Social Marketing

Strategy for
Widening
Participation in
Tertiary
Education in
Low SES
Communities:
Integrated
Marketing
Communication
Plan
Author

Professor Gayle Kerr

30 September 2016

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The project
The project – ‘Social Marketing Strategy for low SES Communities – Research and Strategy Phase’ – was funded
by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, made under the Higher Education
Participation and Partnerships Program as a commissioned project of the National Priorities Pool. The work was
overseen by the project team – Mary Kelly, Sandra Bridgland, Kate Flynn, Gabrielle O’Brien and Laura Boers – at
the Queensland University of Technology.

The project resulted in four sub-reports which informed the overall project report and were developed by the
following teams:

The Position Paper:

 Dr Cathy Cupitt, NCSEHE, Curtin University
 Dr Diane Costello, NCSEHE, Curtin University
 Professor Lynne Eagle, James Cook University
 Associate Professor Maria Raciti, University of the Sunshine Coast
To cite the Position Paper:
Cupitt, C., Costello, D., Raciti, M. and Eagle, L. (2016). Social Marketing Strategy for Low SES Communities: Position
Paper. National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, Perth.

The Survey of Expert Proxies:

 Associate Professor Maria Raciti, University of Sunshine Coast
 Professor Lynne Eagle, James Cook University
 Mrs Rachel Hay
To cite the Survey of Expert Proxies:
Raciti, M., Eagle, L., and Hay, R., (2016). Social Marketing Strategy for Widening Tertiary Education Participation in
Low SES Communities: Survey of Expert Proxies. Sippy Downs, University of the Sunshine Coast.

The Social Marketing Field Research:

 Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett, Queensland University of Technology
 Professor Judy Drennan, Queensland University of Technology
 Associate Professor Maria Raciti, University of Sunshine Coast
With the assistance of:
 Natalie Bowring (Research Assistant) Queensland University of Technology
 Kara Burns (Research Assistant) Queensland University of Technology
 Mackenzie Geeves (Visual Designer) Queensland University of Technology
 Natalie Sketcher (Visual Designer) Queensland University of Technology
To cite this report: Russell-Bennett, R., Drennan, J. & Raciti, M. (2016). Social Marketing Strategy for Widening
Tertiary Education Participation in Low SES Communities: Field Research. Brisbane: Queensland University of
Technology.

The Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC Plan)

 Professor Gayle Kerr, Queensland University of Technology
To cite this report: Kerr, G., (2016). Social Marketing Strategy for Widening Tertiary Education Participation in
Low SES Communities: Integrated Marketing Communications Plan. Brisbane: Queensland University of
Technology.

© 2016

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Contents
Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................................1
Acronyms ..................................................................................................................................................................2
Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................................3
Background and Purpose..........................................................................................................................................5
Integrated Marketing Communication Plan .........................................................................................................5
IMC Plan objectives ..........................................................................................................................................5
IMC Strategy .....................................................................................................................................................6
Digital and people-rich tools per persona ........................................................................................................7
Participant ideas for communication mix...................................................................................................... 10
Paid, Owned and Earned Media .................................................................................................................... 11
Implementation plan ..................................................................................................................................... 12
IMC Tactics..................................................................................................................................................... 16

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List of Figures
Figure 1 - IMC Plan Objectives ..................................................................................................................................5
Figure 2 - Example Portals: Same URL but Different and Personalised Content................................................... 13
Figure 3 - IMC Tactics for the Digital Portal. .......................................................................................................... 16

List of Tables
Table 1 - Key Messages, Tools, Mode and Activities for School Student and School Leaver Personas ...................8
Table 2 - Key Messages, Tools, Mode and Activities for Parent and School Staff Personas ....................................9
Table 3 - Communication Mix................................................................................................................................ 10
Table 4 - Paid Owned and Earned Media Table .................................................................................................... 11
Table 5 - IMC Monitoring – Communication Mix .................................................................................................. 18
Table 6 - Measurement of IMC components......................................................................................................... 19

