After taking her SAT in April and opting in to receive information from colleges, Ashley Jackson received an e-mail from your school that included a link to their Facebook Community, built by Varsity Outreach.
Ashley, like most high school students, already had a Facebook profile and figured it would be easy enough to join your school's Community. Also, Ashley commonly checked Facebook several times a day to see pictures of friends, post on schoolmates' walls, and more. She only checked her e-mail every other day.
Ashley went to Facebook to join the Community and check out what it had to offer. She created a profile, selecting majors (biology and chemistry) and student clubs (dance and newspaper) that she was interested in. Wow, she was impressed. She had joined a Facebook Group for another school, but had only visited it once. She really liked that she could meet other students interested in your school.
Comparison of Features
| Set-Up, Maintenance, and Feature Upgrades |
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Performed by |
College |
College |
Varsity Outreach |
| Student Functionality |
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Discussion Boards |
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 |
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Walls |
 |
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Photos |
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Videos |
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Events |
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Data
Know who's in the community, how active they are, and how often they come back |
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Student Community
Students can search for
and connect with each other |
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Information Requests
Students can request more
information about your school |
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Counselor Profiles
Provide bios and allow students
to send you messages |
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Student Profiles
Highlight current students on campus
and link to their Facebook profiles |
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Admitted Student Area
Dedicated area for you to
communicate with admitted students |
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Customization of Functionality
Adapt the features to
meet your school's needs |
None |
Limited |
Full |
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Customization of Design
Adapt the look, feel, & navigation
of Facebook presence |
None |
Limited |
Full |
| |
Add-Ons
Out-of-the-box add-ons to incorporate YouTube videos, Flickr slideshows, interactive maps, & more |
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| College Functionality |
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Send Messages to All Students |
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Send Targeted Messages
Foster sub-communities by providing
highly targeted information on
events, student groups, and more! |
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By Geography
By Sex
By Age |
By Geography
By Enrollment Date
By Major
By SAT / ACT
By Activity
By High School
By GPA
...and more |
| |
Access to User Information
Learn more about interested students
so you can provide a better experience |
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Name
Enrollment Date
City / State / Country
GPA
SAT / ACT
Intended Major
Activities
Sports
High School
Networks |
| |
Search Student Users
Find individual students or
groups of students |
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By Geography
By Enrollment Date
By Major
By SAT / ACT
By Activity
By High School
By GPA
...and more |
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Scheduling Capabilities
Schedule tasks (wall posts, e-mails, updates, events) to go live on future dates |
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Ashley was from Indianapolis, Indiana. She took a look at the Interactive Cohort Map to see if anyone from Indiana was considering your school and had added the Facebook Community. She found 45 other students, and she actually knew one of them, her friend Michelle! She sent Michelle a message asking her what she thought of your school. Michelle had visited the campus and loved it.
A week later, Ashley (and all the other prospective students from Indiana) received a Community Update that your school would be at a college fair in Indianapolis during September. The update also included a link to a Facebook event for the college fair. Ashley added the event and RSVP'd that she would be attending the fair.
After attending the college fair, Ashley was even more excited about your school, but she now had some questions for current students at the school. She went back to your school's Facebook Community and saw profiles of 10 current students. One of them was a biology major. Perfect! She sent him a message in Facebook, asking what the biology program was like and whether he liked the professors. He got back to her within a day with great details about the major and the names of a couple professors he really liked.
Ashley was ready to apply. She found a link to your school's online application form on the front page of the Facebook Community. She started completing the form and noticed that she needed to get recommendations from teachers and her guidance counselor. She went back to the Facebook Community and visited the Discussion section because she wasn't sure how to pick a recommender. She was about to post a question, when she noticed there was already a Discussion thread about recommendations. She scanned the posts that other students and admission counselors had shared. She found exactly what she was looking for and now had two teachers in mind to ask for recommendations.
Ashley applied to your school and got in! She had also gotten in to three other schools that she really liked. She now had to decide which school was the best fit. In her acceptance e-mail, she had gotten another link to your school's Facebook Community, this one had a special code that gave her access to the Admitted Student section.
Ashley now did a Yearbook search to find other admitted students interested in biology. She found one who was also from Indiana named James. She posted on James' Yearbook wall, asking him what he thought about the biology program. James was really excited about the program because he knew a couple of current students that were working as assistants in labs and doing really cool research. Right then, Ashley knew that your school was the right place for her.
She sent her acceptance letter back to your school along with her housing form. A month later she found out what dorm she was in. She immediately went back to your school's Facebook Community and added her dorm to her profile. She could now search for other students in her dorm and add them as friends. This made leaving home a little less daunting since she already knew she would recognize a few faces when she got to campus.
Although Ashley is a fictitious student, you can easily see how Varsity Outreach's Facebook Community can be an effective tool for recruitment and yield. We help you capitalize on the social aspects of Facebook while reinforcing your school's brand.
You know your future students are using Facebook. Take this opportunity to build excitement around your school using our Facebook Community!
