Newsletter #45: Florida International University knows a good editor; Salesforce+ will change exec ed; Elon Musk is building a crypto billboard satellite
Hey, education marketers 👋 Last week I joined Zack Busekrus on the Enrollify Podcast to chat all things community marketing. What’s community marketing? It’s admitting that your students are now the marketers and you are no longer in control. It was a great conversation and I recommend checking out Enrollify if you’re not already a fan. Listen
✏️ From the Education Marketer desk
41 examples of universities using content marketing for branding and recruitment. Read
33+ examples of US universities using community marketing - the post that got me a spot on the Enrollify podcast. Read
đź“° HE news
Lots kicking off in the long tail of Clearing this year. Yes, thousands more students placed this year than last but most medium and lower tariff unis haven’t seen much change. High tariffs are the winners here, sucking up 37.5% (!!!) of the market, probably due to a 16% increase in the proportion of grades at A and A*, with 19% of students receiving at least one A*. Unbelievable stats. If you work in timetabling at a Russel Group, you’re going to need a PhD in maths to make this work. Accommodation offices aren’t fairing much better - there seems to be a capacity crisis brewing with reports of students being offered accommodation two towns over from their first choice uni. Bumper year for student landlords. Read
đź’» Digital marketing news
Salesforce is launching Salesforce+, its take on educational streaming services for business. Sorry LinkedIn. A lot of outlets are reporting that Salesforce is entering the “streaming wars” and now competing with the likes of Amazon Prime - but they miss the point. Salesforce knows its market and is at the head of one of the largest b2b communities on the planet. It has 500,000 customers and (by extension) access to millions of business professionals. Salesforce+ has the power to reshape the executive education landscape by giving these people unlimited content from thoughtleaders and specialists in their field. Don’t overlook this. Read
In other news, TikTok is testing its version of Stories. I’m confused by this. TikTok has the most powerful algorithm of any social platform and its rolling out a feature that’s coming up on a decade old? It may last longer than Twitter’s fleets but I don’t see it being a hit. Read
Did you see that video with the guy who turns himself into snow, balloons and a banana? Kevin Parry’s viral video (73M views across social channels) taught us all a valuable lesson: Going viral means nothing. All those views and he didn’t make a dollar. Social media managers, put a pin in this one for the next time someone goes off on the viral spiel. There’s no point driving a surge in traffic if it doesn’t convert or stick around. Read
🏫 What unis are doing
University of Sussex has pulled a Purdue with a chance to win (one of ten) £5000 cash prizes for being double-jabbed. This is good, but we can do better. I’ve got my Google alerts set for the first university that makes jabs credit-bearing. Read
Florida International University hired a very expensive editor (if they weren’t, they need to up their rates) to create “The definition of REAL - FIU Anthem”. After watching this, you feel like you could run through a wall. Evocative sound design, expert-level production and realistic representation of its learning community - is that a student with a child I see? Look
Drexel University created a campaign centring on its student Hannah Beiers and her creation of “Generation Pandemic”, an archetypal Time Magazine cover for lockdown youth. Stories like this are rare, but if you do find your planets aligning, Drexel offers a good template for directing PR traffic. Look
🧑‍🎓 What students are saying
“I think the University of Texas would like to follow the science, but public universities are in a bind. They want to advocate for public health but they can’t do it because of the repercussions that will come.” Students on the differing approaches to coronavirus on US campuses. Read
đź‘ľ Culture shock
Footage of a passenger ferry escaping wildfires in Greece. So unreal that at first glance I thought it was a new ride at Universal Studios. Look
Elon Musk is working on a “billboard satellite” where you can buy ad space using crypto. Oh, and there’s a built-in selfie stick if you didn’t have enough for your meme. Read
