student-social-snapchat

Here’s how to reach your most social, tech-savvy students


Higher-ed institutions using YouTube, Snapchat to announce student’s acceptance

student-social-snapchat
Copyright: Gil C/Shutterstock

In a trend that’s quickly catching on in many colleges and universities across the country, institutions are turning to trendy social media platforms to engage prospective students. The reason? The need to connect with a generation accustomed to smartphones and images.

One example is with a new University of Southern California Academy. Rather than traditional brochures or letters in the mail, students admitted to the new USC Academy received their acceptance announcements through innovative YouTube videos.

The USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation sent personalized video messages to accepted students filmed by the donors, Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young.

Founded with a $70 million gift from Iovine and Young, the program plans to recruit the next generation of pioneers in creative fields from the arts to commerce and industry.

The Academy, opening this fall, will begin with 25 students selected out of hundreds of applicants. All applicants had to include video submissions in their applications, describing pitches that solve problems or create opportunities for communities through inventive ideas, products, or services.

According to a press release by USC, the Academy’s Executive Director, Erica Muhl, wanted the acceptances to be unique. She believes the YouTube videos will be “lifelong keepsakes for these students.”

(Next page: Acceptances as Snapchats)

The social media platform Snapchat is also becoming valued by universities that want to reach students “where they are.”

77 percent of college students use Snapchat daily, according to a survey by Mashable and Sumpto, a company that works with college students who use social media.

According to the survey, Snapchat offers a sense of personalization students might not experience when receiving a brochure in the mail.

Students like the messages, or Snaps, because they are sent directly to them, instead of broadcasted to a large audience.

Snapchat is also a social media platform based on engagement. In order to view a Snap, the viewer must press the image with their fingertips for the duration of the message (one to ten seconds).

A recent article by Time Magazine, institutions are beginning to use Snapchat to engage current and prospective students by sending personalized messages to make recruits feel valued.

Others are using Snapchat to “reach students where they already are.” A Pew Research Internet Project study found that 26 percent of young cell phone owners between 18 and 29 use Snapchat. This percentage is expected to increase as more teenagers who have grown up with smartphones become young adults.

Jaccii Barmer is an editorial intern at eCampus News.

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