WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY AT PARKERSBURG MARKET RESEARCH SURVEY

Transcription

1 WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY AT PARKERSBURG MARKET RESEARCH SURVEY Prepared for Katie Wootton Director of Marketing & Communications West Virginia University at Parkersburg October 12, 2015 Darron Cummins Lauren T. Krupica Tim Kuehne Lisa Sekula 1

2 Executive Summary In 1961, the Parkersburg Branch of West Virginia University was opened in an abandoned school building with an enrollment of 104 students. The school grew and expanded, both in enrollment and infrastructure and, in 1971, became Parkersburg Community College under state law. In 1989, the legislature changed the school s status to that of a regional campus of West Virginia University and renamed it West Virginia University at Parkersburg ( WVUP ). In 2008, the West Virginia Legislature set out to revitalize West Virginia s community and technical colleges and named WVUP an independently accredited State Institution of Higher Education. WVUP was one of a number of institutions founded to fulfill the Legislature s purpose of creating a network of community and technical colleges that focus on technical education, work force training, and lifelong learning for the Twenty-first Century. (W. Va. Code 18B-3C- 8(a)(2). By 2010, WVUP continued a streak of record-enrollment and was ranked as the fourth largest institution of higher education in the State of West Virginia, enrolling more than West Virginia University s divisional campuses combined. WVUP s two-location campus serves over 3,000 students in Parkersburg and Ripley and provides a wide range of educational opportunities from a robust offering of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) courses to education and criminal justice to fine arts. Though WVUP is by all accounts a highly successful educational institution, it continues to look for ways to succeed in achieving the goals of its Strategic Plan. In its effort to become the regional college of choice, WVUP must reach the broadest range of its potential student population in the most effective manner available. 2

3 In an effort to assist WVUP in achieving its admissions goals, our group administered a survey to local high school students. The results of the survey indicate that outreach to students matriculating directly from high schools should be heavily web-focused, with an emphasis on using social media sites, ensuring that WVUP is placed at the top of Google search results, and contacting students via . 3

4 The Client In an effort to assist WVUP in reaching the broadest group of potential students in the most effective manner, our group approached Katie Wootton, Director of Marketing & Communications at WVUP and offered our assistance. Ms. Wootton can be contacted at or by at 4

5 Methods Our group developed a Qualtrics survey, attached as Appendix 1, designed to identify the types of media most commonly and most frequently consumed by high school students in the Mid- Ohio Valley in hopes of finding the most effective way of communicating with potential students. The survey targeted high school students, as these traditional-aged students currently make up 60% of matriculants at WVUP. The survey focused on six major areas: electronic communications, web activity, social media engagement, radio and newspaper usage, television viewing, and written media. Participants were offered a chance to enter into a drawing for a $20 gift card for completing the survey. A group representative contacted principals of local high schools to preview the survey and ask whether we could solicit participation from students. The principals agreed, and during the month of September, a group representative visited high schools during lunch and requested survey completion via ipads provided by WVUP. The survey was also shared via link to Qualtrics on Facebook. In addition, a mass was sent to high school teachers in the Mid-Ohio Valley requesting promotion of the survey. 5

6 Results The results indicate that the market for potential matriculants directly out of high school are a sophisticated, technologically connected group. The respondents access the internet primarily with their mobile devices, and most frequently spend time on the social media sites Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The respondents report spending most of their time on the web researching colleges, most commonly using Google s search engine. The most effective way to communicate with these potential students will be to create an advertising campaign that combines an active social media presence with a reliable, informative website that tracks web analytics and results in targeted web display advertising. 6

7 Demographics We determined that of the 240 completed responses received, 54% were females, 44% were males, and 2% preferred not to answer. 53% of respondents were juniors in high school, and 50% of respondents were from Parkersburg South High School. 1 Male % 2 Female % 3 Prefer not to answer 5 2% Total % 1 Freshman 16 7% 2 Sophomore 29 12% 3 Junior % 4 Senior 69 29% Total % 1 Parkersburg High School 50 21% 2 Parkersburg South High % School 3 Williamstown High School 3 1% 4 St. Mary s High School 32 13% 5 Wirt Co. High School 21 9% 6 Other (please specify) 13 5% Total % 7

8 Television Consumption The next series of questions focused on television viewing habits. Seventy-eight percent of respondents report watching television. Forty-one percent of respondents report watching only between one and five hours a week, while the next largest group of respondents, 28%, report watching only five to ten hours a week. A whopping 81% of respondents report subscribing to a television streaming service, with Netflix being by far the most popular with 96% of respondents subscribing. While streaming subscriptions are extremely popular, 84% of respondents still subscribe to cable. The cable channels that are the most popular among the respondents are ESPN, ABC Family, FX, Comedy Central, TruTV, and MTV. The least popular cable channels are TV Land, Showtime, and E! Do you regularly watch television (including streaming services i.e. Netflix)? 1 Yes % 2 No 54 23% Total % How many hours per week do you watch television? 1 Less then % % % % 5 over % Total % Do you use a television streaming service? 1 Yes % 2 No 35 19% Total % 8

9 Which services do you use? (Check all that apply) 1 Netflix % 2 Hulu 23 15% 3 Amazon 11 7% 4 Other (Please list) 13 9% Do you have cable? 1 Yes % 2 No 29 16% Total % How often do you watch these channels? 9

10 E- mail Use use is a typical form of communication. Seventy-two percent of respondents report that they have an account that they check regularly, 45% of respondents check their at least daily, but only 17% check their more than one time a day. Do you have an account you check regularly? 1 Yes % 2 No 65 28% Total % How often do you check your ? 1 Multiple times a day 28 17% 2 Daily 73 45% 3 Weekly 48 30% 4 Monthly 13 8% Total % 10