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Glossary
Cohorts: Groups that are under-represented in higher education are the focus of widening participation in this
project, including those from low socio-economic (low SES) status backgrounds, people with a disability,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds.
Indigenous: Please be aware that in this publication the terms ‘Indigenous’, ‘Indigenous Australians’ and
‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ and its abbreviation ATSI are used interchangeably. No disrespect
is intended.
Personas: A persona is a research-based profile which represents variations within a target group with distinct
motivations and behaviours.
Service design: Service design is an interdisciplinary process to solve a problem, a new way of thinking and a set
of evolving tools and techniques that can be applied to industries such as retail, banking, transportation,
healthcare and education. Service design is user-centred, co-creative, sequenced, evidenced and holistic with an
ability to provide solutions and experiences. Importantly, service design can be harnessed for social impact.
Social marketing: “A behaviour change approach that seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with
other approaches to influence behaviours that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good.
Social Marketing practice is guided by ethical principles. It seeks to integrate research, best practice, theory,
target markets and partnership insight, to inform the delivery of competition-sensitive and segmented social
change programmes that are effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable.” (Consensus definition by the
International Social Marketing Association, the European Social Marketing Association and the Australian
Association of Social Marketers.)
Stakeholders: In the context of this strategy, the term ‘stakeholders’ refers to the two key groups who will be
needed to provide content, tertiary institutions and employers.
Target markets: A sub-group of the market who have similar needs and wants for the product/service but can
be differentiated from other target markets. The marketing mix strategy is different for each target market to
reflect their different needs. For this project the market segmentation is done across cohorts and consists of four
target markets:
1. High school students (Years 7 to 12).
2. Recent school leavers (who left school in the last five years with or without completing Senior studies
and have not yet enrolled in tertiary education).
3. School staff (those who advise students and their parents about post-school options).
4. Parents and community members (who support young people in their post-school options).
Tertiary education: Where tertiary education is mentioned in this report it is referring to high-level VET (AQF 6
and above; Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas) and undergraduate (Bachelor degree) programs.
Widening Participation: Widening participation in higher education is an Australian Government strategic
priority aimed at increasing the proportion of people from traditionally underrepresented groups (particularly
low SES and Indigenous) who undertake higher education. Funding is provided through the Higher Education
Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) for programs which raise the awareness, aspirations and
educational attainment of prospective students; assist with access to higher education; and support retention
and success.

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Acronyms

AQF: Australian Qualifications Framework

ATSI: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

CALD: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse

HEPPP Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program

JCU: James Cook University

LSES: Low socio-economic status

NCSEHE: The National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (Curtin University)

NPP: National Priorities Pool

QUT: Queensland University of Technology

SEO: Search Engine Optimisation

TAC: Tertiary Admission Centre

TAFE: Technical and Further Education

USC: University of the Sunshine Coast

VET: Vocational Education and Training

WP: Widening Participation

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Executive Summary
Although a lot of effective WP resources have been developed, not all target markets are equally well-served,
not all resources have been effectively evaluated and not all target markets are aware of where to go to find
these resources.

This IMC Plan seeks to address this problem by formalising four objectives:

1. To empower many different target markets and stakeholders to find relevant and useful information and
support on the transition to tertiary education

2. To establish guidelines of best practice for the creation of content and events on the transition to tertiary
education

3. To grow and manage an online community and outreach events to support target markets and stakeholders
and grow advocates

4. To track target market and stakeholders behaviour and optimise content and events to ensure strong return
on investment

To deliver these objectives, the proposed IMC strategy is “same but different”. The idea would be to bring
together the different stakeholders and resources with one common, memorable portal, yet to personalise the
information and experience for each of the users. Same online portal, yet different information and experience
for each user. The strength of this plan is its focus on personalisation and targeting in order to direct
stakeholders to the portal and to deliver rich and relevant, personalised content to the very different target
markets. This would be supported by strong, face-to-face, people-rich interaction through outreach programs
and events, announced and amplified through the portal.

Rather than delivering a one-size-fits-all program, the intent of this plan is to purpose-build a common and
easy-to-find portal tailored to very different needs. Based on the interviews and service design workshops, it
aligns key messages and preferred digital platforms to each of the four high school personas, four recent leaver
personas, four parent personas and three high school teaching staff personas.

The ‘same but different’ portal should be implemented in a seven-phase process across a two-year period. The
plan should begin by establishing guidelines of best practice (phase 1), then use these guidelines to facilitate
the development of rich and relevant resources and programs to the different target markets (phase 2). It
should then build and manage an online community portal (phase 3). The content and experience delivered on
this portal would then be personalised for each of the personas described above (phase 4). Once built, users
could be directed to the portal using strong search strategy, combining both paid and organic search (phase 5).
Users would also be encouraged to access the portal through the recommendation of advocates and
influencers they trust. Loyal portal users would in turn advocate for the portal, growing its membership (phase
6). Finally, user behaviour should be tracked using the individual identifiers to see how different stakeholders
and their different personas use the portal across time (phase 7). Basic metrics would provide information by
personas, across time and different decision phases and devices in order to optimise the content and use of the
portal.

Supporting this implementation, four tactics should be will be to acquire, engage, retain/convert and advocate.
Portal members should be acquired through search, influencers and events and engaged with relevant content,
timely responses to user-generated content and announcements of relevant events. Portal users should be
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rewarded with information and advice and seeing the value of this, become loyal members. This, in turn,
should encourage them to share the site and the information with their peers, creating advocates for the
portal.

