EduMusings

Eighty percent of organizations believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8% of their customers agree, according to a study from Bain and Company.  Just this week, we announced the results of a survey that found nearly 63% of European business schools did not respond to prospect inquiries submitted by email.  The schools that were prompt in their responses were more likely to engage the prospect in school events and newsletters and were better able to understand their motivations and interests.

Robert Sevier, of Stamats Communications takes the Bain and Company statistic and examines it in the context of brand management for higher education in a recentUniversity Business article. He says this discrepancy exists because many institutions take a passive attitude towards managing the experience of their campus. He encourages interviewing students and forming focus groups to understand their experiences and what factors of those experiences are most important to them.

Identifying, managing and measuring the elements of a college experience are vital because your current students and alumni are your most valuable marketers. With the increasing popularity of feed-style “news” on social networking sites, one sour experience can spread quickly. Before you take on any initiatives to change your customer service, it’s important to take a snapshot of how your institution is currently performing in this area. In examining your school, it’s important to take on the perspective of the people you serve- students. What better way to look at your school, than through the same mediums your prospects do?

That’s the philosophy of the Mindshare Report, released by the Social Media Academy, which looks at how well major corporations are conveying their branding messages through social media. The research was done without speaking with anyone in companies being researched, which mimics the way many students research colleges.

According to the report, some of the key strategic questions you should be able to answer are:

• Do you know what spaces are important to your customers?

• Do you know where your brand is?

• Do you know how to stand up to competition?

• Do you know how your competitors are using the social web?

The Social Media Academy’s findings show that few companies actually know the answers to these questions. In examining one of the world’s largest mobile carriers, Vodafone (known as Verizon in the US) they found that the company had a large and engaged audience, but weren’t using social media to the extent that it should, to create a community. The closest thing the company has to a community is online forums which currently have many active users who would most likely participate in other community outlets.

As another example, Ford has significantly more Twitter followers than Toyota. Much of the difference could probably be attributed to the fact that Ford has several Twitter accounts, each dedicated to a specific topic of discussion, while Toyota only has one. Toyota could significantly increase its mindshare by looking into more mediums for discussion. Doing some basic research to see what’s out there about your company and how similar institutions are handling their social media strategy can help you understand your positioning in the marketplace and strategize on what your next steps should be.