU posts have increased from about 10,000 click-throughs to currently 14,000 each week. That number will only increase as the academic year kicks into gear.

More importantly for U.S. representatives (and for students) the content from both of these sections of the WU are also fed automatically into two RSS feeds on our site for financial aid and for news. In addition to the posts, and RSS feed content formats, we also for the scholarship/financial aid announcements create individual pages for your WU submission on our site that feed into a growing financial aid database, that will also soon include national scholarships from various countries around the world that students can access to study in the U.S.

So, I invite all my U.S. higher ed colleagues at accredited institutions to:

1. Request your U.S. higher ed login access to our site if you haven't already 
2. Submit your institution's scholarship & financial information for international students into our Weekly Update
3. Stay tuned for more developments on how the financial aid database will become a great resource for you as well.

Until we meet again...

Where Does Your Audience Live?

From AllFacebook.com

The world of social media moves incredibly fast. No news there, but just how fast may shock you. Facebook continued growth overseas should continue to raise the profile of this platform in U.S. international admissions circles. For example, in December 2010, Brazil was beginning to see some dramatic growth in Facebook users and stood at about 8.8 million users. a short six months later at the end of June, over 21 million Brazilians were on FB, many of which have moved over from their Orkut accounts to Facebook.

In terms of other social networks, the AllFacebook.com graphic here shows those countries where Facebook is not yet the #1 social media platform in the world. Interestingly,  the GlobalWebIndex Social Networking Map 2011 shows the penetration rates of social media in various countries. Guess what the top 3 most connected countries are with regards to social media usage as a percentage of their online users? The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia each with between 67-76% penetration. 

For U.S. colleagues looking to explore Facebook as a main platform to reach international students, you would be very much barking up the right tree. Using the semi-annual format produced by Nick Burcher out of the UK of the Top 30 countries on Facebook, here is that top 30 list with some additional data related to the college age demographic (16-25 years old) for users in each country.

for EducationUSA July 2011

Pay particular attention to the highlighted countries (India, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Egypt, Poland, Peru, Pakistan, and Russia) which enjoyed triple digit growth in the last 12 months in terms of Facebook users. Not including the U.S. you'll find that of the top 29 countries, 254 million are in the 16-25 year old demo. Happy hunting!

Facebook Now Has 750 Million Users

Facebook Now Has 750 Million Users

For those keeping score at home, based on the average percentages, this number now translates to:

- 70% of users outside the U.S. = 525,000,000

- 60% of users outside the U.S. are ages 16-25 = 315,000,000

This means that outside the U.S. the equivalent of the the U.S. total population now logs onto Facebook at least once a month that is between the ages of 16-25. Any U.S. international admissions reps out there who still don't think you need a presence on Facebook?

EducationUSA Forum 2011: Bigger and Better

Today marks the start of the EducationUSA Forum 2011 (Wednesday through Friday). After the success of the first Forum last June, we knew we needed a bigger venue. While we were packed to the gills in an M St. hotel with about 250 total participants a year ago, we knew we could do better.

We found the perfect site for this year's Forum at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center that will welcome nearly 450 attendees. Among those guests will be over 360 members of the U.S. higher education community, 50+ EducationUSA advisers, regional directors, and DC-based staff, as well as several U.S. Department of State officials. Under Secretary of State, Judith McHale and at least three other prominent senior leadership from the State Department will be addressing the Forum over the course of the next three days.

Why is this event important?

EducationUSA represents, for lack of a better phrase, your tax dollars at work. In terms of "bang for the buck," this U.S. Department of State-supported network of 400 advising centers in 170 countries has connected with well over 10 million contacts since the start of the FY2011 (October 1, 2010). Through visits to their centers (900K), mobile outreach activities (1.5 million), and an extensive virtual and social media presence (7.8 million), EducationUSA represents the official source on U.S. higher education around the world. Advisers from 36 countries, including many of the top sending countries to the U.S., will be presenting throughout the conference on key issues such as recruitment opportunities in their areas, national scholarships available, and education system changes/updates.

