It’s that time of year again, the time when all your hard work and marketing efforts are measured against the results culminating on May 1, aka National College Decision Day. For some institutions, there will be celebration; for others, it will be a time to reflect on what could have been done differently. In most cases, the funnel will be analyzed: How can we get more applicants? How can we get stronger applicants? How can we reach more students with interest in a certain major or academic level of achievement? The answer is simple: through CollegeXpress.

Finding and analyzing online conversations to develop data-informed strategies (The following blog was written by Liz Gross. Liz is the Market Insights Manager at the loan servicing affiliate of Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and was a speaker at the 2017 Carnegie Conference. Find her on Twitter @LizGross144.)

If you’re a college or university marketing professional wondering how Google Optimize can be used to create website enhancements that can positively impact enrollment, check out this vlog. In just eight minutes, we’ll go over how this free testing tool that integrates easily with your website’s Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics can quickly and easily run A/B tests to identify areas where your website performance can be improved.

Make your alumni proud of their alma mater…and come back and give back! Working on a college campus allows you the fortunate opportunity to watch like a proud parent as students walk across the stage each spring and receive their college diplomas. I’m sure these students walk away feeling proud of their accomplishments and have a love for their school like no other. The challenge every campus faces is capturing that moment so these new alumni feel compelled to donate to the school or enroll again as a graduate student.

Research tells us most college-bound high school students will have a short list of schools from which they’ll choose by spring of their junior year, which means the next two to three months will be critically important for admission marketers across the country. But how do you get your school on that short list? Sure, you can buy names, mail them a search piece, and send a series of e-mails…but everyone is doing that in one way or another. How can you set yourself apart?