FEATURE LIVE ON AIR >>
Make the broadcast
something that will appeal to a student audience,
something that encourages them to
interact with the event by asking them questions, or getting them to send in their own in real time.
As undergraduates increasingly look to research potential employers online, how can an employer persuade them to invest time early on in the recruitment process and engage in a meaningful conversation with them? And how do they do so without deploying an army of employees to take care of social media platforms and endless campus careers fairs and presentations? Jane Mongrain, Marketing Executive at JustOnCampus, offers a solution…
O
ne answer is a TV style broadcast, which takes the traditional webinar experience to a whole new level in the form of a live interactive TV style chat show format, creating maximum engagement with students online for minimum cost. We have produced two broadcasts recently – one for Citi Group, the other for Linklaters – and both delivered great results, giving students a personal insight into the employer’s culture and communicating the company’s brand personality. Both broadcasts gave students meaningful introductions to current employees, and could be viewed from anywhere in the world across any online device. And they only lasted 30 minutes. One online student viewer of our CitiLIVE! broadcast commented: “Thought it was a very good way of getting to know more about Citi. Very efficient but rather personal too.” The broadcast received a similarly enthusiastic reception from our client, with Michelle Iking, Citi’s Campus Strategy Manager, saying: “This innovative new interview-style campus event has clearly resonated with our global student audiences - over 1000 students logged on to view the live broadcast in October and that number has since grown to over 11,000 viewers to date. Internal colleagues across regions have also found the shared insights useful in understanding nuances of our business across the globe.” So what are the ingredients of a successful graduate
recruitment live broadcast? How do you create something that students will give up their time to engage with? And how do you make sure the broadcasts deliver a worthwhile ROI? The first rule is not to skimp on the technology. Slow connections lose viewers and reflect poorly on your brand. Conversely, when a live event broadcasts smoothly, students take notice. To quote another online viewer of our CitiLIVE! broadcast: “The idea of having an online platform that is accessible to students is absolutely brilliant and shows the caliber of Citi.” Rule number two is to use the right production team for your event and invest time in the pre-production process. Understanding the technologies that deliver these very technical broadcasts is, on its own, not enough. The production team also needs to understand the graduate recruitment environment. Your brand image is at stake, so both the message and the medium must strike the right note.
Rule three is to entertain as well as inform. Make the
broadcast something that will appeal to a student audience, something that encourages them to interact with the event by asking them questions, or getting them to send in their own in real time. For our Linklaters event the broadcast incorporated a competition to win a trip to Hong Kong. As you might expect, it received a lively response, with Linklaters’ Graduate Marketing Advisor Sharon Jacobs saying: “The response from students was fantastic, with many commenting on the innovative nature of the event. We were delighted to see the high levels of engagement with our competition.” Rule four is to incorporate social media platforms like
Twitter and Facebook to get viewers talking. We did precisely that for our CitiLIVE! event, prompting the bank’s Michelle Iking to observe: “The immediacy of positive Tweets we received as the show was being broadcast was very encouraging.” Rule five is to create an atmosphere. Having a live audience at the event can really help give a sense of occasion and liven the event up for those online. Using a media professional rather than an in-house colleague to host the event helps to keep the pace lively and gives the sense that an ‘unbiased’ voice is in charge and asking the questions. We’ve found that auditioning your employees for the role of guest speakers also makes a noticeable difference. And resist the temptation to extend the running time beyond 30 minutes because students will lose interest. Rule six is to manage the information gathered during and after the event. Track activity such as the times when most people log off or when viewers ask the most questions. This will help you identify which content the viewers are most and least interested in, and which media are most effective for presenting the information. The final rule is to quantify the event’s reach and success by tracking how many students viewed the event online, where they came from and how many views the archive video on your web site receives. All this information is a great resource to help you understand how well you’ve achieved your targets, and measure the event’s ROI.
www.justoncampus.co.uk
GRADUATE RECRUITER 11
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