Much like guidance counselors in U.S. high schools, for my colleagues in U.S. admissions offices, our network of advisers perform much the same role in guiding prospective students through the increasingly complex process of applying to U.S. colleges & universities. Their role is to be unbiased, and provide information on all available accredited options given the student's interests and family's means. The connections the U.S. institutional representatives attending this Forum make, the relationships renewed and developed, and the knowledge gained will assist their colleges in better informing and enhancing their international education strategy. The agenda is packed full of great content for those invested in the U.S. international education community.

In an era where most institutions are seeing budget belts tightened and travel abroad cut, opportunities for this kind of interaction are rare. At least four sessions during this event will focus on virtual, armchair and social media-based recruitment efforts and ways to connect with our advisers and their students. With four separate networking/country cafe breaks, a Global Showcase where our advisers will be joined by representatives of two dozen DC-based foreign embassies, and a major Opening Reception Wednesday evening, we hope to provide multiple chances for our EducationUSA staff to interact with our U.S. colleagues.

Welcome to DC!

Get Connected, Stay Involved, Be Relevant: Part II of International Student Recruitment through Social Media

Any commitment in life should be taken seriously, and, to be done well, should involve a willingness to invest in that relationship, project, or strategy over a period of time. More importantly, to succeed you need to be relevant and appealing whether that be to a significant other, business partner, or institution.


The greatest professional frustration I hear from colleagues in international student enrollment management circles comes when a college/university administration pays only lip service to how much value they place on international students and/or refuses to commit over a period of time to allow a particular change in strategy or the opening of new markets to have a chance of success. Too often administrations that don't understand international markets well (or know the implications of expanded international enrollments on campus life) see full fee-paying students from overseas as quick fixes for enrollment and/or budgetary shortfalls.  That's a topic for another day, but the same commitment to these kinds of strategies as a institution should also apply to outreach conducted through social media.


Get Connected


As I outlined in my previous post, step one is identifying where key student audiences are in target countries/regions, next is establishing a presence on those platforms. Who does that at each institution will vary dramatically depending on the size of the college as well as the marketing and communication/IT office's role on campus. Let's say for argument's sake we say that the admissions or international office that is responsible for recruitment abroad takes on this role. Speaking with one voice is key in this process, which can involve multiple individuals contributing, but certainly makes training an absolute must. One blogger that speaks to the importance of character & commitment in social media is Tony Teegarden. If you are becoming more immersed in this world, give Tony a quick follow.

In social media world, however, it is essential that going in, everyone understands, institutions no longer control the message.  If there are any doubters out there, please have them watch Social Media Revolution 2 (refresh) put out by Socialnomics last year. It really explains the fundamental shift from traditional marketing approaches to a listen first, sell second attitude.


Stay Involved

If there ever was an antithesis formula for success to the Field of Dreams approach, social media is it. Throwing up a page or group on Facebook, simply having a Twitter feed or YouTube channel simply is not good enough. Messaging on a regular basis, responding to comments (especially negative ones),  re-tweeting, sharing, and managing what kind of content gets posted are bedrock essentials that will require continual care to see growth and eventually to bear fruit. Think about a school like MIT, where the admissions office's homepage for at least the last two years, has been driven, content-wise, by student bloggers hired to share their experiences. Similarly, over recent years, the admitted freshmen cohort at MIT have on their own created a Facebook group to which over 85% of their future classmates have become members. Without an office wide commitment to embracing social media from that initial impression of MIT online, several members of the admissions team also regular post on Twitter.


Be Relevant


Interpreting relevancy of messages can often be a moving target, but in admissions circles there are some very core take-aways prospective students should receive: opportunities to interact with current students/staff/alumni, admission requirements/deadlines, aid available, services on-campus, and the all-important "Can I picture myself as a student there?" Internationally, when budgets and travel don't allow admissions staff to get everywhere the students are, social media represents an opportunity, used correctly, to paint these pictures for future students.

