By GIRISH SWAMINATH
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Admissions departments in universities across the country are working toward improving outreach and marketing techniques to attract a larger applicant pool. They are especially targeting the more widespread use of social media to recruit more students, due to its rising popularity and the rising competitiveness of college admissions marketing.
Through the past several years, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has worked towards increasing its presence in blogging. The office receives support from Rose Hill Society (RHS), a group of student ambassador volunteers who assist with admissions events, campus tours and even marketing. RHS Outreach Ambassadors (OA’s) are held responsible for maintaining the “I Am a Fordham Ram” blog on Blogspot, in which students share personal accounts about their academic and social experiences at Fordham and New York City.
“[OA’s] goals are to reach out to every single student that may be interested in attending Fordham, especially those who cannot physically visit the school,” Michelle Ioannou, FCRH ’13, OA chair, said. “The blog provides insight into what it is like to be a student at Fordham.”
Ioannou further states that first-hand personal accounts of Fordham students can help prospective students to learn best about the university, facilitating the college application and decision-making process.
“Prospective students are able to read [the blog] and see what the student life is really about, written by students themselves,” Ioannou said. “What better way to hear about the school`”
Ioannou discussed the importance of engaging in social media, due to its prominence in the current generation of high school students.
“[Society] has become more into the social media bandwagon,” Ioannou said. “It’s a tool that this high school generation uses constantly and it’s an easy way for them to learn about Fordham and hopefully apply.”
The admissions office also uses Facebook and Instagram, since both forms of social media have increased in popularity over time.
“This past year, the Office of Admission implemented a new office-wide system for the management of all aspects of the admission process,” Patricia Peek, director of undergraduate admissions, said. “This new system has an enhanced communication module that has allowed us to increase our volume of electronic outreach.”
Peek also states that the new system has enabled the office to collaborate with other offices on communications to the applicant pool, so as to ensure applicants receive targeted content tailored towards their academic interests.
“The metrics on our open rates and delivery have been very positive,” Peek said. “The system also has a robust event management module that has its own communication component to invite, remind and follow up with visitors to our on and off campus events.”
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is especially targeting marketing tactics and promotional materials towards increasing the presence of out-of-state students on both the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses.
“For the last two decades, we have increased our outreach nationally and internationally,” Peek said. “We have a targeted communication campaign coupled with travel all over the United States and abroad.”
Fordham admissions has developed an extensive direct marketing campaign to reach over 400,000 students annually, specifically focusing on distinguishing the university from others and allowing prospective students to have a more personalized exposure to the Fordham community through involvement in Facebook, Instagram and Blogspot.
“The admissions team engages in regional activities with other offices of the University such as Alumni and Development,” Peek said. “The team also employs a balance of traditional recruitment practices with state of the art outreach initiatives.”
