Virtual events have become the new norm for higher education, and have become the go-to solution for everything from recruiting new students through campus tours and open house events, to engaging and connecting with current students and staff. The impact of COVID-19 has prompted institutions to use video conferencing tools like Zoom to bring the campus environment to students via their homes, using laptops, desktops, and mobile devices.
At TargetX, we’re in tune with the needs of our customers, and have heard the requests and feedback from our clients. Over the last two weeks, our Product, Development, and Support teams have researched solutions that can support capturing data around virtual 1:1 meetings or webinars.
Institutions using Zoom can integrate with Salesforce to start and schedule meetings and virtual events (through Zoom Webinar) directly within Salesforce. The integration is available through the Salesforce AppExchange and the Zoom Marketplace. Initial install and set-up time is about an hour. This includes initial install, the configuration of required layouts, and updates to your internal Salesforce User Profiles. Individual set-up, once the initial configuration is set-up, is under 10 minutes. The Zoom integration works in either Salesforce Lightning or Classic.
Zoom Requirements:
- A paid Pro, Business, Education, or API Partner Plan. For the use of Webinars, you must have a Webinar subscription as part of your Zoom package.
- Access to the REST API.
Using Zoom with TargetX Appointment Scheduler
Once the initial integration is complete between Zoom and Salesforce, and with a few steps to customize the email templates, the tool can be used alongside TargetX’s Appointment Scheduler. Some quick notes about TargetX Appointment Scheduler and Zoom:
- There are no changes to how a student schedules an appointment with a team member.
- As always, once a student creates the appointment, they will receive a confirmation email that will include the Zoom meeting information. Meeting reminder emails will go out as set-up by your institution.
- The user will have the option to send an email out to the student before the launch of the meeting.
Advisors or Counselors, with Zoom access, will be able to instantly start a Zoom Meeting, by pressing a button found on the student contact (or selecting “Start Zoom Meeting” in Quick Access when using Salesforce Lightning). Once launched, the Zoom meeting will be utilizing the Advisor/Counselor’s Zoom Personal Meeting Identification (PMI) number (personal meeting room already associated with Zoom).
The Zoom meeting will then appear in the student’s Activity History, where the Advisor or Counselor can add information about the meeting.
Over the past month, Zoom has worked closely with their Education partners and have made changes and recommendations to their platform to support security and FERPA concerns.
- All Zoom meetings are automatically set to have a “Waiting Room,” which requires the Advisor/Counselor to approve any student into the session.
- The screen sharing setting within Zoom accounts has automatically defaulted to “Only Host.”
Create Zoom Webinars from Salesforce
The Zoom integration for Salesforce supports Zoom Webinars through campaigns. When a Webinar is created in Zoom, a campaign will automatically be created in Salesforce.
Using the Salesforce and Zoom integration, Zoom users with Webinar access can create a Zoom Webinar inside Salesforce. There are several options to inviting participants:
- Create the Zoom Webinar and have attendees register for the Webinar through the Registration URL. Once registered, each attendee will have a unique URL that will track their attendance to the Webinar and syncs back to Salesforce.
- Create the Zoom Webinar and set “Approval Status” to “No Registration Required.” You’ll have students register for a virtual event through the TargetX Event tool, which will provide the confirmation and reminder emails (vary on how your institution setup confirmation and reminder emails). When you set up the Zoom Webinar in Salesforce, a “Join URL” will appear in the Zoom Webinar, which can be placed in the Event’s Confirmation and Reminder emails, under the Classic Email Templates.
In both instances, the attendees’ information will sync back to their Salesforce record once they attend the Webinar. This information also includes how long the attendee stayed in the Webinar.
Salesforce users with permission can track the registration list, track students who attended or did not attend, and run reports to generate email campaigns through the TargetX Email tool. The creation of a new Webinar takes just a minute or two and syncs with Zoom almost instantly.
The registration and attendance history also links back to the student contact record.
The TargetX Product and Development teams are continuing to research and explore additional options to integrate Zoom with our TargetX Events tool. As we explore the possibilities will continue to share with our clients!
If you’re interested in learning how to use Zoom alongside the TargetX tools, check out the newest articles posted in our TargetX User Community. To learn more about Zoom’s latest security features specific to Education, checkout their Resource Center for details.