• Involve current international students in online chats or virtual events like CollegeWeekLive  
• Post student/alumni testimonial videos on YouTube
• Tweet news on deadlines or upcoming events
• Engage in conversations on Facebook and blogs on topics that matter
• Explore ways to better present your campus via video, e.g.
• Why I Chose Yale?
• Grand Valley State U.'s Lip Dub
• Oregon's Call Me a Duck

One institution that I've seen recently that really gets it when it comes to international admissions is Roger Williams University. Every traveling staff member in their office is required to tweet at least three times a day. Too much? Actually, the simplest things from tweeting interesting articles from the student newspaper, to Twitpic'ing a photo as they stroll across campus, to announcing when a rep will be visiting a country or school, have all produced very positive and engaging content from which international students, who rarely get a chance to visit campus before enrolling, truly benefit. These efforts allow these students to begin to paint their own picture of what their lives might be like at RWU.

What is clear with the rise of social media is that U.S. higher education institutions have new opportunities to better reach their audiences.  The approach, which I'll discuss more in Part III, must have as the end goal to Keep Them Coming Back For More.  Stay tuned after NAFSA for more.

Live Where Your Audiences Live: International Student Recruitment Through Social Media

For as long as I've been in my current position, social media has become a second professional passion of my life, surpassed only by my love of international education.  In the last two and a half years, our EducationUSA network's use of social media is truly transforming and expanding our reach beyond the physical walls of our centers. Later this year we will be launching a useful new tool for prospective students that will be using social media extensively, as we spread the good news about the five steps to U.S. study.


Our chief guiding principle in marketing EducationUSA is to "Live Where Our Audiences Live." Not simply physically, through our network of 400+ centers in 170 countries, but in the virtual world on platforms that our key audiences are using. For purposes of this post, part one of a series on social media in international admissions, we're talking students. 


We all know how Facebook started on a U.S. college campus, and has grown like wildfire to the point now, where recent ComScore data (as reported by InsideFacebook.com) showed that 72% of all U.S. internet users were on Facebook, that works out to over half the U.S. population. While the U.S. is a fairly mature Facebook country with, at present, more baby boomers signing up than any other age demographic, the rest of the world is a different story. Facebook will reach, based on conservative projections, 700 million users worldwide in June. Here are a couple of staggering numbers for international admissions folks to chew on. This data comes direct from Facebook's advertising module.

• 70% of all Facebook users reside outside the U.S.: 490,000,000
• 60% of FB users outside the U.S. are in the college age demographic (16-25 yr. old): 294,000,000

If you haven't already considered using social media more actively in your international student recruitment, these numbers should give you some motivation. To see the incredible growth particularly in the college-age demo in some of the most populous Facebook countries, check out my earlier blog this year. Even more revealing is the level of penetration Facebook currently enjoys in some countries. Social Times, an excellent social media resource/RSS feed to follow, recently profiled the Top Ten Countries Where Facebook Rules that outlined internet usage stats v. Facebook usage where each of the top 10 had more than 86% of its internet users on Facebook. Those 10 countries are:

1. Philippines
2. Israel
3. Turkey
4. Chile
5. Argentina
6. Malaysia
7. Indonesia
8. Peru
9. Colombia
10. Venezuela

But Facebook is not a universally dominant social media platform. I encourage you to check out a recent presentation I gave at the Ohio NAFSA Drive-In Meeting in April, that highlights some of the other fascinating facts on other social media platforms that enjoy dominant market positions in certain countries. 

Here are just a few places where Facebook doesn't rule (yet):

• China – Renren (Facebook knockoff), QQ (like MSN Messenger chat), and others including Youku (YouTube ripoff), and Sina Weibo (Twitter clone) 600 million internet users
• Russia – Vkontakte, Russian language, 111 million users globally
• Netherlands – Hyves, 11 million (2/3rd of Dutch population)
• Japan – Mixi, but Twitter is about to surpass Mixi in terms of total users
• Brazil – Orkut, but Facebook and Twitter gaining fast

Happy hunting, everyone.  


For those who'd like to connect IRL and talk more about these topics, I'll be at our EducationUSA Pavilion in the NAFSA Expo Hall in Vancouver Tuesday-Friday next week (May 31-June 3), booth #537, so please stop by to say hello!


