4 content pro tips to enhance your family engagement strategy
The CampusESP team is always impressed with the creative ways we’ve seen our customers engage with families. One of the most popular questions our Account Management team gets asked is what type of content to share with families and how to involve content partners. We pulled some awesome content examples from institutions such as University of North Georgia, Alma College, and West Chester University to help inspire ideas for your own family communication strategy. Read on to see the creative approaches they’ve implemented – and decide which ones you want to try yourself!
PRO TIP: Incorporate student perspectives in your content
University of North Georgia’s student workers have been creating content as part of the school’s new “Student Perspectives” series. Posts cover topics such as:
What it’s like to be a residential and commuter student
Tips for finals week
Getting back into a new semester
Including student voices in content allows families to get a more personal look into the student experience and encourages them to think about ways they can help support their student. Plus, it’s a great way for students to get valuable experience. Win-win-win!
With all those wins, it’s no surprise that these posts have been performing super well. UNG’s Student Perspective posts have averaged more than 4x the number of clicks of other posts published during the same timeframe.
Hear from Darcy Hayes, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Nighthawk Engagement and Student Transitions at UNG:
“We are excited about family members’ reactions to our "Student Perspectives" series. Based on the number of unique clicks, parents and family members are engaging in this content at a level higher than other posts. Students do not always share the day-to-day nuance of their lives at college. This series allows parents and family members to get a glimpse of what their students might be experiencing from a student lens.”
Way to go, UNG!
Looking for more student content inspo? Check out some ideas from The New School.
PRO TIP: Leverage campus partners to inform families on a variety of important topics
Alma College is intentional when it comes to involving several partners from across Student Affairs to engage parents and families. They have campus partners contributing content on Career and Personal Development, Counseling and Wellness, Residence Life, Academic Success, and Student Engagement.
Bonus Tip: We also love how Alma makes messages more personal for families by sharing content directly from campus faculty and staff, such as “Tips for Student Health During Stressful Times,” from Dr. Keagan Thomas in their Health Center.
Dani Rossman, AVP for Student Affairs at Alma College said:
“Our philosophy is that if we can share a well-rounded sense of what tools are available to support student success with parents and supporters, they can help us by reinforcing that message to their students. We want parents and supporters to be familiar enough with the wide variety of resources on campus that when their students is unsure what to do, they either already know the answer, or they can confidently say, ‘Alma has people to help you with that!’”
And their families sure are engaged – Alma’s overall open rate is 64% and their average click rate is 17%.
Keep it up, Alma team!
PRO TIP: Share the same important reminders that students receive with their families to help reinforce what they need to do to stay on track
41% of students communicate with their families daily. That opens up an opportunity to leverage parents as a partner for student success. To help with that, Georgia State University sends weekly emails to families as part of their “Student News You Can Use” initiative. By sharing the same updates that students receive, GSU equips their families with the right information to effectively nudge their students.
Hear from Corina Aguilera Dickens, GSU’s Coordinator for Family Engagement:
“The Student News You Can Use is a weekly newsletter for students, but we’ve found it important and a successful initiative to send it to our parents and families as well. This way, our students’ support systems are receiving the same exact information! Families often use this information to remind students of important dates and deadlines such as class registration, as well as to nudge their students to attend different campus events and get more involved.”
Bravo, GSU!
PRO TIP: Keep your upperclassmen families engaged by sharing specific content that pertains to them
West Chester University recently created content that highlights resources and programs to support students with signing a lease and preparing for life off campus – a great way to involve upperclassmen families!
You would think that most families engage less after their student’s first year, but WCU’s results help bust that myth. WCU sees engagement remain high from first-year to fourth-year and beyond families, with open rates in the 60-70% range. Their fourth-year families have an average open rate of 79%! Parents are important partners throughout the lifecycle of a student, and providing them with personalized content only helps strengthen that partnership.
Lisa Montgomery, Director of Parent and Family Relations at West Chester University, summed it up best:
“The families of our WCU students are extremely important partners of the University. Having a communication platform such as CampusESP has afforded our university with the opportunity to provide appropriate communication updates in a timely manner to all families. The CampusESP platform is an invaluable tool and our families truly appreciate being provided with important University updates through this tool.”
Well done, WCU!
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