mStoner and TargetX designed a survey focusing on how prospective teen students use a range of digital tools — social media, websites, email, and digital ads — during their college search and selection process, and what information is most helpful at each stage of the journey.

1. Digital Admissions 2019
Webinar
HOW PROSPECTIVE TEENS USE ONLINE TOOLS IN COLLEGE SEARCH & CHOICE

2. Moderator
Mallory
+ Director of Marketing, mStoner
+ LA Transplant
+ Proud Medill Alumna
@MalloryWillsea

3. Housekeeping:
A few starting details:
45-minute webinar + 15 minutes for questions and answers
Chat and ask questions through the Zoom Control Panel
Tweet during the webinar with #DigitalAdmissions
Please fill out the post-webinar survey
Check your inbox on Friday for the webinar recording and slide deck

4. Your Co-Presenter Today:
Michael
+ President and Co-Founder, mStoner
+ Vermonter by choice, not birth
+ Did I mention #DeleteFacebook?
@mstonervt

5. Your Co-Presenter Today:
Sasha
+ CEO, TargetX
+ Rooted in Latvia, raised in California
+ Currently without power
@sashapeterson

6. Digital Admissions 2019
#DigitalAdmissions

7. Today’s
Topics
1. Demographics
2. Key Observations
3. Teens & Social Media
4. Teens & Your Website
5. Communicating With Teens
Agenda
#DigitalAdmissions

8. Demographics of Respondents
DEMOGRAPHICS
• Survey deployed on
Niche.com
• 2,281 respondents
• We accepted responses
from Classes of 2019-2022
for a total of 1,458
• 26% researching; 28%
deciding; 39% decided
• 76% of respondents
identified as female (but
this didn’t skew results)
• 44% Caucasian/White; 23%
African-American/Black;
23% Latinx; 15% Asian; 3%
American Indian/Alaskan
Native; 2% Hawaiian or
Pacific Islander

9. KEY OBSERVATIONS
Some surprising findings
from our respondents
Some of the most revealing or
surprising results from our survey
include the importance of websites,
the continued preference for email
as a channel for communications,
and the finding that ads on social
media don’t turn teens off.
1
#DigitalAdmissions

10. Teens & Social Media
Teens use social media extensively in their personal lives
and in college search and choice. But college social
channels are not hugely influential in their decision about
where to enroll. They do pay attention to posts from
currently enrolled students, though.
#DigitalAdmissions

11. Teens & Social Media
Don’t expect teens to interact on your social channels:
while 63% liked or followed a university social channel,
they consume content but don’t interact with people
there.
#DigitalAdmissions

12. Teens & Social Media
There are some signs of growing disenchantment with
social media: a third of our respondents said they didn’t
use social at all.
#DigitalAdmissions

13. Teens & Video
YouTube is the second-most popular social channel
among our respondents: 55% use it once a day. And 27%
said videos on YouTube were a major influence on where
they enrolled.
#DigitalAdmissions

14. Teens & Your Website
Websites are critical to college search and choice: 54% of
respondents said it was very or extremely important in
their decision about where to apply.
#DigitalAdmissions

15. Teens & Your Website
And 92% of our respondents said that the university
website was more important than the college’s social
media.
#DigitalAdmissions

16. Teens & FTF
When it comes to enrollment, the number one influence is
in-person or phone interactions with friends who attend
the college.
#DigitalAdmissions

17. Teens & Ads
Nearly 75% of our respondents have seen ads for colleges
online; a majority (56%) clicked on them. They’re also
aware of ads on social media: 46% of those who noticed
an ad said that they had no impact on their impression of
the institution.
#DigitalAdmissions

18. SOCIAL MEDIA
Influential, but …
College and university social
channels help prospective teens to
form an impression of an institution
— call it a digital gut check — but
aren’t much of a platform for
engagement or interaction.
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#DigitalAdmissions

19. Info sources that influence enrollment decisions
TEENS & SOCIAL MEDIA
Major
influence
Some
influence
No
influence
Conversations in person or on the phone with friends who attend the college 41% 36% 24%
College videos on YouTube 27% 45% 28%
Photos of the college on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
etc.
23% 52% 25%
Conversations with students who attend the college on social media such as
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
19% 42% 39%
Conversations with my friends about the college on social media such as
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
16% 46% 38%
Ad(s) for a college or university that I saw on social media 15% 45% 40%
Student blogs 13% 37% 49%
Twitter messages or feeds 5% 24% 72%