Part two, next week, from Vancouver, will focus on how to approach social media in international admissions-Get Connected, Stay Involved, Be Relevant.

http://issuu.com/martybennett/docs/socialmedia-in-international-recruitment

How Marco Met Sharifa: The Value of Relationships Between EducationUSA Advisers and U.S. College Reps

The Ohio State University Sends Representative to Uzbekistan 


This was the headline last month, after Marco Chavez from Ohio State University's Undergraduate Admissions office visited Uzbekistan, and specifically, our EducationUSA Advising Center in Tashkent.  Sharifa, our senior adviser in Uzbekistan, helped set-up visits for Marco during his visit.  But this relationship began a year ago, when Sharifa had the opportunity to connect with Marco when she participated in a post-NAFSA campus visit to Ohio State.  


Let's explore what happened as these two had the opportunity to work together.


Sharifa shares her experiences on this connection between her advising work and her visit to Ohio State.

What are the value of campus visits for EducationUSA advisers?

Advisers are able to see the university with their own eyes to tell students about it, to see each school at university, get to know the faculty member and admission officers. Meeting with international students studying there can give us an idea as to whether our students from Uzbekistan can do well at this university. Also getting to know the culture of the university, diversity, prices, possibilities of programs, climate and others is very useful. All of these opportunities help the adviser see the whole picture and you never forget about it.  

After your visit to OSU, what kind of communication did you have with the people you met?

We were e-mailing each other and established a skype communications, which helped us to communicate faster. I could communicate not only from work, but from home as well, since the time differences are difficult to make the communication faster via Skype.

What were you able to set up for Marco during his visit to your country?

Participation at our college fair. I posted at the www.educationusa.state.gov site, then sent him the link, so that he could participate. I set up two school visits, one to Tashkent International School and one to Academic Lyceum No. 2.

Specifically related to Marco's visit, what were the benefits for you and your students?

For me it was that I learned more about this university and learned more about U.S. Higher Education. Students were able to learn about the programs ... and learned about the options available.

Do you have any advice for U.S. institutions who are looking for ways to explore relationships with EducationUSA Advisers?

I would say that EducationUSA advisers are experts on what is going on in the country and they know really well the local systems. They have huge network of schools, language centers, students, teachers and professors, and other contacts. This expertise gives the U.S. university representatives more options to explore in reaching a broader pool of candidates to recruit to their schools. I advise the U.S. universities to contact first the EducationUSA adviser to learn about the country and options. 

Marco's shares his responses.

What are the value to US institutions of campus visits by EducationUSA advisers?

Having advisers who speak to students day in and day out provides an opportunity to learn about the trends and issues facing certain regions. The advisors provide an insight into their areas about how to best outreach to their students and make the most of our resources in targeting their students. By having them on campus they are able to see first-hand what our university is like and can then speak to their students about life on our campus in a concrete way using real examples. However, the personal connections and friendships facilitated by the visits are what make the visits truly worthwhile. J Its very nice to be able to call them and let them know you will be visiting them and having that bond already there.

While Sharifa was at OSU, what did you arrange for her to see?

Sharifa visited Ohio for an entire week. During her time here she was able to tour 9 universities and discover some parts of Columbus. We held a cookout on one of the evenings and for one half day we held a seminar. During the seminar the advisors were given the opportunity to present their centers and countries to other universities who did not participate in the hosting. We hosted Sharifa on the Ohio State campus for an entire day. During her visit to campus she was able to meet representatives from Undergraduate Admissions, Graduate Admissions, Law, MBA, American Language Program (intensive English), and the Office of International Affairs. We also had her go on a campus tour led by a current student and meet with other current students.

After her visit to OSU, what kind of communication did you have with Sharifa?

After Sharifa’s visit we mailed the material that we hoped she would disseminate at her center and sent a thank you email and survey. It wasn’t until I was thinking about traveling to Uzbekistan that we communicated again.

Specifically related to your Uzbekistan visit, what will be the benefits for you and your future students?

My visit to Uzbekistan was valuable on many fronts. Seeing the country and the facilities that Sharifa has will allow me to plan more effective outreach efforts in Tashkent. I gained a better sense of the issues and concerns that students face, better than if I had just read about it. Students were able to learn more about Ohio State and education in the US in general. And I was able to explain to students the complexities and issues revolving around applying to US universities from the viewpoint of a university.

Do you have any advice for US institutions who are looking for ways to explore relationships with EducationUSA Advisers?