The aim of this IMC plan is not just to propose how to deliver the resources the different stakeholders need,
but to recommend continual optimisation of the portal to improve those resources, grow use and amplify
advocacy. Therefore, it is recommended that monitoring is on-going and instant, including usability reports
which track use, including time spent on site and the sites users came from and migrated to. This should then
inform retargeting strategy, content development for the portal and provide real value to users encouraging
them to return again and again. Same URL, same relevancy, same easy-to-find information managed and
optimised for each of the very different target markets.

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Background and Purpose
Integrated Marketing Communication Plan
The social marketing strategy should be optimised and measured. Notably, this IMC Plan
activated and optimised through the does not include the creative ideas or the media
implementation of an IMC Plan. The purpose of strategy as these are developed by an
this IMC Plan would be to provide the strategic advertising agency and are not typically part of a
direction for the communication, based on strategic IMC plan. Consistent with the principles
research and consumer insight. This should outlined in the social marketing strategy and
begin with the definition of the IMC problem, the based on the interviews and service design
development of objectives to solve the problem, workshops, digital should be the key platform for
the ‘big idea’, the development of key messages delivering a consistent experience across time
and how the plan will be implemented, and place, nationally within the budget.

IMC Plan objectives

This IMC plan should be founded on four objectives (See Figure 1):

1. To empower many different target markets and stakeholders to find relevant and useful
information and support on the transition to tertiary education.
2. To establish guidelines of best practice guidelines for the creation of content and events.
3. To grow and manage an online community and outreach events to support target markets and
stakeholders and grow advocacy.
4. To track target market and stakeholder behaviour online and optimise content and events for
strong ROI.
Figure 1 - IMC Plan Objectives

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IMC Strategy
Although a lot of effective WP resources have Thirdly, the needs of users change over time, so
been developed, not all target markets are the kind of information provided must change
equally well-served, not all resources have been too. It is not enough to get people to an online
effectively evaluated and not all target markets portal, their online behaviour needs to be
are aware of where to go to find these resources. tracked, the content personalised and they need
to be persuaded to become advocates to the
To bring together the low SES cohorts into target
next generation of portal users.
markets of students, young adults, parents and
teachers and provide them with relevant Therefore, the proposed IMC strategy is the
resources to foster wider participation in tertiary ‘same but different’. The idea would be to bring
education, there is a need to unite efforts and together the different stakeholders and
resources. This means building and maintaining resources with one common, memorable portal,
an online sharing community, which could be yet personalise the information and experience
personalised to provide the information or for each of the users. Same online portal, yet
inspiration these cohorts desire. This should be different information and experience for each of
supported by strong face-to-face, people-rich the target markets and their personas.
interaction through outreach programs to key
The strength of this IMC Plan would be its
stakeholders of tertiary institutions and industry
personalisation and targeting. Therefore, it
practitioners.
would not require a large television advertising
This is not just a matter of building an online campaign to promote a website, but rather the
portal and creating links to existing information activation of key influencers and strong search
as that would be problematic from three strategies would direct the target market to the
perspectives. Firstly, the existing online portal. This would be achieved in three ways:
resources (more than 80 by our count) are
1. The use of search strategies. The strong
largely untested in terms of effectiveness in
search component would direct those
resonating with the cohorts, so they may not be
searching for possible courses or career
helpful or may perhaps even be detrimental to information to the portal.
the project objectives. Secondly, each of the 2. The activation of influencers (school
stakeholder groups, and each of the personas staff and WP outreach staff) to direct
within them, require personalised resources. people to the portal.
Give the target markets access to 80 programs 3. The use of events to direct people to the
and they will look at none; but personalise the portal. When people attend events, they
content delivered to them, based on their role would be informed about the portal and
and their persona, and users are likely to engage encouraged to sign in.
with the content and be converted to become
long-term ‘members’ and perhaps even
‘advocates’.

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Digital and people-rich tools per persona
As a digital and people-rich IMC plan, the intent For each persona, the key message is outlined
is not to deliver a one-size-fits-all program, but along with the key content on the digital portal,
rather one common and easy-to-find portal an app version of the digital portal and people-
tailored to very different needs. This is illustrated rich activities. The information for this section
in Table 1 and Table 2, which identify the was informed by the Position Paper and the
different personas, their different needs and primary data collected in this project via
desires, and suggest platforms and ideas to interviews and workshops.
connect with them.

