The Authenticity of Peer-to-Peer: Influencer Marketing in Higher Ed

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.919 As these social media platforms are developing today and students are building whole fan bases, 2 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:10.269 whole communities out there. That's a great opportunity to engage them and really 3 00:00:10.349 --> 00:00:16.190 utilize what they've built for your benefit. You are listening to the Higher Ed 4 00:00:16.309 --> 00:00:21.579 Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals in higher education. This show will 5 00:00:21.579 --> 00:00:26.059 tackle all sorts of questions related to student recruitment, don't have relations, marketing 6 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:30.500 trends, new technologies and so much more. If you are looking for conversations 7 00:00:30.620 --> 00:00:35.060 centered around where the industry is going, this podcast is for you. Let's 8 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:43.490 get into the show. Welcomes the high end marketer podcast, where, each 9 00:00:43.490 --> 00:00:48.490 week Mark Haylor and I interview Higher Ed marketers that we like and admire. 10 00:00:49.049 --> 00:00:54.759 Today is no exception. We are interviewing Lee will hight of Bio University about 11 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:00.759 their success in influencer marketing within Higher Ed. Yeah, Troy, this was 12 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:06.510 a great conversation and I think that the whole idea of influencer marketing, whether 13 00:01:06.549 --> 00:01:10.590 you're talking about social media, whether you're talking about leveraging some of your alumni, 14 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:15.030 whether you're talking about, you know, peer to peer type of communications, 15 00:01:15.150 --> 00:01:19.219 I think that it's a really important aspect of the Higher Ed marketers toolbox 16 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:23.900 that needs to be leveraged. Sometimes we forget about it. Sometimes we're so 17 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:27.340 focused on you know, view books and travel pieces and website and social media. 18 00:01:27.420 --> 00:01:30.379 All those are important, but then sometimes I think we miss some of 19 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:34.290 them, more specialty tools that can really make a big difference. Your campus 20 00:01:34.329 --> 00:01:38.930 visits and you know the way that the campus is and and this idea of 21 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:44.250 influencer marketing and lead as a great job in his role as as vice president 22 00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:48.519 enrollment and marketing and communications at Biola. He he really has put together a 23 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:52.519 plan and he comes out of a marketing background outside of higher ad which I 24 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.879 think sometimes, you know, people go back and forth. Is that? 25 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:57.640 Is that a benefit? Is it is it a challenge to learn everything about 26 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.950 hired from my background outside of High Ed? I kind of think it's an 27 00:02:00.950 --> 00:02:05.150 asset and when you can bring in a lot of you know, ideas from 28 00:02:05.230 --> 00:02:07.229 outside of High Ed, sometimes you can do things a little bit differently and 29 00:02:07.229 --> 00:02:10.789 I think that's being proved out at Biola. So really looking forward to sharing 30 00:02:10.830 --> 00:02:14.189 this conversation with everyone. I think lead as a great job of kind of 31 00:02:14.229 --> 00:02:21.300 articulating all that thank you, Bart. Here's Lee will hide. It is 32 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:24.580 our pleasure to welcome Lee will hide to the hired marketer podcast. Lee, 33 00:02:24.740 --> 00:02:29.659 thank you so much for green to have a wonderful conversation today. It's great 34 00:02:29.699 --> 00:02:34.090 to be with you today. Troy. Thank you. And just between me, 35 00:02:34.370 --> 00:02:38.129 you and Bart and a few hundred of our faithful listeners, if you 36 00:02:38.210 --> 00:02:43.330 could give us a little taste of who you are and your role at Biola? 37 00:02:44.050 --> 00:02:46.759 Yeah, thank you. I serve as vice president of enrollment marketing and 38 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:52.680 communications at Biola. I've been there almost seven years now. When I joined 39 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:59.270 university I was asked to head up our communications and marketing team and about three 40 00:02:59.270 --> 00:03:05.030 and a half years into that journey, are enrollment management vice president retired and 41 00:03:05.189 --> 00:03:09.629 our president decided to combine both the enrollment management and the communication marketing functions together, 42 00:03:10.270 --> 00:03:15.460 and so I'm now three plus years into that role of leading the team 43 00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:19.860 of enrollment marketing communications. Didn't come out of higher edge, Troy. I 44 00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:24.659 worked in a marketing agency for about fourteen years before I came into Higher Ed, 45 00:03:25.379 --> 00:03:29.810 so I had to do quite a bit of learning and listening and and 46 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:34.889 seeing where to make the impact. But that I wanted to make but it's 47 00:03:34.889 --> 00:03:38.129 been a great experience so far. I have a great team here and really 48 00:03:38.129 --> 00:03:43.560 benefit from your from your podcast, and look forward to our time today great. 