ClubRed - UNL's Admitted Student Social Network

I have shied away from posting about the successes (or failures) in which I am directly involved with at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The last thing I want for this blog is to turn it into a platform for championing any of the projects I work with; it would take deteriorate authenticity.

However, a couple of weeks ago, I did a quick post on recruiting through social networks. Near the end of that post, I briefly mentioned a social network we recently created for admitted high school seniors. The response around this topic has been huge. Between comments and emails, I quickly realized there was a large desire to learn more.

So, in the interest in responding to requests and sharing I decided it best to write this quick post about ClubRed, the admitted student social network at UNL.

In the Beginning...
Sometime last spring (April or May), the decision was made to move forward with a Social Network for our admitted students. Based on research that our prospective students were checking their email less frequently and responding more to social networks (mostly MySpace and Facebook), the decision was simple. A vendor was selected (time and developer resources were limited, otherwise Ning or a solution similar would have been more seriously examined) and the work began last summer.

The idea was to create a tool where admitted future freshmen could meet other prospective students, share experiences, join discussions, communicate with current students, and receive a personalized checklist of their next steps to become a Husker (data points based on the student's funnel process).

The major separation between ClubRed and a regular social network is the tie-in to our CRM software. It was important for us to utilize the current communication, tracking and reporting tool that fit into our student relationship model. The vendor acted accordingly and has setup real-time data flows between the social network and our CRM.

The Product
At the end of January, we utilized our communication tool to invite all admitted high school seniors to join ClubRed. The invite email went out in the morning, and much to our surprise over 200 students had registered before school was out. In 48 hours, over 450 students had registered. As of today, we have over 1,270 admitted high school seniors who have joined the network. On average, 200 unique students are logging in each day.

Current student ambassadors moderate discussion forums and do quick reviews for obscene photos and defamatory comments. Though the review is done regularly, this hasn't been a problem. On all occasions, the prospective students lead the discussions, our student ambassadors only step in to answer questions or provide helpful insights. Admissions counselors also use ClubRed to communicate with prospective students through "shout outs" (similar to wall posts), forum comments and blog posts.

In addition to the recruitment angle, ClubRed has also been a focus of local media (UNL Press Release, The Lincoln Journal Star, The Omaha World Herald, The Daily Nebraskan)

The Evaluation
Based entirely on numbers and buzz, ClubRed has been a huge success. Obviously, yield numbers and overall analysis can't be done until fall, but I have confidence this tool will contribute to an increase in size of our freshman class.

As future roommates are being discovered, intramural sport teams are created and even concert road trips are planned, ClubRed has become an integral part of our recruitment process.