Archive for 'Invitations and Reminders'

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Take control of Facebook Events

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While colleges continue to look for ways to use the power of Facebook to attract students, one UCLA junior shakes his head in wonder at a lost opportunity.

Schools spend enormous amounts of money and effort on campus events that appeal to prospective students, writes Nate Villegas, so why do they overlook the Facebook tool that so many young people use to help plan their activities?

“When it comes to finding something to do at a school,” writes Villegas, “I’m going to check my Facebook Events page.” The problem, he says, is that most of the college event listings are created by students and not by the staff responsible for organizing the events. And this means that the information is often incorrect. ...

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Categories: College Recruiting, Facebook, Invitations and Reminders, Websites

XpertTip No.103: TargetX on the road

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TargetX headquarters is located in bucolic Bristol, PA (just north of Philadelphia).

We’re housed in the historic Canal Works building, an converted industrial seed mill that offers a nice juxtaposition to our “futurecasting” admissions marketing/ technology shop.

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to visit us here for a demonstration, training, brainstorming session or any other type of pow-wow, you know that at the heart of the experience is spending quality time with our people. It’s something we think sets us apart in the industry.

Unfortunately, although the invitation is always open, many of you can’t come to visit us here in Bristol. And while you can certainly check out the “photo tour” on our Facebook page, it doesn’t take ...

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Categories: Invitations and Reminders, Workshops and Events

XpertTip No. 74: The dreaded phrase

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Are you using the dreaded phrase?

Today I’d like each of you to look through your email library to see if you begin any messages with a certain phrase — a phrase I believe should be stricken from the lexicon of admissions marketing.

That phrase? “If you haven’t already visited campus.”

I’ve seen it often; a veiled “time saver” that ensures you won’t leave anyone out as you introduce the body of your message.

But what it really does is announce that you have no idea who you are writing to — a veritable “no-no” for any type of media.

Beginning a message by making it clear that you don’t know if that person has visited reeks of the mass marketing practices of days passed.

More ...

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Categories: Client Concierge, Email, Email Campaign Ideas, Followup, Invitations and Reminders, Summer Projects

XpertTip No. 71: What guidance counselors want

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Two of my best friends and college roommates are high school guidance counselors.

When they aren’t working with students on the college selection process (or wearing one of the myriad other hats that come with the counselor gig), they rely heavily on technology to keep up with their personal lives.

They text message, share YouTube videos and post to photo-sharing sites. And they’re on Facebook. A lot.

Is this your image of the school counselor? If it isn’t, perhaps the way we communicate with prospects isn’t the only thing that needs to change.

Modern guidance offices want what we all want — a better way to keep up. That means making it easier for them to stay updated on important things like new ...

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Categories: Blogs, Chat, Communication Plans, Email, Email Campaign Ideas, eXpressNet, Invitations and Reminders, Lists, Misc., Summer Projects, Uncategorized

XpertTip No. 64: The power of the hyperlink

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It seems that the more messages I review for clients, the more I encounter a very serious problem: putting too much information in an email.

Want a quick tip for writing better messages? Don’t forget the power of the hyperlink.

There’s no need to try and stuff every last fact about an event or program into one message. It only muddles your point and clutters the call to action, ultimately negating your original intent to provide information.

A better strategy is to think of the email and your website as partners, working in tandem to deliver content and invite interaction.

Think of the email as the “hook,” or a quick teaser that serves to drive readers to the web. It really can be just ...

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Categories: Email, Invitations and Reminders, Millennials

XpertTip No. 48: Introducing the new Knowledge Center

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This week, I have the privilege of announcing our brand new Knowledge Center!

If you’ve visited our Knowledge Center in the past, you know it’s the place on our website to access our blogs and podcast: An Email Minute, The Recruiting Revolution, The Experience Evangelist — and this little project of mine called the XpertTip;)

We’ve also traditionally included recommended readings, research studies, books, magazines and other great resources from some of the brightest brains in marketing and higher ed.

Well, we’re not changing any of that. But we are enhancing it quite a bit. We’ve created the new Knowledge Center as a social network so you can easily connect with us (and vice versa).

So here’s your assignment: head ...

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Categories: Client Concierge, eXpressNet, Invitations and Reminders, Misc., Outside Resources, Research, Social Networking, Workshops and Events

XpertTip No. 42: State your case

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It’s the Achilles heel of admissions communication: leaving the most important part of the message to the end.

Too many times we inundate the reader with too many words in an effort to build our case instead of simply stating it.

I recently reviewed some chat invitations that were, for the most part, great.  The only problem was that they didn’t give the date and time of the event (or even ask for the reader to attend) until the fourth paragraph.

Most readers never get that far.

It’s easy to understand why we do it — anyone who’s ever studied writing learned to deliver the message with a “hook sentence” and supporting paragraphs, bolstering the rising action with suspense and narrative until ...

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Categories: Email, Email Campaign Ideas, Followup, Invitations and Reminders

XpertTip No. 27: A post-game plan for email

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Well folks, it’s a beautiful day here in the City of Brotherly Love. This Philly girl is still smiling after the Eagles’ 56-21 victory over the Detroit Lions yesterday.

No doubt the Detroit organization was busy this morning reviewing stats and game film, ultimately trying to decide what went wrong. Conversely, the Eagles will be hoping to replicate and build on what went right.

Do you spend enough time after an email broadcast, chat or in-person event doing the same? What’s your “post-game” plan?

Unfortunately, most offices don’t have one (and sitting around by the coffee pot complaining doesn’t count;) Like many things in life, it’s much easier to simply move on to the next crisis.

Today I thought ...

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Categories: Campaign Intelligence, Email, Email Campaign Ideas, Invitations and Reminders, Lists

XpertTip No.3: Clicking send is just the beginning

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With so much emphasis on email message creation, deployment and tracking metrics, it’s easy to see how most people feel like they can relax once they finally click send. If you’re among the many who breathe a sigh of relief and move on to the next crisis, you could be missing out on an opportunity to enhance the relationship between you and your audience.

Don’t forget to use the “Followup” link after your initial broadcast. Just click the link in your Campaign Intelligence report to communicate with message receivers according to their interaction (or lack thereof). Include a strong call to action like visiting your website and your message could be just as effective as the original email.

Followup ...

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Categories: Email, Followup, Invitations and Reminders, Lists

XpertTip No.2: When to invite your chatters

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A comment posted here after my first XpertTip prompted me to ask clients, “How far in advance do you send online chat invitations and reminders?”

The responses were clear: the most successful schools are inviting students much closer to the actual chat event and then sending “day of” reminders. With integrated tools, it’s easy to setup a chat and schedule related emails in advance. This way you’re not scrambling to send messages at the last minute when you should be ordering pizza for your chatters;)

Cisco Griffin from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts notes: “When sending out email invitations for chats, we have had better responses when they go out closer to the event than even a week out.” He has led ...

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Categories: Chat, Invitations and Reminders