49 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.159 Thankfully. It's an honor to have you here. I know we've met 50 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.759 a few times and and it's always good to have have someone on the on 51 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:54.870 the podcast that I'm familiar with, the school I remember. I want to 52 00:03:54.909 --> 00:04:00.069 talk a little bit about influencer marketing today and and kind of your journey as 53 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:03.189 biole university and of that. I remember just a couple you know, references 54 00:04:03.229 --> 00:04:08.150 to that. I had a CCCU conference there was a team from bio that 55 00:04:08.229 --> 00:04:12.419 talked about, you know, leveraging influencer marketing in Instagram and I thought that 56 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:15.860 was a very good presentation. And then I remember doing some work with knack 57 00:04:15.899 --> 00:04:23.259 cap back in the early teens, two thousand and thirteen probably, and they 58 00:04:23.339 --> 00:04:28.250 were working on their on their their their book that they put out every year 59 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:31.850 for for Christian and high schools and it just represents all the Christian colleges and 60 00:04:31.850 --> 00:04:36.730 universities and I remember one of the one of the elements within that book and 61 00:04:36.769 --> 00:04:41.120 I was working on the website for for Chant Thompson of the time and and 62 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:45.040 it had a picture of Zach King and had a testimonial of him from from 63 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:48.160 his experience at Biola. And I remember my teenage kids were walking through the 64 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.560 room when I was working on that project and I was like they were like 65 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:55.589 how do you know who that is, Dad, and it's like it's Zach 66 00:04:55.670 --> 00:04:57.389 King, it says here on there. Like well, how do you know 67 00:04:57.509 --> 00:04:59.550 him? Like well, I don't know him, he's a student. And 68 00:04:59.670 --> 00:05:01.829 no he's not. He's this guy on in and on the Internet who does 69 00:05:01.870 --> 00:05:05.750 these cool magic tricks. And so I got educated by my kids on WHO 70 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:11.500 ZA king was. But obviously he's a very successful Internet marketer. Everybody can 71 00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:13.540 look him up if they're not familiar with who he is. But he is 72 00:05:13.579 --> 00:05:17.180 a Viola Grad and I was really impressed when I saw Biola lean into that 73 00:05:17.980 --> 00:05:21.329 and have him do a video for enrollment marketing and things like that. And 74 00:05:21.730 --> 00:05:25.889 and certainly was a fun video with Dr Corey. And so tell me a 75 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:28.490 little bit about this. I mean not only you know, have I seen 76 00:05:28.689 --> 00:05:31.649 you guys leaking into the influencer marketing? You know, for some reason, 77 00:05:31.810 --> 00:05:33.810 by all it seems to be in the right places at the right time. 78 00:05:33.850 --> 00:05:36.800 I saw, you know, a viral video of Justin Bieber and, you 79 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:43.040 know, serenading Dr Corey at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and so it seems 80 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:46.680 like there's a lot of that around Biola and and not all of that is 81 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:48.480 prescribed. But just tell me a little bit about how you guys have kind 82 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:53.430 of leaned into some of that. Yeah, Zach King has been a fan 83 00:05:53.670 --> 00:05:57.550 favorite for us here at bioll. He's a great alum. He he's done 84 00:05:57.589 --> 00:06:00.029 some wonderful videos and from ootional things for us and God's really blessed the work 85 00:06:00.069 --> 00:06:03.779 that he's done. It's exciting to see the you know, the impact he's 86 00:06:03.860 --> 00:06:10.259 making today and he's been a great, great voice, a great endorser of 87 00:06:10.339 --> 00:06:15.339 bill over the years. And Yeah, you mentioned Dr Corey and in Justin 88 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:17.300 Bieber. Maybe it's our proximity Bart we're located, course, here in southern 89 00:06:17.339 --> 00:06:21.050 California. We're not far from from Hollywood and you know, I can tell 90 00:06:21.050 --> 00:06:26.170 you that that moment wasn't scripted, that that was something just kind of you 91 00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:30.290 know, happened in the moment. But but it was a great, great 92 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:32.399 moment indeed. So yeah, we you know, we have learned over the 93 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:36.600 years and and this probably isn't new for a lot of your listeners, but 94 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:43.800 these upcoming generations and how they look at corporate brands, university brand, some 95 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.639 