If you’ve taken my 2006 Survey (if you haven’t, you’re passing a chance to win a $30 gift certificate from Amazon), you know that I asked readers to suggest how I can improve this blog in 2007. One of the suggestions I have received makes a lot of sense: to revisit some of the initiatives I mentioned on this blog and find out how they worked (or didn’t).
As you might have noticed if you’ve been reading for a while, I’m a ROI (return on investment) junkie. So, I couldn’t wait to implement this great idea and have decided to launch a new series called “One year later.” In this series of future posts, I will try to do just what this reader suggested.
Since the Pew Internet and American Life Project released data about the topic, a lot has been said and written about the reach of podcasting and its efficiency as a marketing tool for higher ed institutions.
According to the Pew Data Project Memo about Podcast Downloading (PDF) by Senior Research Specialist Mary Madden, while 12% of internet users have downloaded a podcast (compared to 7% earlier this year) only 1% report doing it on a typical day. Naturally, these results can make anybody wonder if it’s worth investing time and money in podcasting.
That’s why I decided to ask the people behind podcasting initiatives that drew a lot of attention last year.
I started to blog about Mansfield University’s podcasts in November 2005. Then, I interviewed their creator and producer Dennis Miller.
Last week, I contacted Dennis to find out if he could share any results of his podcasting initiative with this blog’s readers (I did also contact Mike Richwalsky from Allegheny College, but haven’t heard from Mike yet).
Here’s the data Dennis sent:
- As of October 2006, up to about 3,000 downloads a week from listeners in the U.S. and 25 countries around the world (a couple of weeks after launch, Dennis reported 289 downloads a week)
- About +1% in incoming freshmen and the only thing we did different in the marketing was the podcasting.
- Quite a few listeners are higher education colleagues. Dennis received a few requests about equipment and software
- There are younger listeners too because one of the students regularly interviewed in the podcasts, Eden, has gotten “fan mail”
“Having said that, I don’t think podcasting had a big impact. I think podcasting was still too new on the scene.
So, we mounted a marketing campaign that included two radio spots and ran them on Pennsylvania stations with a high school demo. We printed 4-color business cards that counselors handed out at high school visits and college fairs. We printed and mailed 60,000 oversized post cards and sent them to high school seniors and guidance counselors. We also did billboards,” added Dennis in his email.
This proves how much podcasting is really not about reaching as many prospective students as possible, but more about selling them the college experience at your institution.
I know several readers have also launched podcasting initiatives as part of their admission recruiting efforts, I (we all) would love to hear about the type of results they’ve gotten so far. Why not post a comment, so we can decide whether or not podcasting should be part of the admission marketing mix… based on some facts?
I think podcasting (like just about everything else in the technology world) is largely dependent upon content and practicality.
Is a magazine inherently cool or useful? Not really. But is the person writing in it engaging or interesting? Does he or she write useful things in a well-designed way? Those are the questions to be asking.
But from a strict technological point of view, I find podcasts (with the exception of interviews of high-profile guests) to be almost more emotionally reassuring, that, yes, there are some people in the world who like to talk about this stuff, not just me. I’ve found that it’s not really information-driven.
Written material in print and on the Web are non-linear; I can skip, find out my interest and single in on it. If I want to more casually browse and “get a feel,” I can do that, too. A podcast makes you sit there and listen to it, from start to finish because I have to wait for someone else’s thought to finish before I can digest it, one at a time.
I think podcasts of teacher lectures (that are mostly audio-based) will do well in the future, although videocasts will be the ideal situtation. I think podcasts as part of an overall promotion of a university could work, but only when talking about fun and interesting things, especially of whatever is unique to that university, such as putting in the school’s sports songs or the bells of the campus clocktower.
I don’t think it’s as useful when talking about the “important” things, such as deadlines, financial aid, tuition or housing.
Podcasting and higher education is a marriage that will work. It will take some time for current and prospective students to get accustomed to it, but it will work. Podcasting in higher ed is great because it can be applied to so many facets of everyday campus life. Campus events, news, tours and dining menus can be downloaded a listened (or viewed) on the way to class or the gym. Course podcasts can be used to review material as well as download supplements and other tools to help students become more connected to the professor. And prospective students can listen/view admissions and general info content on their own time.
I don’t think it is a matter of the content; it is a matter of promotion and adoption. College students are different than they were just a few years ago in that they are surrounded (and use) technology everyday as part of the lives. They not only use the new tech, they have come to expect it. WI-FI, blazing-fast internet connections and of course, podcasts. Most college students I know tote around a cell phone, MP3/video player and a laptop. They have the tools, they just need to be informed and intrigued.
At the end of the day, if it is easy to access and integrate into their daily lives, students will use podcasts in at least one of the facets mentioned above and it will be a domino effect from there!
We have just started our podcasts as part of a multi-pronged outreach effort (our intended audience consists of prospective students, current, and alumni). It is too early to determine our success, I do not even have statistics yet from our support team, but I have received letters and comments from applying students who have listened to the podcasts.
We are still playing with format and content; I had hoped to have students producing their own show, but none expressed an interest until the end of the last semester. And this is part of what I love about this technology (blogging and podcasting), it enables us to try different things with a relatively low investment of time and money. If it doesn’t work, we can change it!
Thanks for sharing your experience with podcasting, Chris. Keep us updated on how it goes!
Thanks Katrine. I will. To give more detail, I recently arrived as Dean of Schreyer Honors College, Penn State. I had been blogging as Director of Honors at Tulane for two years (it was a huge boon during our “Katrina semester”) and began blogging at SHC before I had even arrived on campus.
As I said earlier, my original vision for the podcast had been for a group of students to take it on and produce 2-4 “shows” throughout each semester. My had thought of the students conducting interviews with other students, administrators, faculty, and alumni and then putting that together with some “studio” read news and notes. The idea would be to make it of interest to prospective students and alumni who want to keep up with ol’ alma.
When the students didn’t show the immediate interest I had hoped for I began interviewing students (and 1 alumus so far) myself. I have called it “The Schreyer Stammtisch” and you can find the links here. (Warning! The quality of the first few are not great. :-) Now I have two students who are going to begin interviews and we will put together a new student run podcast this spring. I have also done three separate podcasts that are more “official” sorts of messages. (State of the College, Vision, etc.)
In the meantime, I did have 8 students express an interest in blogging and so we have started a student blog engage.shc.psu.edu/students/. This has gone very well (imho) with a few prospective students posting comments. Our approach with this blog is that the students should treat it as their own with near complete freedom. I informed them that I would edit only for profanity and rudeness, but not for criticism of the College or the University. So far I have only had to edit two comments (not posts by our bloggers).
We are also rolling out a similar blog for our alumni. This will also be run by and for our alumni with categories and groupings based upon region, allowing them to quickly find all posts by or about, e.g., alumni in the DC area.
That is where we stand at the moment! If I haven’t said too much, I will be happy to keep you all up to date, or just stop by! engage.shc.psu.edu