Attracting students has always been a part of the college admissions process, and now with social media, the stakes are even higher. Gigg simplifies and streamlines that process by collecting and showcasing specific, sharable user-generated content, targeting prospective students. Read below to see how Utah-based university, Weber State, capitalizes on our software to more efficiently streamline their process, and attract more students.
Attracting Students with Gigg
In a digital world, user-generated content reigns supreme and it’s especially true with the Gen-Z generation. Members of Gen-Z, people born between 1996-early 2010s, have been raised with a smartphone in hand. Their loyalty to social media shows, relying especially on user-generated content to help determine which college to attend. What the college experience looks like overall is a major contributing factor when deciding where to pursue their further education. “The data is out there. People want to hear from other people and not from a brand or institution,” said Stevie Emerson, Marketing and Communications Coordinator for Weber State University. “Just take a look at what is going on in advertising these days. Chances are pretty high that you are going to see a handful of commercials that include user-generated content. Students are doing the same, especially when it comes to a huge decision, like picking what school to attend.”
Using Gigg has allowed Weber State to highlight content created by actual students, allowing prospective students a glimpse into their lives “Visitors [to the website] can see content posted by other students instead of our strategic content,” said Stevie Emerson, Marketing and Communications Coordinator for the university. “It gives our platforms and websites a boost of authenticity and creates a place for additional interaction.”
Saving Time
The sheer volume of user-generated content created by students can be overwhelming and time consuming to organize. Gigg’s software has expedited that process for Weber State University. “Instead of having to spend a bunch of time gathering students to interview, Gigg makes it so easy to collect and display user-generated content,” Stevie said. “It also allows us to take that user-generated content from a bunch of photos to an effective marketing tool to extend the reach further than we have ever been able to before.”
For a small team, using Gigg’s software allows them to work effectively and efficiently. “We are a small team, so working ‘smarter not harder’ is a huge deal for us. Gigg makes it so easy to collect and showcase specific content and makes it shareable in a way that keeps visitors engaged in our website instead of taking them to other platforms where they could quickly get distracted and less likely to return to our website. This aspect is a whole other level to easily expanding our reach beyond anything else we have been able to do before.”
Welcome New Students
Conscious of the value of re-sharing content, Weber State University makes a point monthly to create a collage welcoming new students. “We primarily use our Gigg board to showcase, celebrate and welcome our newly admitted students,” said Stevie. “This winter, our campus is getting a new Welcome Center, which will be the new home for our campus tours. We are incorporating and incentivizing visitors to take and share photos of their time on campus. We are really excited to take Gigg’s capabilities even further in this new space and to take full advantage of the competition components.” The collage below, supplied by Weber State University, is a fun, unique way to build excitement among new admits, and re-purpose user-generated content.