of these institutional kind of messaging and thing that's out there. You know, 96 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.350 these are things that, you know, traditionally we've been we've been trying to 97 00:06:49.430 --> 00:06:55.990 promote those messages, we've been trying to to really carry the overall kind of 98 00:06:56.110 --> 00:07:00.670 institutional message across. And more and more students, especially in these young, 99 00:07:00.829 --> 00:07:03.660 younger generations, are looking for more peer input. There looking for maybe it's 100 00:07:03.660 --> 00:07:06.660 our maybe it's our shopping habits. You know, we go to Amazon and 101 00:07:06.699 --> 00:07:11.500 we're looking those customer reviews. We're trying to see more of a first person 102 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:14.819 kind of assessment of how people experience a product or service or those kinds of 103 00:07:14.860 --> 00:07:18.250 things. And and we just saw an opportunity years ago of the power of 104 00:07:18.370 --> 00:07:23.769 a student to student communication stream. And so when you look at someone like 105 00:07:23.889 --> 00:07:26.970 Zach, whoever went, you know can relate to and then you look at 106 00:07:27.610 --> 00:07:30.920 some of our student udents enrolled at Biola today, you know it's it's that 107 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:35.959 that peer to peer, you know, reflection, firsthand account of their experience 108 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:42.879 at Biola the trust level is higher. Somehow it feels to like cut through 109 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:45.829 some of the corporate speak, or university speak, if you will, and 110 00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:48.110 it really does, you know, connect people more to peer level and I 111 00:07:48.149 --> 00:07:53.509 think it's a more of a trusted more of a trusted relationship, if you 112 00:07:53.589 --> 00:07:56.189 will. So we have, yeah, we've been about that for a number 113 00:07:56.189 --> 00:07:58.819 of years. In two thousand and seventeen, we started at what we call 114 00:07:58.860 --> 00:08:03.980 our student influence or program here, where we literally went out and scoured some 115 00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:07.420 of the social media platforms and following of some of our enrolled students here at 116 00:08:07.459 --> 00:08:11.819 Biolas many of them have, you know, thousands and thousands of followers. 117 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:13.970 For different reasons. They've kind of built their own communities, if you will, 118 00:08:15.529 --> 00:08:18.129 and we thought, hey, wouldn't this be a great opportunity to leverage 119 00:08:18.209 --> 00:08:22.129 and utilize some of these students that have a passion for Biola, but also 120 00:08:22.209 --> 00:08:26.089 have a passion for some of the varied things that they're about as well. 121 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:30.480 So some number of years ago we came up with this idea and so we 122 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.600 we put some criteria to the table. We wanted to have some, you 123 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.919 know, students that had at least a few thousand followers that they had, 124 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:39.519 you know, kind of grown up. That was important was we wanted to 125 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:43.470 make sure they had a positive reputation, if you will, that aligned closely 126 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:46.830 with our value system. Of course we want that missional alignment as much as 127 00:08:46.870 --> 00:08:52.470 possible. That's that's important, especially if they're advocating on your behalf as a 128 00:08:52.629 --> 00:08:56.580 student. We were. We were looking for students that were advocating for diversity 129 00:08:56.620 --> 00:09:00.419 and inclusion and wanting to make sure that they had a broad reach in terms 130 00:09:00.460 --> 00:09:03.740 of their their influence. And then, of course, they were involved, 131 00:09:03.899 --> 00:09:05.379 you know, in the Bible of culture and all that we were bringing and 132 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:11.090 so we looked at some of those criteria points. We found some student influencers 133 00:09:11.129 --> 00:09:13.570 that fit that bill. We reached out to him and talk to them about 134 00:09:13.570 --> 00:09:18.129 this idea and they loved it. They loved it, these students, you 135 00:09:18.250 --> 00:09:22.049 know, they were given the opportunity to step into kind of a relationship with 136 00:09:22.210 --> 00:09:26.759 bioll of that way, to help us with some of our promotion and advertising, 137 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:30.279 if you will, marketing and so forth, and but we allowed him 138 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:33.759 to do it within the context of what they had built within their own followers, 139 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:35.200 and I think that was that was the key, you know, to 140 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:37.870 come in and say, well, we've got all of these points as a 141 00:09:37.870 --> 00:09:41.470 university we want you to make. You know, we gave them some guidelines, 142 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:45.429 some some kind of a framework there, but we really gave them the 143 00:09:45.470 --> 00:09:50.710 