Moving your admitted student day from a tried and true day-long event that your team has planned for and executed numerous times to an online program they’ve never done before can be scary. The temptation to just “do a Facebook live” or “host it on our webinar platform” is easy … but the end result ends up being a poorly branded experience that may do more harm than good.
We may feel like “doing something is better than nothing”. However, doing nothing is better than doing something when that “something” hurts your prospective student’s experience.
In a time when nearly all institutions are moving admitted student programs online, we’ve outlined how to move a traditional event from a singular day (which can be a full-day) to smaller nuggets for your incoming student audience.
What makes a good admitted student day?
This is a typical agenda of an admitted student day:
Saturday or Sunday
9:00 AM – Welcome from Admissions Dean or President
9:30 AM – Academic Overviews with Faculty
10:30 AM – Student Panel(s)
10:30 AM – Parent Info Sessions
11:30 AM – Lunch
12:30 AM – Financial Aid Presentation
1:30 PM – Student Affairs/Student Activities/Res Life Info Sessions
2:30 PM – Campus Tours
There are likely some wrinkles specific to your institution … a tour of a landmark new facility, meet and greet with a successful alum … But generally the flow above covers all of our bases.
We set up our admitted student programs in this way because we have students and their families on campus. We have their undivided attention. The issue with a virtual event is that if you try to build the same exact experience with a long form webcast, or worse, a list of YouTube videos with some text Q&As, you’ll either lose your audience or worst turn them away.
How do I move my admitted student day online?
First. Stop thinking about it as a singular day.
With the longer admitted student cycle we’ll have this year, it’s important to think of your admitted student content as a continuously available piece of content that can be extended to include things like orientation, pre-arrival, and even a place for future prospects to learn more (i.e. information sessions for juniors).
Making your content available over a week allows students to come and go as they please, create a “Netflix” experience with your content, while also anchoring the experience with the content you know students want to engage with live (i.e. a virtual student panel, for one).
Here’s a quick look at how you can turn the admitted student day outlined above in to a virtual series without burning your team’s time.
Leveraging Conduit you can develop a series of live and on-demand content for students to engage with over a longer period of time, ensuring consistent opportunities for students to connect. Additionally, by leveraging Conduit’s managed marketing services you can rest assured that your event and content are effectively promoted using a cadence that will ensure students interact and are influenced by your content without over-burdening them with too much information.
Get Started
Contact us to learn how Conduit + PlatformQ Eduction’s expertise in online engagement planning and strategy can support better conversion throughout the entire cycle.
[pardot-form id=”3120″ title=”Q1 2020 Coronavirus Blog Post Form”]
Gil Rogers is the Executive Vice President of PlatformQ Education. Gil is a recognized leader in online engagement strategy and student engagement, and has spoken at numerous industry conferences including NACAC, ACT, AMA Higher Ed, Common Application, and more. Gil holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in business administration from the Barney School of Business (CT).