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Table 1 - Key Messages, Tools, Mode and Activities for School Student and School Leaver Personas

School
Key Message Mode Example Features/Activities
Personas
Pathways to a dream job: An entertaining, engaging information portal
Portal that provides pathways, options, showcases career, has quizzes and
Fast track your provides a fast-track.
dream job
App Career Quiz: A career quiz to confirm career choices.
People Career Excursions: See careers in action and ask questions.
Pathways to Success: An entertaining, engaging information portal that
Portal
Find a pathway provides pathways options and showcases careers.
to success App Career Extension: Careers that make money.
People Success Stories: Connect with successful professionals.
Pathways to an Expert: An entertaining, engaging information portal
Portal that provides pathways options, showcases careers, has quizzes and
Explore career provides a career plan
avenues App JobTinder (Jinder): Job and applicant matching app.
People My Point of View: Direct contact with mentors and experts.
Pathways to a Pathway: An entertaining, engaging information portal
Explore stepping Portal that provides options, and showcases careers
stones to your
App Future Finder: Help me find a career, and share with friends.
future
People Career Brainstorming: One-on-one career counselling.

Recent Leaver
Key Message Mode Example Features/Activities
Personas

Uni/TAFE portal: Information about Uni/TAFE, options and stepping

Getting back on Portal
stones for people who take the long way around.
track for your
dream job App Chat with a buddy: so I am not doing this alone.
People Expo Invasion: Bring experts to me on my turf in a random way.
Uni/TAFE portal: Information about Uni/TAFE, options and stepping
Portal
Find a pathway stones for people who take the long way around.
to success now App SimCareer: Game to learn and simulate careers, and earn money.
People Half-way There: Info on jobs and money, not career focused.
Explore career Portal Uni/TAFE portal: Information about Uni/TAFE options and pathways.
options now App Career Connect Profile: Build profile, connect with industry.
People New Chances: An interactive, engaging careers pros/cons.
Uni/TAFE portal: Information about Uni/TAFE, options and stepping
Portal
Getting started stones for people who take the long way around.
on your first App Run a Business: Grow confidence and give me control.
step
People Give it Go: Try different jobs and careers.

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Table 2 - Key Messages, Tools, Mode and Activities for Parent and School Staff Personas

Parent
Persona Key Message Mode Example Features/Activities
Understanding Uni: All encompassing, social media oriented,
Portal
Help me support information-rich website that can be used by all.
my child’s choice App Practical Career Blog: In-depth entertaining social information.
People Festival Vibe: Socially engaging festival style info sessions.
Uni Unmasked: Simple information about uni, job options with
Portal
Help me feel alerts/reminders. Advice/counselling for whole family.
confident App Organise me: Book appointments, remind me of events.
People Manage the Anxiety: Family nights with careers advisers
Virtual University / TAFE: Engaging, entertaining interactive
Help me develop Portal experience providing information, pathways, connections with other
my child as a parents and children.
person App Goal Setting: Structured goal setting, action plan, reminders.
People Immerse us: Short intensive workshop parent/child/industry.
Parent link: Career options, pathways, they want them and their child
Portal
to be properly informed.
Help me direct my App Career Calculator: ATAR, Career choice, affordability, location.
child
Connect parents with teachers/schools: Open Day for Early years
People
school students.

Staff
Persona Key Message Mode Example Features/Activities
One-Stop-Shop: Instant expert with all information on their phone for
Portal
Help me be the quick access. Know the student and culture best.
connector App Key Features: a more portable version of the website.
People Connector Fun Day: Connect me so I can connect students.
One-Stop-Shop: Instant expert with all information on their phone for
Portal
Help me connect quick access. Know the student and culture best.
with experts App The Mentor’s Mentor: Connects with local experts, mentors.
People Mentor Expo: Engaging with industry mentors, local experts.
One-Stop-Shop: Instant expert with all information on their phone for
Portal
Help me connect quick access. Know the student and culture best.
with resources App Online catalogue of tools and programs.
People Specialist workshop: update on latest programs, tools, tech.

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Participant ideas for communication mix
In the interviews and service design workshops, regularly checked social media pages, while
there was diversity in the level of use of others rarely used them. Table 3 indicates the
communication platforms preferred by communication media preferences of the four
participants. For instance, some students, target markets, their preferred influencers and
parents and teachers were keen digital users and message source.

