Obsessive-compulsive readers of my blog will have noticed that there is a link to Karine Joly’s blog on web, marketing, and PR in higher ed, collegewebeditor.com. She describes the site as “News, tips and, hopefully, some good ideas for people taking care of websites and online marketing in colleges and universities.” Why am I reading something most intended for college administrators and web marketers? Because simply put, I’m one of those people being marketed to (prospective students), and it pays to be savvy. Joly is my primary source for scintillating new university online marketing practices.

Joly wrote an article for University Business recently, titled License to Recruit? : Admissions-sponsored student blogging can get real results for your institution. As I have been developing this blog, I’ve stumbled upon the varied blogging efforts that many colleges have deployed to boost visibility and offer a quick glance into student life. These can be a little sanitized sometimes, though they’re still a head above the usual college-offered fare. The article quotes Bob Robertson-Boyd, web manager at Capital University, as saying “Interaction between these audiences is inevitable and already occurring elsewhere, so why not facilitate the conversations and take advantage of it on our own websites?” Obviously it is in the best interest of college administrators to leverage an online student presence to their marketing advantage.

Tying in to Joly’s article is a study from Noel-Levitz about e-recruiting which I think is also very interesting: E-Recruiting Practices Report. The report’s splash page has several “key facts” it lists, repeated here:

• Less than one-third of campuses have adopted cutting-edge tools for e-recruitment such as blogging space and chat rooms.
• Purchasing students’ e-mail addresses is common at four-year institutions (nearly 80% follow this practice) but not at two-year institutions (11%).
• Collecting e-mail addresses from parents is less common, with just 30 percent of institutions following this practice.
• Just over 40 percent of institutions collect applicants’ cell/mobile numbers.
• At four-year institutions, more than half of prospective students use electronic applications.
• A significant number of prospective students who use electronic applications had made no previous contact with the institution.
• The vast majority of institutions (90%) are spending less than $50K/year to maintain admissions-specific content and services on their institution’s Web site.

I think it is important for schools to be aware of every side of their online face, because if they don’t give students a branded outlet for their thoughts on their experience, someone else will–someplace where the school has less of an eye on things, less control, and less influence. Places like The U have student blogs which are not always as cheery as those the schools offer up. Our up-and-coming friends over at Real Ivy are in something of a similar boat. Personally, I regard those blogs differently from those “official” student blogs which I have found, because there is always the question of whether or not an apparition of an admissions officer is standing behind the student as they type away at those institution branded-portals. They are still useful resources, but they can sometimes lose some of their trustworthiness–just like tour guides–if their independence or motivation comes into question.

There are then also of course the blogs kept by admissions officers or admissions offices; I like these because since we know exactly what we’re dealing with, there is no need to filter anything. It’s just an interesting window into admissions.

Links to all of these sites can also be found on the sidebar, if you don’t mind doing a bit of scrolling.