latitude to kind of express their firsthand, you know, account of their bile 144 00:09:50.750 --> 00:09:54.100 experience, based on based on you know, how they typically built their followership 145 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:58.419 for their for their you know, respective platform. So it's been a great 146 00:09:58.460 --> 00:10:01.940 it's been a great under undertaking for us. Well, I love that because 147 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:03.539 it kind of touches on a number of things that I'm seeing kind of the 148 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:07.570 the trends in Higher Ed Marketing. You know, the idea of authenticity, 149 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:09.850 I mean whether you want to call that a trend or not, you kind 150 00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:13.370 of referenced it earlier in the conversation. Was the idea that we've been so 151 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:18.529 used to being corporate speak and maybe kind of the official line. I mean 152 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:20.519 even to the degree of, you know, when we do a video, 153 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:24.080 we need to make sure it's polished and broadcast quality and all those types of 154 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:28.480 things. Well, you know the community, you know, community actions and 155 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:31.440 marketings really change over the last several years and I think the pandemic kind of 156 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:35.870 accentuated and actually you know, increased the authenticity where. You know, sometimes 157 00:10:35.909 --> 00:10:41.309 now, I think generation z especially, become suspect if things are too polished, 158 00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:45.470 if they're too perfect and if it's too right. And so I think 159 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:48.269 that, you know, allowing your student ambassadors, in your student influencers to 160 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:52.379 have some leeway, to have the ability to be authentic, to be personal, 161 00:10:52.860 --> 00:10:56.700 to be able to connect with those other students in a way. I 162 00:10:56.820 --> 00:10:58.740 mean, just look at the explosion of Tick Tock. I mean the idea 163 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:05.649 of of that platform is really all about authenticity, real you know, it's 164 00:11:05.690 --> 00:11:09.210 it's a lot of it is. Is just kind of on the spur of 165 00:11:09.330 --> 00:11:11.169 the moment type of thing, and so I think that that really really hits 166 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:15.769 well with that and so try. I know you had a couple questions about 167 00:11:15.769 --> 00:11:20.120 about some other things that by all was using with that. Yes, I 168 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:24.399 was curious about their use of the platform that enables the student or peer to 169 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:31.360 peer connection in communication. If you could kind of first let us know how 170 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:35.509 you were introduced to the platform, how you utilize it and the thought process 171 00:11:35.669 --> 00:11:39.269 that went into using Zemi? Yeah, thank you, Troy. Yeah, 172 00:11:39.269 --> 00:11:45.470 zeenis A it's a social APP that we discovered a couple of years ago we 173 00:11:45.549 --> 00:11:50.860 launched this for our student community. It specifically oriented towards perspective students that are 174 00:11:50.899 --> 00:11:54.659 on this college search journey and they're really trying to understand what a college is 175 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:58.259 all about. You know, you can read the website, you can read 176 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:01.809 the printed material, you can get kind of, you know, data points 177 00:12:01.850 --> 00:12:03.769 from different family members and friends and people like that in the line of attended 178 00:12:03.850 --> 00:12:07.690 the school, but there's nothing that's that. You know, the replaces that 179 00:12:07.730 --> 00:12:11.850 idea of stepping in and stepping in a conversation into community with others that are 180 00:12:11.289 --> 00:12:16.639 that are living that experience. And so so we identify this platform, Zee 181 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:20.000 me, launched it two years ago, really as a place for us to 182 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:26.759 to engage prospective students in and relevant topics. We're going to campus life and 183 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:31.389 student wellness and student resourcing, and students were introducing themselves and say hey, 184 00:12:31.429 --> 00:12:35.070 mom, I'm from the bay areas anyone else applying to Biola from the area 185 00:12:35.149 --> 00:12:39.669 where you from? All of a sudden connections are being formed. You know, 186 00:12:39.710 --> 00:12:43.710 there's community being built and and then, you know, we interject in 187 00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:46.460 that and we do some promotion of some some events or some things coming up, 188 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:50.460 like that or some topical kinds of things will introduce and in address or 189 