Katie Roberts: Laureate International Universities
In this episode, recorded at social media marketing conference, Social Fresh East at the Omni Hotel in Orlando, I sat down with Katie Roberts, one of the many fabulous speakers at Social Fresh. Katie is Senior Manager, Global Social Media Marketing at Laureate International Universities. Laureate is the world’s largest network of higher education institutions, with more than 70 campus based and online universities around the globe. You may recognize Walden University, as one of their most popular higher ed institutions.
Managing the Student’s Lifecycle
Katie’s scope of responsibility is in Laureate’s online university offerings, which spans a global audience. Katie and her team use data extensively to study the entire lifecycle of the student, from student retention, getting a second or third degree, to inspiring “life long learning.” The data that Katie’s team studies drives product decisions for new program degrees, new course offerings, as well as their content strategy. They track everything including engagement in social, email and search. As they learn, they make adjustments to their strategy. By listening to conversations they can drive new opportunities and enhance student communications.
The social media team at Laureate is part of the strategic recruitment initiative. Katie explains how they are a bridge between student activation, student retention and the entire student experience. The data they can produce through social and email interaction is studied across the entire lifecycle of the student.
Recruiting Talent
Katie looks for candidates with strong writing skills and of course, strong social engagement skills. She particularly looks for candidates with an entrepreneurial spirit. She wants candidates that are quick learners, willing to learn quickly, fail fast and move on. She also looks for candidates with strong intuition and the ability to think and be analytical.
All organizations can learn from Katie’s social business story at Laureate International Universities. Her approach to social is strategic, intentional and clearly is delivering business results. Watch the interview with Katie to hear directly from her how she and her team drive decisions through social data.
Catch the entire interview with Katie Roberts in the video above.
Photos by: Anthony Quintano
