Strayer University is an educational institution with over 80 campuses across the nation. The University provides a quality education to working adults in both online and offline atmospheres. In 2009, Strayer University came to The Cyphers Agency seeking to increase their online presence and lead generation numbers.
Challenge
Strayer University’s only online presence was on MySpace, and that presence wasn’t in tune with their overall University brand. Even more so, their web site didn’t serve prospective students but rather, existing students. How could they grow their student population if their potential students couldn’t find out any important information? This, married to poor search engine optimization, resulted in low numbers of leads, ultimately impacting the University’s growth. That was where we came in.
Plan of Attack
We focused our efforts on blog creation and social network development. Our goal was to create an active online community by engaging with existing and potential students on our blog and social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
The blog was built as part of a microsite created specifically as a lead generation tool. All of our online ad efforts were directed to that site, helping potential students locate any necessary information they might need to learn about Strayer and the opportunities they could grasp there. Students were also able to input information about themselves should they want a Strayer University representative to contact them. The blog provided a chance to create fresh content (helping with SEO), as well as give users valuable information about being a student at Strayer University. It didn’t hurt to have content to share on social networks, either.
In addition to sharing this blog content, we were active on Strayer’s social networks, especially Facebook. Students were (and still are) able to get their questions answered, whether it’s something as simple as needing to know who to contact to sign up for classes or a more crucial issue like financial aid. While we were charged with maintaining the page, we focused on grooming a community that interacted with each other. Students were always happy to answer each others’ questions, diffuse a difficult situation, or just cheer each other on.
Results
In less than a year, we were able to make real progress and establish some positive results for Strayer University. Awareness levels increased, as evidenced by the nearly 33 million impressions we delivered. Even more so, leads generated from our efforts have converted at higher rates than any other initiative or ad program within the University.
We are continually growing Strayer University’s online presence. Their social networks have grown – over 8,500 and growing – to become beneficial, if not crucial, spaces for students to interact.