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:54.100 respond to some of the chatter that's out there. It's been a great platform 190 00:12:54.220 --> 00:13:00.970 for us is to engage these prospective students in hopes that as they discern that 191 00:13:01.090 --> 00:13:03.210 college search journey, they're going to have a better understanding what Biola is all 192 00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:07.850 about and and then as they come to visit campus and so forth, they're 193 00:13:07.850 --> 00:13:13.120 going to have a better better picture of what an enrolled student life you would 194 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.639 be a Biola. So so it's been a great it's been a great undertaking 195 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:18.279 for us. We're just a couple of years in, but we've got thousands 196 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:22.159 of students that are in this in this space, and you know, it's 197 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.399 you go into these things thinking, well, we'll use it this way, 198 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:28.990 but you know, unbeknownst to us, you know, we're learning even more 199 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:31.990 students or finding roommates through this platform. They're figuring out like, you know, 200 00:13:33.070 --> 00:13:35.269 which hall, which dorm, should I try to get into? You 201 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:37.470 know, all those other kinds of things. What's what's that campus food really 202 00:13:37.470 --> 00:13:39.830 like a Biola? You know some of those things. So you know, 203 00:13:39.990 --> 00:13:43.659 it's truth and advertising. It's the lived experience. You know, through the 204 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:48.779 student life comes through those, those kind of platforms. But it's been a 205 00:13:48.899 --> 00:13:52.620 it's been a great, great APP for us. That's great and it reminds 206 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:54.340 me of, I think in the early two S I was working with a 207 00:13:54.379 --> 00:13:58.330 couple of schools and that was when facebook was just coming out. I mean 208 00:13:58.370 --> 00:14:00.929 it was it was kind of the all the rage for what would be the 209 00:14:00.970 --> 00:14:03.889 tick tock crowd. Today, now that grandma and and mom and dad are 210 00:14:03.889 --> 00:14:07.409 on facebook, it's not as popular for the younger Gen z but you know, 211 00:14:07.730 --> 00:14:11.440 early on I remember working with some schools and when we had this idea 212 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:15.720 of hey, let's set up just a class of two thousand and twelve, 213 00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:18.639 you know, facebook group. You know, let's see if anybody would be 214 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:22.799 interested as a freshman, as an incoming student. Same thing it was happening 215 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:24.990 there. It's like, you know, boy, they build these relationships, 216 00:14:24.029 --> 00:14:28.309 they're starting to, you know, build roommates and get get these things going 217 00:14:28.470 --> 00:14:33.669 and and you know, obviously social media platforms like facebook and then everything kind 218 00:14:33.669 --> 00:14:37.070 of shifts and see it's harder to kind of keep your finger on that pulse, 219 00:14:37.429 --> 00:14:41.259 whereas using an APP like Zemi, I think, is kind of that's 220 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:43.620 the purpose the students understand that. That's why they go to that APP and 221 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:48.100 it's a way that they can then better engage with with the school. So 222 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:52.740 I think that's really great. We we had another peer to peer APP person 223 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:56.009 on a couple weeks ago, Diego from you know, Buddy, and you 224 00:14:56.090 --> 00:14:58.450 know it's the same thing. If some we wants to learn more about those 225 00:14:58.490 --> 00:15:01.049 APPs, you know we can listen to that episode. Might see if we 226 00:15:01.090 --> 00:15:05.169 can get somebody from Zemi on sometime as well. But I think that's a 227 00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:07.919 really good way because, again, it goes back to what we talked about 228 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.679 earlier, the authenticity, the realness. I'm not having to talk to the 229 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:13.919 official channels of the school. I'm actually able to talk to other people, 230 00:15:13.960 --> 00:15:18.360 other students, and kind of get their experiences. So I think that's a 231 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:22.029 it's a really great way to go. Tell me, has it really kind 232 00:15:22.070 --> 00:15:28.070 of how has the pandemic impacted all this social influencers and even like the Zemi? 233 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:31.230 Have you seen an increased or decrease based on the pandemic? Yeah, 234 00:15:31.230 --> 00:15:35.590 it's a great it's a great question. Bar Tonight here in Los Angeles County, 235 00:15:35.629 --> 00:15:37.100 which is where we're based out of, we had even some of the 236 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:41.580 more stricter even, you know, guidelines for us here. You know there's 237 00:15:41.620 --> 