Table 3 - Communication Mix

Target Audiences Communication Mix Source of the Message

High School Students  Social media: YouTube,  High school students

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter  University/TAFE students
 Face-to-face  Teachers
 Radio  Industry
 Television Practitioners/professionals
 Pop-up ads  Sports stars and celebrities
 Blogs
Recent School Leavers  Social media: YouTube,  University/TAFE students
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter  Past teachers
 Blogs  Industry
 Television Practitioners/professionals
 Radio  Sports stars and celebrities
 Newspaper
Parents/Carers/Community  Schools apps  School/teachers
 SMS  Parents and carers
 School newsletter  Community leaders
 Email  Tertiary education
 Social media: YouTube, institutions
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
 Blogs
School Staff  Staff newsletter  School Principals
 Email  Departments of Education
 Social media: YouTube, and Training
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
 Workshops

Industry Practitioners  Articles and advertising in  Government

industry newsletters  Tertiary education
 Industry Association events institutions
 Employers in local communities
 Appeals to Service Clubs: Lions,
Rotary
Tertiary Institutions  Conferences  Government
 Academic journals  Departments of Education
 Email and Training
 Industry newsletters

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Paid, Owned and Earned Media
The IMC Plan will bring together a mix of paid, launch and build awareness of the portal
owned and earned media (see Table 4) to amongst the target market. In tandem with this,
connect with the target markets and optimise search and content creation should be leveraged
the message and return on investment. Paid to increase awareness of the portal and drive
media is where the company pays to use the users to the URL.
platform, such as advertising or paid search.
Once the target market are users of the site, the
Owned media is where the company owns or
strategy seeks to retain and convert them into
controls the channel, such as the proposed
advocates, through good community
online portal and app. Earned media is what
management and the promotion of user-
might traditionally be called public relations or,
generated content through competitions. The
in social media, refers to the messages and
activity around the portal should be amplified
endorsements earned by the company from
through social media posts by influencers,
consumers, influencers or the media.
industry associations, industry professionals,
Translated into this plan, the key channel would schools and universities. In addition, the launch
be owned media, especially the development of event would generate media publicity and
the portal and its resources such as the app, ongoing events and competitions, and launch
videos and blogs. This should be the main tools such as apps, sustaining the media interest
investment and the catalyst for change. The use and keeping the portal in the public eye.
of paid media, such as key events, would also

Table 4 - Paid Owned and Earned Media Table

PAID OWNED EARNED

Search engine optimisation and paid Development and optimisation of User-generated content
search portal from target markets
Content creation Apps such as career quiz, job tinder, School newsletters and posts
career calculator
People-rich activities such as events, Videos such as success stories and Influencer blogs and social
excursions, activities, workshops specialist workshops media posts

Facebook advertising Blogs to showcase careers, profile Industry association posts

mentors, parent support, practical
career blog

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Implementation plan
The ‘same but different’ portal should be Phase 3: Build and manage an online
implemented using the following seven-phase
community
process across a two-year period. The plan In order for the portal to become an online
begins in Year 1 by establishing best practice for community where members share information,
resource development, before building the encouragement and grow membership, an
portal and personalising it to the needs of the acquisition and retention strategy is required. An
different target markets. Users should be online community is a highly useful way to
acquired using a search strategy and leveraging connect with personas that are disengaged from
the power of influencers. Throughout this education and may not be highly motivated. An
process, and ongoing throughout the life of the example of how an online community motivated
portal, the community requires empathetic and low SES communities to engage with a topic they
strategic management to accommodate and were not particularly interested in is the ‘Reduce
anticipate the needs of its users and to respond Your Juice’ digital social marketing program
by tracking visitation and optimising resources, (www.citysmart.reduceyourjuice.com.au).
in accordance with user behaviour.
Using existing resources that were shown to be
Phase 1: Establish guidelines of best useful via testing and developing new resources
practice that meet best practice guidelines, an online
Phase 1 provides a proposal to test some of the community should be developed and promoted,
major existing WP resources to determine their using one URL for all target markets, personas
relevance to the different stakeholders and and key stakeholders. The creation of an online
different personas. This testing should result in community would bring together all
chronicling best practice, therefore setting stakeholders in the WP process to form an online
guidelines that can be adopted in the community – not just a website. Therefore,
development of new material, and also shared to building the portal is just the start, and not the
ensure future outreach programs meet best outcome.
practice. The testing would also select programs
To manage the portal requires the appointment
for inclusion in the new portal.
of a full-time community manager. The role of
Phase 2: Use best practice guidelines to the community manager would be to:
develop additional resources and 1. Listen – by tracking target market and
stakeholder behaviour across all
programs platforms to create a single integrated
By identifying what works best with each of the view.
personas within the stakeholder groups, new 2. Learn – by processing all of your target
content can be created and curated more markets’ and stakeholders’ digital
effectively. The audit of existing resources and signals for a better understanding of
programs would also identify the need for their needs.
content, highlighting which personas are devoid 3. Speak – by managing, personalising and
of relevant information and helping to prioritise acting on conversations.
new content creation. To do this, the community manager would
identify influencers, seed content of new
initiatives or resources, encourage and monitor
user-generated content (which people consider

