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Metro begins blog project to attract more students to enroll
Students use life experiences to recruit
By Tim Esterdahl
testerda@mscd.edu

In response to new opportunities in technology and an Internet-savvy prospective student pool, Metro is trying a new marketing tool – blogs – to reach these new students.

Blogs, or web logs, are personal musings about a specific topic.

Recognizing that 80 percent of all students apply online and noting the current trend toward developing online marketing, the Office of College Communications teamed up with the Office of Admissions to start the pilot program. It will run from May through the fall semester.

Chris Mancuso, director of Web Communications, began the project by using free software from blogger.com, which is now owned by Google.

Three students with different summer plans and different perspectives on Metro were chosen to write. Each was given a $100 per month stipend and told to share their experiences.

Amber Michael, who is Metro’s mascot “Rowdy,” said the opportunity to talk about her beloved school was irresistible. Meeting her is like seeing a fountain of school spirit, and blogging for her was just another avenue for that spirit to go.

Another writer, Mary Witlacil shared stories about her over-indulgence in partying while in high school that resulted in her graduating from an alternative high school. Recovering from the setback, she was able to find academic success at Metro and later found out she was an inspiration to others because of her cross-country bicycling trip.

“It is really good to know that one of our own is doing something adventurous,” Witlacil said she was told many times. “And maybe it will motivate others that come here to pursue passions that seem unreasonable or unfeasible.”

Taking a different approach, Student Government Assembly President Jack Wylie showed his readers the daily mishaps that happen while having a busy summer agenda. This rare glimpse into the life of a student politician allowed readers to see what it takes to be president and still be a student on summer break, longing for lazy days by the pool.

“I hope that the blogs will give [prospective students] a better idea of what it’s like to be a Metro student,” Wylie said. “There are a lot of misconceptions about Metro, and I think that the blogs will help to clear the air.”

Mancuso said that clearing these misconceptions is what is great about the project.

“Metro Blogs don’t go away. Anyone can visit them at any time and get the whole story, at least up to that day,” he said. “That’s the great thing about blogs; they are organic and stick around for those who are interested in reading the whole story.”

According to Mancuso, the pilot has reached readers as far away as the United Kingdom and New Jersey. He uses tracking software within the program that locates where site hits originate.

The question now is, will it work?

The short answer is that no one knows, but Mancuso is working on getting a better answer this fall semester by improving the feedback system. Afraid of amassing spam, the system didn’t tie the bloggers and their e-mail addresses together.

The college will also look into doing more research after the fall semester to determine whether it was a success, according to Metro spokesperson Cathy Lucas.

Already a success to each of the bloggers, they each shared the belief that they were helping Metro as well as helping themselves, by finding and writing the story of their lives.