00:15:46.659 there's eight hundred thousand college kids and La County Alm are just county in the 238 00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:50.009 state of our United States, and so you know, we had some really 239 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:54.049 challenging times. We weren't an open campus last year. We were fully remote, 240 00:15:54.090 --> 00:15:58.409 and when you look at that remote status, that's where that's where platforms 241 00:15:58.450 --> 00:16:03.639 like Zeeni become so important, because we're fostering community student student peer to peer. 242 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:08.440 We're injecting we're giving some helpful insights and tips and Instruction and things like 243 00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:11.639 that along the way, but I mean it's creating this place that students can 244 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:15.840 can continue to hang out, they can ask honest questions, they can get 245 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:19.629 some real firsthand accounts and experiences from people. So really critical we had, 246 00:16:21.110 --> 00:16:22.669 you know, like many maybe your listeners, you know, you had to 247 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:29.309 reimagine so much this last year in terms of how to how to recruit students 248 00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:32.470 and admit students and all of that, but even the student lived experience on 249 00:16:32.590 --> 00:16:36.379 campus was so different, you know. And so here we are trying to 250 00:16:36.779 --> 00:16:41.299 utilize platforms like this. We're thankful that that we introduced it when we did 251 00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:44.259 and we had a good year and a half under our belt before the pandemic 252 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:48.169 hit, because it really helped us kind of whether that whether that challenging season 253 00:16:48.690 --> 00:16:52.690 that we're not out of yet. So that's exactly right. It's exactly right. 254 00:16:52.730 --> 00:16:55.809 So well, another community that I think is important. I mean we 255 00:16:55.889 --> 00:16:59.529 talk about peer to Peeris being so important and influencers. Well, number one 256 00:16:59.570 --> 00:17:03.240 influencer by far and all the research that you read his mom and so we 257 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:07.000 talked about parents. Tell me a little bit about what bile is doing as 258 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:08.799 far as parent con flows, because I mean, you don't necessarily have a 259 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:12.119 Zemi, but you've got to still also do hey, what do other parents 260 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:15.829 think? How our other parents, you know, engaging? So tell me 261 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:18.910 about that. Yeah, thanks for asking that part. You know, one 262 00:17:18.910 --> 00:17:21.789 of the things we know from this the from the younger generations. So they're 263 00:17:21.829 --> 00:17:23.710 not they're not actually looking for email. You know, we can send a 264 00:17:23.710 --> 00:17:26.670 lot of communication out that way in behalf and the university and they're not getting 265 00:17:26.670 --> 00:17:30.380 it. I've got all three of our kids a bile of this year and 266 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:32.579 you know, I have a chance to kind of Heye, you get that 267 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:33.740 email from the school? No, no, I didn't look at well, 268 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:36.740 it's there, you'll pull it up. Kind of a thing. And so, 269 00:17:36.859 --> 00:17:40.140 you know, guilty as charge. Even even my own kids don't look 270 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:41.539 at the email, you know, like they should. And so you know, 271 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:45.329 it drives the more text platforms and drives the social platforms. Were talking 272 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:49.609 about other ways to get the communication out. But to your point part we're 273 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:55.809 just seeing more and more the importance of engaging mom and dad in the communication 274 00:17:56.890 --> 00:18:00.200 of with these students, so so in it. In the case for you, 275 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:03.720 here in Biola, we've got a separate parent communication track that that runs 276 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:07.680 right along parallel to the lot of the student student communication that we're getting out 277 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:11.839 to to our perspective, students, and is interesting. I was just it 278 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:15.109 was just a couple of weeks ago we gathered with a missions counselors here in 279 00:18:15.190 --> 00:18:18.390 southern California and other Christian universities that are here and we have a number here 280 00:18:18.470 --> 00:18:22.630 in the South Southern California area. We're just checking in, as we do 281 00:18:22.829 --> 00:18:26.150 periodically with them. How are you doing? How are your schools doing? 