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to be more believable than marketing material), an online portal, it must be managed to maintain
and to grow advocacy so that the students or the its voice and relevancy within the community.
parents who first came to the portal for help are
now helping other students or parents to Phase 4: Personalising the content
support their transition into tertiary education. and the experience
Similarly, through the use of a unique identifier, Personalisation means that every persona will
the community manager can track the transition receive the content and experience they are
from high school student to university graduate, seeking. The portal would be personalised to the
encouraging those who received help from the user needs in two easy ways. Firstly, the portal
program to mentor new users some years later. would be personalised by search activity. For
example, if someone searches ‘Help for parents
Additionally, because this URL would service on tertiary education’, the portal should deliver
multiple stakeholders with different agendas, it a visually-attractive landing page for parents,
would be essential to have a community with a relevant yet different look and feel, and
manager monitoring this asset and any featuring different resources. Similarly, if
subsequent social media, reacting to detractors another person searches for ‘Help for adult-
and leveraging the conversation in a positive and entry to university’, the landing page this person
timely way. The messages, sentiments and receives should look very different and contain
influencers in social media can help inform highly relevant resources, even though the URL
content creation. It is also recommended that might be exactly the same. In other words, the
social media listening (SML), using platforms portal that a parent and an adult learner sees will
such as Radian6, should be used to track look very different, and the content will need to
messages and sentiment to ensure the correct be curated so it is relevant to their different
messages are being shared and to identify needs (see Figure 2 - Example Portals).
influencers. Therefore, it is not enough to create
Figure 2 - Example Portals: Same URL but Different and Personalised Content

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A second way in which the portal can be It is also proposed that events in the major
personalised is through the log-in. On first entry, capital cities would launch the portal to parents,
the user should take a quiz which identifies school staff, school students and recent school
whether they are a student, parent or school leavers.
staff and what needs they are hoping this
For parents who are not using search (possibly
website will address. Based on this information
the Possums and Penguins) due to disinterest,
and the unique identifier of the log-in, the portal
fear or lack of awareness, it is critical that the gap
could then be personalised to provide a visually-
is bridged between disinterested/disengaged
pleasing interface and deliver the required
and interested enough to be on a portal seeking
resources. Furthermore, this unique log-in can
answers. This should be achieved through
then be tracked to show the user behaviour
leveraging existing or new people-rich activities.
online across time, and the profile could be
It is important to note that any new people-rich
updated as the school student goes to university.
activities have not been costed in the budget as
Personalisation should provide better resources
there are too many variables and combinations
to the user, and also measure the functionality
for this to occur. Some examples of the people-
of the portal, identifying resources which are
rich activities that can serve as a stimulus to drive
well used and those neglected. This would then
traffic to the portal would be:
help in refining the content.
 key school events: traditional ‘careers
Phase 5: Acquire users through Search nights’ or more subtle, embedded
While some target markets would be directed to
opportunities e.g. having Student
the portal by their school (including WP outreach
Ambassadors from similar backgrounds (as
activities) or their peers, others will be unaware
the prospective students) available to
that the portal even exists. Therefore, it is
share their stories
important to use ‘Search’ to activate users to the
 non-school events: embedding messages
project portal. This should involve both organic
at sports events/community events and
search, through the identification of relevant
festivals and via booths at lifestyle and
keywords, and paid search, where ads for the
special interest expos
portal appear at the top of the user’s search
 adding personal and community networks
activity.
acquisition/tactics: sharing an idea or an
The first point of call these days is online and a endorsement via friends, family,
good search strategy should take people to the neighbours and colleagues (hyper-localised
site. Parents would largely be attracted to the content) would be an effective way to
site by a strong search strategy, so if they are change attitudes/behaviours; this
looking for information online, they will be ‘sharable’ content would help to bridge the
directed to the site. The site would also be interest/disinterest gap and address myths
promoted in the people-rich events, and schools through source credibility.
would be used as distribution channels to show
parents the site at personalised parent–teacher
sessions, or sessions provided by WP outreach.