Its important to get to know advisors, even if the budget doesn’t allow for hosting or traveling, there are other options such as Skype, DVCs, email, and telephone. From my experience advisors want to help universities and students connect and find the right fit for each other. It’s also important to ask questions. Each region is different and even cities within the same country may have different mobility trends or issues. Its important to know what issues are affecting your prospective students. 

Marco's and Sharifa's experiences are by no means unique.  This year, close to 100 EducationUSA Advisers will visit the U.S. for various conferences and training opportunities.  Many of them will be actively hoping to include college and university visits as part of their travel.  Likewise, we encourage our U.S. colleagues who are traveling overseas to make EducationUSA a key stop, much like the 475+ representatives who just this calendar year alone (January 1 through March 11) who have interacted with our advisers abroad.

To express your interest in hosting advisers for possible visits to your campus or your state/region if your part of an existing international education consortium of accredited institutions, we invite you to contact our new Professional Development Manager, Robin Helms.  

Double Digit Growth in Two Years, Okay; How About Quadruple Digit Growth? Roll on Facebook

Continued kudos to Nick Burcher, out of the UK, who has done the heavy lifting on the data mining every six months for the last three or four years on Facebook numbers by country (and willingly shares it).  His blog post today revealed the most recent Top 30 countries on Facebook in terms of members.  Interesting to note that in this year-end top 30 - four new countries have entered.  Compared to the numbers from Dec. 2009, the minimum totals required for entry into this top 30 club rose from 1.9 million (Thailand 12/09) to 3.27 million (Saudi Arabia).

The chart below shows in the top 30 only those countries who have seen quadruple digit growth over the last two years. These ten countries represent with few exceptions countries in the developing world that are markets with tremendous potential.

Rank	Country	Number of Facebook users Dec 31st 2008	Number of Facebook users Dec 31st 2009	Number of Facebook users Dec 31st 2010	12 month growth %	24 month growth %
2	Indonesia	897,040	14,681,580	32,129,460	118.8%	3481.7%
6	Philippines	390,700	8,387,560	18,901,900	125.4%	4738%
7	Mexico	1,440,640	6,505,040	18,488,700	184.2%	1183.4%
9	India	1,071,280	5,397,480	17,288,900	220.3%	1513.9%
16	Malaysia	850,420	3,975,640	9,544,580	140.1%	1022.3%
17	Brazil	209,460	2,413,900	8,821,880	265.5%	4111.7%
18	Taiwan	112,900	5,490,300	8,752,640	59.4%	7652.6%
21	Thailand	168,720	1,963,560	6,732,780	242.9%	3890.5%
23	Poland	194,820	1,609,100	4,540,320	182.2%	2230.5%
25	Peru	296,200	1,510,480	3,888,560	157.4%	1212.8%

What is even more telling about where this growth is coming from as it relates to international admissions needs, for these same 10 countries check out my own bit of number crunching below that reveals how significant the potential college age markets are in these growing nations.  With the exception of Brazil, in each of these countries, anywhere from near 63-76% of all Facebook users are in the college-age demographic.

Rank	Country	Number of Facebook users Dec 31st 2010	Number of FB users between 16-25 years old	% users 16-25 yrs. old
2	Indonesia	32,129,460	22,725,220	71%
6	Philippines	18,901,900	12,978,340	69%
7	Mexico	18,488,700	11,626,540	63%
9	India	17,288,900	13,132,400	76%
16	Malaysia	9,544,580	6,097,680	64%
17	Brazil	8,821,880	4,733,260	54%
18	Taiwan	8,752,640	5,578,520	64%
21	Thailand	6,732,780	4,523,980	67%
23	Poland	4,540,320	2,885,360	64%
25	Peru	3,888,560	2,500,000	64%

All this data from Nick Burcher and from my further drilling down, comes directly from Facebook's advertising module.  To paint a bit broader picture, if you were to take the top 25 countries on Facebook outside the U.S. and do a banner ad that displayed only on the profiles & pages of that same college age cohort (16-25 yr. olds) you would reach over 194 million potential students.

Still think Facebook is only a U.S. phenomenon?  I've realized in working with U.S. institutions that precious few have really embraced social media in their international student recruitment efforts.  In times when budgets are being tightened everywhere, the relatively cost-effective world of social media is wide open to the institution that knows how to best approach it.