282 00:18:26.230 --> 00:18:30.099 What are your numbers looking like? What are fall applications looking like? What 283 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:33.460 are you hearing from from your high schools that you're, you know, working 284 00:18:33.579 --> 00:18:36.460 with and there were some really good insights that came out of this and in 285 00:18:36.539 --> 00:18:38.940 a lot of it ties to the pandemic that we were just talking about. 286 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:44.009 You know, these high school seniors this year have been through a couple of 287 00:18:44.170 --> 00:18:48.009 really challenging years at high school. They've been in a remote learning environment many 288 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:52.089 of them they have not had the kind of facetime with high school guidance counselors 289 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:56.920 that they needed. We're discovering that a lot of these high school seniors this 290 00:18:56.119 --> 00:19:03.119 fall are not adequately prepared. They're not they're overwhelmed. It this idea that 291 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:04.799 now I've got to apply for schools. I'm not quite sure how to really 292 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:11.670 do this. They haven't really been maybe guided through that that high school you 293 00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:15.789 know consideration journey, if you will. You know, on at their high 294 00:19:15.789 --> 00:19:18.950 schools. It's all been it's been remote for so much. So you'll look 295 00:19:18.950 --> 00:19:23.740 at that. You look at things like universities implementing a test optional, you 296 00:19:23.819 --> 00:19:27.579 know, approach here across really across us the country. That's that's confusing for 297 00:19:27.660 --> 00:19:30.140 some of these students. It's like what should I should I get the test 298 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:33.859 anyway? Is going to increase my chances? Is it not? You know 299 00:19:33.019 --> 00:19:37.380 how how really you know how much? Are they really factory that in or 300 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:40.130 not? Those are questions. And then, of course, when you just 301 00:19:40.250 --> 00:19:42.289 think of the uncertainty that all of our families have really been through the last 302 00:19:42.289 --> 00:19:47.089 year to have with job loss and with health concerns and and you know just 303 00:19:47.250 --> 00:19:52.009 the continual changes there, it just feels like a very uncertain time for a 304 00:19:52.089 --> 00:19:55.880 lot of high school seniors right now. So the point I'm driving towards is 305 00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:00.000 that even more important, even more important that you're engaging mom, you're engaging 306 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:07.390 dad in this college application process. We're we're finding ourselves doing many more educational 307 00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:11.190 kind of conversations around, you know, filling out the Fastva or what is 308 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:15.750 college looked like, especially for Firstgen families. It don't have a history of 309 00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:18.190 this. So so there's a lot of education we're doing. We have a 310 00:20:18.309 --> 00:20:22.259 we have a high school class. It's that's the right now. I don't 311 00:20:22.259 --> 00:20:27.299 think is maybe has the kind of readiness or even equipping or feeling a sense 312 00:20:27.339 --> 00:20:33.700 of ability to kind of enter into that college application journey. There's we're seeing 313 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:37.329 a lot of lags. A lot of schools here in socal at least. 314 00:20:37.329 --> 00:20:41.329 are seeing a lot of lags and applications as fall. This pandemic is still, 315 00:20:41.730 --> 00:20:44.890 you know, the tail of this thing continues on, and so all 316 00:20:44.930 --> 00:20:48.130 the more important that we engage, you know, parents in this journey. 317 00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:53.440 That's great. That's really, really good, Troy Lee. As we close 318 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:59.000 the episode, would like to know if there is an additional idea or thought 319 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:03.119 that you could share that would either be implemented immediately by a peer or something 320 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:07.829 that you've come across that you feel worthy to share. Yeah, it's a 321 00:21:07.869 --> 00:21:11.470 great question. You know, I was I was thinking back to three words 322 00:21:11.470 --> 00:21:15.910 of advice I got years ago from a from a mentor of mine, and 323 00:21:15.549 --> 00:21:21.220 it was this build on success, build on success, and this idea that 324 00:21:21.420 --> 00:21:25.859 start, start with something. Start Small, start with maybe one student influencer 325 00:21:26.059 --> 00:21:30.460 that that you can identify within your student body. Talk with them about the 326 00:21:30.579 --> 00:21:34.569 idea of influencing, you know, their communities with that. Get them started 327 00:21:34.690 --> 00:21:38.049 on that. Build upon that. You know, we started with just, 328 00:21:38.609 --> 00:21:42.569 you know, three and a year and we've grown it to to five and 329 00:21:42.730 --> 00:21:48.359 seven a semester now, where we've got students that are taking that that kind 330 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:51.400 of role with us, and so I would just say start small, build 331 