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Phase 6: Identify advocates and portal is being used. Also monitoring the
influencers websites used immediately before and after
Given this is an online site, the cohort of would enhance the search strategy. Knowing
influencers would likely extend beyond the this, the portal should be optimised to leverage
immediate community of parents, teachers and the important aspects and to revisit areas from
peers and into the areas of interest, or aspiration, which users click away.
in their lives. Therefore, it would be important to (2) Track behaviour across time and at different
research the kinds of influencers these personas stages of the decision cycle. It is also possible to
would like to connect with. Our existing track which of the stakeholder groups are using
resources have identified a strong connection the site and when, profiling use across different
between young school leavers and gaming. stakeholders and personas, and across time.
Therefore, an influencer might be sought from
the games industry. Industry groups are likely to (3) Identify the role of influencers. It can also
be an important influencer group, as well as help to identify the power and the different
potential funders of the portal. By tracking user types of influencers at different times across the
behaviour in the portal, analytic evidence will transition to tertiary education. Data could also
attest to the recruitment value of the portal to identify the type of influencer based on
industry. Further, workshops could be registration profile information (e.g. employer,
conducted with industry associations to tertiary institution, school).
encourage collaboration on resources and (4) Test the online resources. Through analytic
events. breakdowns of the way in which resources are
used, it could be determined which resources
Phase 7: Optimise online behaviour
work best for which personas at which time in
By having a log-on to the portal, it is easy to track
the decision process. This allows for refinement
individual identifiers to see how the different
of the guidelines of best practice for the
stakeholders and their personas are using the
development of resources.
site and the resources. Through this monitoring
it would be possible to: (5) Track the role of mobile devices. By looking
at the type of device from which the content is
(1) Track stakeholder behaviour in the portal.
accessed and the kind of content delivered,
Using metrics such as resources accessed, time
recommendations can be made as to how
spent online and the time between visits should
mobile devices can be better optimised.
provide a clearer picture of the way in which the

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IMC Tactics
Across the 7-phase implementation, four key tactics should be used to acquire new users through search
strategy and lead generation, engage users, retain and convert users, and encourage advocacy. These
are explained in the following tactical overview as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 - IMC Tactics for the Digital Portal.

Acquire: Acquisition through search leavers who have not gone on to tertiary study,
up to three years out of high school, are regular
strategy gamers. Imagine if there was a release of a new
The portal should be optimised using both
game and the proposed portal came up beside
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and paid
their search results, suggesting gaming as a
search. SEO is organic or unpaid search, and its
future career through tertiary study.
purpose is to develop the right keywords that
the target market would use in trying to find out Engage: Engage with user-generated
information about tertiary study. When users
content
type in these search terms, our results should
Once users have found the portal, they need to
come out on top. This is an essential first step.
be engaged. One way to do this is to give them a
Building on this, paid search allows for secure voice through user-generated content (UGC).
placement at the top and right hand side of the Encourage them to post their experiences, like
search results. Here a similar strategy might be “what I learned from visiting a university”. Or to
followed, responding to a user’s search for help. let students find out what the job is really like
Alternatively, paid search could be used through a “Snapchat Takeover”, where an
creatively to catch our user’s attention when employee provides a visual commentary about
they least expect it. For example, data collected their job. UGC is more believable than marketing
for this project have shown that many school- information, therefore projects which amplify

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the student or young adult voice, or the purpose and value of the portal and its potential
employer perspective, or the parent narrative, to provide insight into their industry. Analytics
are very important. Of course, the UGC needs to could provide evidence of the volume of
be tracked in terms of viewing and sharing, to students looking for career opportunities. The
determine which kind of content has greatest workshop could then introduce collaborative
impact and to ensure nothing offensive or and profile-building solutions such as the
detractive is posted. It should also identify development of portal resources, in the form of
people who could be asked to advocate in the videos or games to encourage recruitment.
future.
Retain and Convert: Rewards to retain
Amplifying engagement through apps
and convert
Research identified the need for personal To retain users or convert visitors, there has to
connection. However, this is often outside the be some kind of reward. This could be
user’s immediate community. Using an app- informational, such as reviews of participation in
based solution, akin to Tinder, parents could be transition events or information about
matched with other parents who can help them accommodation options or emerging careers. It
by supporting their transition. A similar app could also be entertaining, such as a career
could match students with people already calculator or an app-based game. Another type
working in their dream job to act as an industry of reward is economic, such as scholarship
mentor. Other kinds of apps could operate as a information. These rewards would be different
Career Calculator that suggests jobs that for each of the target markets, and should be
students may not have even thought of, yet may built into every interaction stage.
be relevant to their interests and skills. Or a
translator app that converts university-speak Advocate: Use Shareability to grow
into the vernacular of parents. advocacy
Engage through events Sharing is an endorsement and an entry into the
networks of the users. This is a way to expand
Removing the barriers to parents could involve a
the reach of the portal to the attention of others
fun, no-pressure, parent-only tour of a university
in their social network, who may have similar
campus, which highlights any special support
interests. Shareability should be encouraged
services and could be instrumental in growing
through curating great content, and through
their support of tertiary education. Casual
competitions in which there is some kind of prize.
interaction with staff and students, similar to
Self-enhancement is also an important trigger
their own, could also arm them with strategies
for sharing, so access to materials which make
to support their children. For those too distant
the sharer look smart, innovative, funny or first
from a campus, a virtual reality tour of
with news about a favourite celebrity are also an
universities could be developed and customised
important tactic.
to their needs – a strategy already in use in a
number of universities. Some universities, such Optimisation to guarantee Return-On-
as QUT and Curtin University, already do this and
Griffith University has a video for parents on its
Investment
By tracking the portal analytics for all of these
website.
activities one can learn what works best, in order
Another stakeholder group worthy of to optimise the IMC activity and marketing dollar.
engagement is industry. Through workshops, These metrics should also provide evidence and
industry associations can be introduced to the incentive for stakeholders, such as industry