20. How teens interact on
college social channels
TEENS & SOCIAL MEDIA
I’ve done this in
the past 24 hours
I’ve done this in
the past week
I’ve done this
(but more than
a week ago)
I’ve never
done this
Watched a video 20% 26% 37% 16%
Clicked on an ad for a college you saw on social media 10% 18% 30% 42%
Read a blog post 8% 16% 33% 43%
Searched for a hashtag 6% 14% 28% 51%
Uploaded a photo related to a college or your college search to
Instagram or another app
3% 7% 22% 69%
Posted a question to a current student on a college social site 2% 6% 17% 74%
Posted a question for staff on a college social media site 1% 5% 14% 80%
Asked questions or chatted about the college on Reddit, Discord, or a
similar channel
3% 6% 11% 80%
Participated in a livestream from a college 2% 5% 12% 82%
Tweeted with a specific hashtag 1% 4% 7% 87%
Uploaded a video related to a college or your college search 1% 3% 6% 90%
Wrote a blog post 1% 2% 4% 94%

21. TEENS & SOCIAL MEDIA
Admission representatives needed content
that was easily digestible, discoverable, and
on-demand.
• Begins as a livestream event and turns into
an on-demand guide
• Opens dialogue and gives prospects the
chance to ask specific questions
Results:
• 968 live viewers, with an avg. watch time of
15 minutes.
• 7,800+ archive viewers
Purdue University:
Inside Admissions on YouTube

22. TEENS & SOCIAL MEDIA
Arizona State University created an
Instagram campaign to target enrolled
students this past summer, asking “get to
know you” questions.
Results:
• 47% engagement rate on Instagram
Story questions
• 518 likes, 84 profile visits, and 24 saves
on Welcome Week carousel post
Arizona State University:
Incoming Student Engagement

23. TEENS & SOCIAL MEDIA
George Mason University:
Connecting Students with Schools App
George Mason was looking for a way to connect prospective
students with each other.
• Started with Schools App in 2013, it’s a private social
community via mobile app
• Invited admitted students to join and connect with staff,
current students and each other
Results:
• Schools App members are four times more likely to enroll
• Almost 284,000 inter-student messages since 2015

24. TEENS & YOUR WEBSITE
A .edu website is valued
throughout their process
Teens rely on a college’s website
throughout search and choice, using
different parts of the site at different
stages during their admission
journey.
3
#DigitalAdmissions

25. Most important web content
TEENS & YOUR WEBSITE
1. Major/academic
programs: 95%
2. Cost of attendance: 93%
3. Financial aid: 90%
4. Applications/how to apply:
84%
5. Where located/how to
visit: 78%
6. Campus culture/student
life: 75%
7. How to ask questions or
contact someone: 74%
8. Info about professors: 66%
9. The students, so I can
figure out if the college is a
good fit: 52%

26. TEENS & YOUR WEBSITE
University of North Dakota:
Program Pages
Program page information should be highly
usable, informative, and persuasive.
Build a case for the “Why.”
• Why study this subject at UND?
• Who will I be learning from?
• What experiential opps will I have?
Since redesigned, UND web inquiries:
• Increased 386% for undergraduate programs
• Increased 138% for graduate programs

27. TEENS & YOUR WEBSITE
Financial aid content must be easily
accessible and transparent. Lipscomb’s
new site:
• Improved information architecture
• Simplified design
• Optimized content for search engines
Results:
• Traffic increased 117%
• Entrances increased 584%
• More than 90% of page entrances are
driven by search engines
Lipscomb University:
Financial Aid & Costs

28. TEENS & YOUR WEBSITE
UNCSA’s site design and strategy
allows the energy of the student work
created on campus to tell UNCSA’s
brand story.
The lead message – “We Promise This:
You’ll Do What You Love” – sets the
tone.
Results:
• One year after launch UNCSA saw a
518% increase in admission
inquiries.
University of North Carolina
School of the Arts:
Campus Culture

29. COMMUNICATING WITH TEENS
Text them, but email may
still be better
Teens are certainly open to being
texted by colleges but a surprising
majority prefer colleges to use email
when reaching out to them.
4
#DigitalAdmissions

30. Questions?

31. Resources
Resources
Webinar: Build Empathy Through
Experience Maps
E-Book: Redesigning the Student
Experience
Partner With mStoner
Learn more about TargetX
Dive Deeper Download Explore
Take the webinar survey

32. Thank You!
MICHAEL STONER
(312) 622-6930
michael.stoner@mstoner.com
SASHA PETERSON
(415) 823-1980
peterson@targetx.com