11 Web Activity Google is the most commonly used search engine, with 94% of respondents reporting that it is their most often-used search engine. When seeking information about a particular organization, 57% of respondents would look to the organization s website. An organization s social media page would be of interest to 23% percent of respondents for organizational information. The respondents are active online for a variety of reasons. Respondents reported spending the least amount of their online activity completing homework and the most amount of time researching colleges. Respondents most frequently access the internet using their mobile devices and, second most frequently, their tablets. What search engine do you most often use? 1 Google % 2 Bing 2 1% 3 Yahoo! 7 3% 4 Other (please specify) 4 2% Total % 11

12 If you want more information about an organization, which of the following would you be most likely to do? 1 Visit their social media page (Facebook, 52 23% Twitter, etc) 2 Visit their website % 3 Visit review websites such as 6 3% Yelp 4 Call and request information 8 4% 5 them with questions or requests for 7 3% information 6 Ask around 25 11% Total % In terms of time spent online, please rank the following activities from 1 (least often) to 8 (most often) # Answer Total Responses 1 Doing homework Checking e- mail Chatting with friends Reading websites for fun 5 Watching videos on Youtube 6 Playing games Using social media 8 Researching colleges Total

13 Statistic Doing homework Checking Chatting with friends Reading websites for fun Watching videos on Youtube Playing games Using social media Researching colleges Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses How often do you use the following items to access the internet: 13

14 Social Media Use Social Media usage is common among the respondents, with four particular social media sites being most commonly used. In descending order of popularity: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are the sites respondents report accessing daily. # Question Never Less than Once a Month Once a Month 2-3 Times a Month Once a Week 2-3 Times a Week Daily Total Responses 1 Twitter Facebook Instagram Snapchat Google Tumblr Pinterest Mean 14

15 Newspaper and Radio Consumption Respondents report highly infrequent reading of The News and Sentinel, with 35% of respondents reporting that they never read either publication, and 21% reading it less than once a month. Listening to the radio is not an activity in which respondents frequently participate; though, when respondents do listen to the radio, station for thirty minutes to one hour a week is most common. How often do you read The News and Sentinel: 15

16 Do you listen to any of the following radio stations weekly? If so, how much? Suggestions for Contacting Potential Students Respondents were provided an opportunity to suggest the best way for a college to contact them. The most commonly requested manner of contact was , followed by social media. 16

17 Discussion A. Social Media, E- mail, & Web Activity The survey results revealed that the market for potential students is highly connected via mobile devices to four particular social media sites: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. It is key for WVUP to follow the lead of these students and ensure it has operative, active accounts on each of the four of these platforms. Potential students rely heavily on an organization s web site for reliable information about an organization s products and services. WVUP should continue to keep its website updated with the latest information and consider auditing its current website for optimum navigability. WVUP also may want to consider a web analytics package that will measure traffic, clicks, page views, and perhaps consider the use of cookies for targeted display web advertising. Information that students want and need to know to entice them to attend WVUP should be front and center. Of critical importance is that the website must be mobile-device compatible as this is the technology most often employed for web activity. This is also crucial given that the majority of students responded that most of their time spent online is for the purpose of researching colleges. A welldesigned, mobile device-compatible website is likely to draw students to frequently view and explore the WVUP website, which is an important factor when competing with other colleges for a potential student s limited time. Another important part of reaching students via the web is to ensure WVUP has a strong presence when searched via internet search engine. Google is by far the most popular search engine used by respondents. Therefore, it should ensure that its website is defined so that Google s 17

18 webcrawlers can sufficiently read and index the site so that it will pop up at the top of search results for any number of search terms. The same goes for all of WVUP s social media pages. While a sophisticated and useful website and active social media accounts are critical to ensure that potential students can easily learn about and contact WVUP, is the most effective way to contact potential students. WVUP should focus its efforts on collecting potential students addresses. Some ways in which this might be accomplished is providing an option on the website for students to input their addresses if they would like more information; collecting addresses directly from interested students during recruitment visits; and contacting schools and asking for lists of student addresses, though whether this information may be released as Directory Information pursuant to the Family Educational Privacy Rights Act will be based on the unique policies of each school. Ultimately, it is essential that the communication plan include the use of . B. Television While television-streaming services are extremely popular among potential students, a sizeable portion still subscribes to cable, and there are clear frontrunners for the most popular channels. Some of WVUP s advertising budget should be directed towards producing commercials to air on ESPN, ABC Family, FX, Comedy Central, TruTV, and MTV. C. Radio and Newspaper The least amount of advertising efforts and dollars should go towards newspaper advertisements or radio spots for attracting the average, directly out of high school student. Potential students in the high school age range are far more likely to get their information from 18

19 web resources. With that said, if radio spots are desired, station is most likely to reach the respondents to this survey. It should be noted that potential students in the adult learner category may be more likely to read the local paper or spend more time listening to the radio if they commute to work. With this in mind, if WVUP s budget allows, it may be prudent to direct some targeted advertising efforts towards newspaper readers and radio listeners who fit into the potential adult learner category. Recommendations Summary WVUP should focus on creating active Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. WVUP should ensure that its website is properly indexed on Google for optimum placement in search results. WVUP should invest in a web analytics package and employ cookies for targeted web advertising. WVUP should collect potential students addresses when possible and use those as a means to provide information about WVUP. Television spots should be placed on the channels that students watch most: ESPN, ABC Family, FX, Comedy Central, TruTV, and MTV. Targeted advertising of adult learner-specific programs may be effective on the radio or in the newspaper; less emphasis should be placed on employing this type of media to attract students who will be matriculating directly from high school. 19