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groups or even universities, to invest in the Monitoring the IMC Plan
portal, potentially turning the portal into an
ongoing self-funded proposition. The monitoring of the communication mix
should occur within the broader social
In addition, at the end of the two-year IMC Plan, marketing program evaluation. Best practice
the IMC Objectives should be revisited and standards would be used for each of the
measured against the analytic evidence from recommended communication elements with
online behaviour to benchmark the success of most data derived from analytics associated
the IMC Plan. with the digital tools. Mixed-methods should
be used to determine the impact of
Finally, SML can be used to manage and monitor communication elements and key messages on
online conversations to understand the life cycle the target markets and stakeholder groups in
of information, the spread of news, the alignment with the overall evaluation process
influencers and the detractors, all in real time. (see
Using industry standard software, such as
Radian6, SML retrieves results from more than Table 5).
150 million sites and sources including
mainstream news, blogs, forums, comments,
video and photo sharing sites, Twitter and public
Facebook. SML not only helps identify key
messages and sentiment, but also helps manage
risk and avoid detractors.

Table 5 - IMC Monitoring – Communication Mix

Communication Mix Indicator Details Timing

Social media Shares Click-throughs During IMC
Likes Sentiment
Comments Conversation monitoring
Views
Public relations Media coverage Sentiment Start, during and
end campaign
Website Google analytics Visit duration During IMC
Website sessions Click throughs
Pages visited # reminders sent
App Downloads Frequency of use During IMC
Sessions
Communication messages Awareness Preference Launch
Recall Association End IMC

Newsletters Number of responses Types of newsletter sources During IMC

Word-of-mouth Referrals Sentiment During IMC
Events Attendance Referrals During IMC
Emails Opens Click throughs During IMC
Facebook advertising Facebook analytics Click throughs During IMC
Competition to generate user Number of entries Quality of entries Early IMC pre-
content launch
Google ad words Liaise with Google to identify appropriate search terms During IMC

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Measurement
The aim of the IMC Plan is not just to deliver the The results of this monitoring should shape the
resources that the target markets need, but to development of the portal, optimising the pages
continually optimise the portal and the material and resources that the target markets use and
it contains to grow use and advocacy. Therefore, replacing those which are not as popular. The
monitoring needs to be ongoing, including results should then inform the best practice
measurement before and shortly after the guidelines. Ongoing monitoring would then be
launch of the portal followed by six-monthly used to measure the success of the
reports on usability, engagement and people- program/campaign objectives and establishes
rich participation. the portal as a learning community that
continues to meet the needs of the different
target markets and stakeholders (see Table 6).
Table 6 - Measurement of IMC components
Component Measure Timing

Objective 1 To empower many different (1) Number of different personas that accessed Reporting every 6 months
stakeholders to find relevant and useful the portal across time
information and support on the transition to (2) Resources accessed across time
tertiary education

Objective 2 To establish guidelines of best Set of best practice guidelines developed for the 6 months from start of
practice for the creation of content and creation of content and events project
events on the transition to tertiary education

Objective 3 To grow and manage an online (1) Appointment of community manager End of project
community and outreach events to support (2) Number of advocates
stakeholders and grow advocates (3) Management of detractors
(4) Social media listening study

Objective 4 To track stakeholder behaviour Track online behaviour of: (1) different personas End of project
and optimise content and events to ensure of students, young school leavers, parents and
strong return on investment teachers; (2) industry, university and
government influencers

Measurement of Portal Usability

Search activity Monitor SEO and paid search results Before launch and then
every 6 months
Behaviour in the portal Time spent online, time per page, clicks on links, Ongoing with reports
websites visited before and after issued every 6 months

Information requests Frequently asked questions by site users Every 6 months

Device used to access portal Desktop versus mobile Every 6 months
Measurement of Online Engagement
Content created Number of UGC, entries into competitions Every 6 months
Use of resources Download of app/s, views of videos, clicks on Every 6 months
links

Role of influencers Number of influencers, activity and posts from Every 6 months
influencers, users citing influencers

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