Mongoose Research

Yesterday, St. Mary's University sent out a text campaign inviting students to Sleeping Bag Weekend (a key recruiting event).  Many students responded 'thank you' or asked simple questions.  The student below engaged in a conversation about the admissions process, transcripts, application and transportation to sleeping bag weekend.  After all his questions were answered, he replied "..all of this texting helps a lot..".

So nice to hear positive student reactions!

I've included a screen shot (with personal information hidden) of a section of the conversation. 

(click for larger version)
 

More and more highly interested prospective students are asking for text updates from their institution of choice.  Texting allows institutions instant access to this highly elusive audience. Yesterday, The Chronicle highlighted one of our clients and their innovative use of texting in the admission process.

Read the full article on Chronicle.com:

St. Mary’s U. Finds That When It Texts, Students Come

Lab 42 polled 500 social-networking Americans aged 13 - 21 regarding their use of texting.  Among the fidnings: 71% of the respondents preferred texting to calling

For the full story: http://mashable.com/2011/07/02/texting-teens-infographic/

Some colleges are realizing that investing in apps is proving costly.  To cover the smart phone market, one would absolutely need an app for iPhone and Android - and should have one for Blackberry and Microsoft.  That totals 4 platforms to support.  The mobile Web is exploding and is supported by all Web enabled devices.  HTML 5 provides for a rich presentation as well.

Read the full story:
As Mobile Devices Multiply, Some Colleges Turn Away From Building Campus Apps 
http://chronicle.com/article/As-Mobile-Devices-Multiply/128060/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

"..many colleges still treat their mobile Web sites as low-stakes experiments. That attitude risks losing prospective applicants and donors through admissions and alumni portals that don't work.."

David R. Morton
Director of Mobile Communications
University of Washington

Read the full story at Chronicle.com:
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Search-for-Their/126016/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Students and parents now have an expectation of 25x7 self service.  They want to be able to complete tasks on their mobile device. They do not want to call a sales person or boot up their laptop.  They want instant access via the mobile Web.  Excellent 4 minute presentation by Christina Kerley at Rutgers University.

“Social Media and Mobile Marketing: Gaining a Competitive Advantage”

If you needed more proof that texting is on the rise, here’s a stat for you: the average teenager sends more than 3,000 texts per month. That’s more than six texts per waking hour.

Read the full story on mashable.com.

In March 2009, I posted "prospective students do not tweet".

July 2010, The Chronicle confirms: Admission Officials' Tweets Fall on Deaf Ears

Abe Gruber, director of marketing at Bloomfield College, found in a recent study that while 40 percent of college admissions offices are active on Twitter, only 15 percent of prospective students expressed interest using in Twitter to learn about colleges.

Mr. Gruber surveyed 200 prospective freshmen and 70 admissions offices in his study.

“Twitter scores high for the admissions officers, but not for students,” said Mr. Gruber.

High school students are not tweeting.. but they sure are texting.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project study recently discovered two things: 

1. Americans say they would prefer to give up a landline than the mobile phone. 
2. The mobile phone is the most important device in the consumer’s life – more than the landline and computer.

Pew Research recently released a study entitled "Teens, Cell Phones, and Texting".

Excerpts below:

The mobile phone has become the favored communication hub for the majority of American teens... Cell-phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends.. 88% of teen cell phone users -- are text-messagers. That is a sharp rise from the 51% of teens who were texters in 2006.

This information resonates with the success that our institutional partners are experiencing.

Read the summary of findings:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1572/teens-cell-phones-text-messages