Colleges & Universities

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A Case Study in Social Customer Service

November 2011 Prepared by

VisualAllianceMedia.com 813.943.6053

empowerment, support

student success is about holistically enriching the

students with the resources connecting

needed to ensure success

student experience through

and

policies, events & activities,

finds ways to

with so many divisions, departments,

it’s critical that your institution

engage & communicate with your students…

in ways they have come to expect

customer service

facebook as a social

platform

digital helpdesk

100 minutes per day on the social network*…

since college students visit facebook 6 times per day

on average and spend roughly

*According to OnlinePhD, http://onlinephd.org/facebook-university/, 10/14/11

makes sense …it just

today’s college students want instant gratification

in our always-

world

“Findings show college students feel helpless without technology – checking their

devices at least every 10 minutes and foregoing face

time for Facebook.”*

*According to a study from CourseSmart, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/01/idUS141122+01-Jun-2011+PRN20110601, 6/1/11

connected

responses to most student inquiries are general, and can be found on your institution’s website

non-confidential but…

students don’t want to search for information

one student’s recommendation for the social customer service platform at the University of

South Florida (see case study):

engaging students on facebook not only fosters community,

it contributes to their

academic “Active Facebook users are more likely to stay in

college.”*

*According to OnlinePhD, http://onlinephd.org/facebook-university/, 10/14/11

success

"Students will make a judgment about the university if it is not current and responsive online.”

~Nora Barnes, Director of the Center for Marketing Research.*

*http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/20/tech/social-media/universities-social-media/index.html , 10/20/2011

prospective students will take note of your institution’s facebook

presence & responsiveness,

in addition to what other students are saying

positive interaction and promotes

embracing social customer service removes barriers,

student success

fosters

Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

USF InformaBull Facebook Page

The Student Success Council at the University of South Florida, working through the Division of Student Affairs, was interested in creating a “Student Concierge” to enable students to find University–related information in one centralized location

Case Study:

Program Goals

eliminate the shuffling of students among departments leverage existing customer service resources

educate students about available University resources foster open and constructive interaction & engagement

analyze metrics regularly and adjust approach as appropriate

“As the Student Success Council sought to improve USF students’ experience on campus, we realized a real-time

service to provide students with fast and accurate answers to their USF questions would be very helpful. Facebook was a natural fit to making this work – it is accessible to virtually everyone, has the features we

needed, and there is no learning curve because students already use the site extensively.”*

~Assistant Vice President and Dean for Students, University of South Florida, Kevin Banks

*“Digitizing the Help Desk” by Jenna Withrow, http://news.usf.edu/article/templates/?a=3753&z=123Have, 9/23/11

Initial Outcomes

all stated goals met

over 1,700 students connected with the page in the first thirty days

in the first thirty days, the page garnered over 2,300 monthly active users and over 32,000 post views

Visual Alliance Media is a leading interactive marketing agency

social media marketing specializing in

colleges & universities | restaurants | hotels

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Please call for a free, no obligation evaluation of your strategy and how social customer service could be added as a component of your

approach to student success. !