Blog Change Up: Access, Retention & Success

Those that know me professionally for the past 3 years know me as ‘Jess the Social Media/Analytics Chick’. Like many in higher ed, my personal goals and passions expand far beyond this one skill set. In a previous life, I was deeply immersed in the work of education reform – at the early education level, straight through the college completion level. My love of this work and the people who do it has led me back into this territory.

The work I’m doing at Suffolk is changing. No longer are we doing ‘whats new’ or ‘whats now’. Now, more than ever, we need to research, plan, predict and change to suit the ever-changing dynamics and needs of the students in our education system. With demographic change being constant, the economy dependent upon skilled laborers and our elderly generation becoming larger with the baby boomers, we can no longer afford the status quo. We need to effect change, not only for the common good, but for the benefit and the welfare of the country. If not for those who are changing the system, we’ll continue to produce drop out factories, provide financial aid to for-profit universities who over promise and under deliver and deny our largest – and fastest –  growing demographic the education they need to supply much-needed taxes, income and labor to sustain our economy.

With all this said, its time for me to start blogging again, and to take on the work that I started 10 years ago. I’ll be blogging on college access, retention and success, including readiness and financial literacy from now on. I’m hoping this will also be of great interest to those who know me as a digital marketer, as I use these skills to complete these strategies.

Universities need to be cognizant of who they are accepting and financially supporting, how they are making these decisions, and how they contribute to continued and still widening achievement gaps. One of the largest places we can see and begin to change this, I believe, is in our marketing.

Define Before You Measure

In moving into a more strategic role, I’ve seemed to have stumbled upon an issue I’d not previously thought of: many people define things differently. How can you measure without a complete understanding of what each term you’re measuring if people are not all on the same page?

Prospects. Leads. Inquiries. Visits. Applicants. Accepts. Enrolled. All of these need to be defined and agreed upon across the board. Only then can you assign values to each of these to begin to measure the return on investment of your marketing tactics.

The industry defines these terms differently. Institutions define them specifically. Regardless of what you prescribe to, its important to be sure that internally anyone using them uses them consistently.

Photo Courtesy

Tanking at Tweetups?

Like you, I try to attend as many Tweetups as possible. They’re great for networking, nice for adding to your resume, and helpful in staying up on the latest happenings and technology. Luckily, being in Boston, there are several per day/week/month to choose from. But what I’ve noticed lately, is that I may not be cut out for professional Tweetup starlet: the more I go, the more I wonder if my networking skills are truly this bad.

When attending several Tweetups in Boston, you’ll find the same groups attending en masse. Maybe its the healthcare crowd. You always have at least 3 Twitteratti in the room. Higher Ed usually represents. But are we making it better or worse for ourselves by coming in cliches? Is it just about our own ability to branch out and mingle?

I’ve attended 2 high-profile Tweetups in the past month. Both of which, I’m sad to say I left early. I’m not great at the mix and mingle part, but do love being in on the conversations. I’ve found, for me, structured gatherings work best. Whether around a common theme, conference or short agenda, I’ve felt more at home and had an easier time connecting and talking with people. When left to just a large gathering of those who heard about the event, I find myself stammering, feeling awkward and needing an excuse to leave ASAP.

I’m trying to push my boundaries, rely less on my higher ed Tweetup going brethren, and flex those networking muscles. What are your tips for successfully navigating a Tweetup? How has your Tweetup experience been? Do you have tips on mingling to share? What are your faves?