Posted by Carlyn Foshee Chatfield on April 1, 2011

Ideas for Student Communications

Presented by Allison and Lacey, Texas A&M University and Stan Martin, North Carolina State University

Targeting Students

Texas A&M has about 50,000 students; started with a survey 4 years ago finding out what students wanted. Work on changing image of IT, be "approachable IT experts"

FLASH groups! We're getting older and students are getting younger. How to get their feedback, what is "this" group like, doing, etc.?

Created FLASH group. Sent email communication out - "build your resume, join our flash focus group" to collect members. Recent communications example floated out to FLASH group: eHugger for Earth Day. The flash group tested the name and it was successful. Have different majors represented in the flash group. How did you recruit? Twitter, email to students via Career center, college listservs etc. All unpaid, just resume experience. Students like to be asked for their opinion. Helps for quick feedback, particularly when there is no time to do a long, formal survey. Put all students on the listserv and they respond to that list.

Sample campaigns, hand-drawn, non-tech or low-tech introduction for new students. Creating a new brand/IT image with bright and colorful, not what students typically think about IT. Extended to social media, going live on Facebook next week. Twitter feed, have a lot of fun with it, students run with it, have to get posting approved, but we have over 900 followers, most of whom are students. We have different personas (Web Persona, Communicator Persona, Graphic Designer Persona).

We have a student on the front page of our help desk, indicating "hey, we're just like you," friendly, approachable.

Code Maroon (emergency communication system) supported by IT, so IT involved in promoting it. Students very involved, using photos of Campus celebrities promoting message "sign up to win" to get buy-in from students for the communications system. Athletics showed video before a football game! Videos always shot students, Aggieland, or spoof current videos. Important to promote IT as friendly, fun, approachable.

Prizes and Sponsorships: "Reel Them In" - some fear we are over-using the prize concept for responding to IT communications but it is working!

Scavenger Hunt - Monsters and Villains, Mystery in Aggieland, Comic Noir Look. Get students to "find" IT all over campus.

Sponsored prize tie-in, everyone who took quiz won a coupon, then grand prize drawing for iPad.

Put up signs, two weeks later defaced them ourselves, set the scene for October NCSAM month.

Then in October, launched big "Don't be a Victim" campaign. (See examples on slides)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• • Students on your team

  • Make campaigns timely (what's popular in culture)

  • Has to be worth student's time

  • Have to exceed student expectations, IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BE GOOD ENOUGH.

• • Hire a sophomore when possible if you have student workers.

Google Apps Campaign

Stan is focusing on one of NC State's campaigns: the student move to Google Apps

We're a relatively "young" shop as far as concentrating on IT communications planning, and the Google Apps migration is the biggest student communication campaign we've tackled.

A lot of what we did was raise awareness. Prior to selecting the product, we used focus groups and other techniques, but after the vendor was selected, we had to let people know what was coming and then what was here.

Example: ready - set - go changed to ready-set-gone. Used for digital signage, posters, flyers, etc. Also included message "board" on the napkin holders in the dining hall. (Rather than table tents.) What students saw most (that they reported to us) were the messages displayed on the old/existing webmail login page. Sadly, when we moved to Google, we lost that real estate (messages to people who are logging in).

Our Facebook campaign was not that terribly successful. We had a much more active Twitter presence.

Also getting out there on campus - in the "Brickyard" which is like a quad or a major hub, particularly at lunch time. (see slides), had laptops set up so they could opt in on the spot, or provided them with pens with the message and URL so they could opt in when they got back to their rooms. Google provided some give-aways and launch promos, mostly posters, banners.

One of the most fun activities and what got some press, including with Google, was painting the "free expression tunnel" (railroad track divides campus, tunnel is connecting walkway below tracks. Painting/tagging is popular way to get messages out. IT staff went out at 5AM and covered the walls with the Google campaign message.

How do you measure success? How do you know what works?

Allison suggests surveys.

NOTES FROM THE CHAT:

• • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: Carlyn @ Rice is Leader 1, we'll get started in 12 minutes.

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: In today's coffee shop, we'll start with Allison Oslund from Texas A&M talking about Targeting Students with communication campaigns, then move to Stan Martin from North Carolina State talking about a specific student campaign. Carlyn from Rice will wrap up with a brief description of how students will be handling their own cIT ommunicaitons in the fall.

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: Allison is Leader 1 2 and Stan is Leader 1 3

  • Kirsten - Case Western: 216.409.1028 cell - kcn6@case.edu

  • Debbie-Moody: Will the slides be available?

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: Yes, on the wiki https://www.educause.edu/node/226501/ this afternoon

  • Dana - Pepperdine 2: Great job Allison! These ideas are wonderful.

  • Dana - Pepperdine 2: How many students are in the flash focus group?

  • Debbie-Moody: Thanks, A&M team, great job! Just what I needed to hear right now.

  • Annette - UW-Whitewater: I love the creative ideas, thank you!

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1 2: 15 to 20 students on our flash focus group

  • Dana - Pepperdine 2: perfect. thanks

  • Dana - Pepperdine 2: Great idea Carlyn!

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xchgB_q5qxc

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1 2: http://www.youtube.com/tamuit#p/u/4/MBGToGbb9Ag

  • Dana - Pepperdine 2: Thank you!

  • Dana - Pepperdine 2: Bye

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1 2: http://www.youtube.com/tamuit#p/u/24/S1vFwSYKraA