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:55.519 on success. That will drive momentum, that will win a fan base. 332 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:57.640 That will earn you more budget, that will earn you, you know, 333 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:03.430 greater you know, appreciation and trust for what you're implementing there and and so 334 00:22:04.269 --> 00:22:07.869 I would I would encourage a listeners today. If you're not doing it, 335 00:22:07.390 --> 00:22:11.549 think about the importance of peer to peer communication in a more significant way. 336 00:22:11.630 --> 00:22:17.220 And as these social media platforms are developing today and students are building whole fan 337 00:22:17.380 --> 00:22:22.779 bases, whole communities out there, that's a great opportunity to engage them and 338 00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:30.170 really utilize what they built for your benefit. Shut Bill on success wonderfully and 339 00:22:30.289 --> 00:22:37.809 thank you so much for bringing your wisdom, your authenticity and also your energy, 340 00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:42.210 which I can feel and I can't wait for the listeners to experience this 341 00:22:42.410 --> 00:22:45.960 episode. If someone would like to reach out to you and contact you for 342 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:48.640 any reason, what would be the best way for them to do so? 343 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.599 Yeah, they can always reach eat by email. Let's Lee got will hike. 344 00:22:52.799 --> 00:23:00.869 That's L E got W I l Hie at Biola, the IOLA DOT 345 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:06.990 Edu. Lee Dot will hide at Biola Dot Edu. We appreciate you, 346 00:23:07.190 --> 00:23:11.150 lie thank you. Thank you, troy. Appreciate you and Bart as well, 347 00:23:11.269 --> 00:23:12.500 and it's been great being with you today. Thanks for the good work 348 00:23:12.579 --> 00:23:18.420 you're doing. Our pleasure. Bart, any final words from you today? 349 00:23:18.579 --> 00:23:21.859 Yeah, I just wanted to kind of really appreciate Lee's final word there with 350 00:23:21.940 --> 00:23:23.940 build on success. I think he really pointed out some really good things. 351 00:23:25.019 --> 00:23:29.250 And again, so many times we talk about these big concepts. I'm you 352 00:23:29.329 --> 00:23:33.250 know, somebody probably did a search or you clicked on the title of this 353 00:23:33.369 --> 00:23:37.089 episode. Had something to do with social influencers and and you needed to learn 354 00:23:37.089 --> 00:23:40.609 more about it, and I think that lea did a great job of kind 355 00:23:40.609 --> 00:23:42.960 of laying that out and how biola is doing that. And you might be 356 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:45.759 a smaller school than Biola, you might be a bigger school than Biolah, 357 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:48.160 but you might be figured trying to figure out how can I do this? 358 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.640 And I really like to Lee's last comment. They're built on success. Try 359 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:55.950 only just one maybe, you know, just try to figure out how to 360 00:23:55.990 --> 00:23:57.150 do that. You know, take a look at you know, if you 361 00:23:57.230 --> 00:24:00.549 can't afford Zemi or you can't afford uniboddy or something like that, figure out 362 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:03.190 how you can at least create a student ambassador team. You've already got some 363 00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:07.789 students that might be giving tours. Maybe the part of that is that there 364 00:24:07.789 --> 00:24:11.180 offer their text their cell phone to students to be able to text them with 365 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:15.900 any questions. figure out what would fit for you with these concepts and I 366 00:24:15.019 --> 00:24:18.220 think that might be a good way to start and as least at it. 367 00:24:18.259 --> 00:24:19.779 When you build on success and you you know, maybe you gain a few 368 00:24:19.779 --> 00:24:23.369 more students next year because of that, or or fifteen or twenty. Well, 369 00:24:23.369 --> 00:24:26.130 your budge is going to change a little bit. Maybe you can do 370 00:24:26.170 --> 00:24:27.410 other things as well. So I think those are just a few thoughts that 371 00:24:27.490 --> 00:24:33.210 I have, Troy. Thank you, Bart everyone. That winds up another 372 00:24:33.410 --> 00:24:38.640 episode. The hired market of podcast is sponsored by Taylor solutions and education marketing 373 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:45.519 and branding agency and by thing patented, a Marketing Execution Company specializing in printing, 374 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:51.079 mailing and other digital marketing assets. On behalf of my cohost, barred 375 00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:56.509 Taylor, I'm Troye singer. Thank you for joining us. You've been listening 376 00:24:56.549 --> 00:25:00.309 to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure that you never miss an episode, 377 00:25:00.349 --> 00:25:04.109 subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. If you're listening with apple 378 00:25:04.150 --> 00:25:07.220 podcasts. We'd love for you to leave a quick rating of the show. 379 00:25:07.259 --> 00:25:12.339 Simply tap the number of stars you think the podcast deserves. Until next time, 380 -->