Client Goal: Generate statewide awareness and engagement among various audiences to generate leads, contacts and enrollments for a variety of programs within Virginia’s Community Colleges.
Virginia’s Community Colleges represent a singular system of 23 community colleges across 40 campus locations. Within its system are credit and non-credit programs, with a slew of programs and offerings that serve niche audiences. Through multiple project engagements thanks to a statewide bench contract naming The Hodges Partnership as a preferred vendor, our team created standalone, yet often interconnected, content marketing strategies to make content work smarter and harder for Virginia’s Community Colleges. Additionally, working with our internal SMEs (subject matter experts) and external partners, we’ve launched robust social media advertising campaigns, built website platforms and interactive tools, produced a podcast, produced content for and managed nine social media channels, launched a variety of SEM, SEO and digital promotional tactics, and more.
Results:
- Thousands of pieces (and counting) of content produced
- 20,000+ FastForward contacts delivered to community college staff
- 15-17% utilization rate for the CollegeAnywhereVA course exploration tool
- 1,800% ROI from one localized social media marketing campaign, investing $2,500 in social media advertising and generating $45,000 in enrollment revenue
Why’d it work?
Our digital-first approach was rooted in audience research we conducted when we first engaged with Virginia’s Community Colleges. One of its largest audience segments (adults, who are likely working but dissatisfied in their current roles), were more likely to use digital channels and mobile devices. These individuals are explorers and they question the decisions and opportunities in front of them. We built an interconnected web of channels and information to allow prospective students to explore, collect information and reach out when they felt ready to engage.