Grabbing the attention of university students is a challenging task. Campus events, organizations, study groups, professors, and classmates are vying for attention on top of everything happening outside college life. This issue is evident at Florida International University (FIU) and many other institutions serving a young student population. With so many distractions and social media content, student attention is now more fragmented than ever. Therefore, universities need to communicate events, news, and campus life updates that students need to know. So how are Universities setting themselves up to hold at least a few seconds of attention?
Current Digital Communications Scenario
How are we reaching out to students?
- Emails (owned by different parties)
- Social Media Channels (highly fragmented and also owned by different parties)
- Websites
Students don’t look at emails unless it’s critical communication from their professor. They usually get those through Canva, and study groups prefer WhatsApp, so there is minimal incentive to go to their university email accounts.
Social Media
Universities have flagship accounts that deliver top-level information, while school/college accounts cover departmental and program needs. The third tier is student organizations and support services, which provide more niche information. The limits that social media algorithms impose and communications expectations make it impossible for one account to deliver all. Due to its sheer size and population, FIU has a heavily fragmented social media presence, with more than 200 social media profiles associated with the university. If students want to find information, they will have to follow multiple accounts to keep up to date and then hope that the algorithm serves them that information.
Websites
University sites, unlike social media, are an active experience where the user goes when specific information or a task is needed to be done. Websites are usually the last step of a process. Email and social provoke initial interest/tease and rely on landing pages to provide the complete information. Once a student gets to a website, it is crucial to provide a mobile-friendly experience so websites don’t become a hindrance.
The Research Needed
Even though most of the study should be quantitative to gather data at scale, some qualitative research is needed to figure out unaided responses and preferences. The study will shed light on these questions.
The Execution
A combination of qualitative and quantitative research is needed to understand the behaviors and preferences of students. Some starter ideas are:
- This study should be fully digital except for Focus groups or interviews. Doing this study in person will be difficult because students often get approached by canvassers on campus and have developed a disdain for their presence.
- Initial questions can be shared via Instagram Stories polls to gather high-level findings to formulate hypotheses.
- Focus groups on multiple campus locations, including via Zoom (for Online students) can help us gather qualitative data to understand specific pain points and reveal opportunities.
- Incentivized Surveys – Promotional material with a QR code will lead respondents to quick qualifying questions followed by a digital quantitative survey that offers an incentive once completed.
- Post-Study: Once results are assembled, a follow-up focus group can be formed from respondents. The purpose is to help gauge their response to updated communications, headlines, and social designs reflecting the survey’s findings.
Conclusion
This study needs to be conducted every other year as social platforms quickly evolve, and student populations come and go. New data will allow for ongoing optimizations of university communications and keep us on par with student expectations and information consumption preferences.
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