American Council on Education
Guided by qualitative research, Stamats designed and delivered a comprehensive microsite and social media ad campaign that built brand awareness while driving traffic to the newly minted site.
66,000
Users in first 9 months
69%↑
Users returned
2,000↑
Facebook followers in 9 months
Founded in 1918, the American Council on Education (ACE) represents approximately 1800 accredited colleges, universities, and related organizations across the United States. ACE conducts higher education research, spearheads a variety of educational initiatives, and serves as an influential advocate in the field.
ACE’s Alternative Credit Project is an initiative funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
This innovative project was designed to encourage broader acceptance of alternative credit and promote new pathways toward postsecondary education for nontraditional students who may have earned some college credit but not completed their degree.
ACE engaged Stamats to develop an integrated digital strategy that would launch the Alternative Credit Project brand, build awareness, and reach those students most in need of its services.
Our team began by conducting in-depth market research with demographically diverse students across the nation. Through focus groups and personal interviews, we identified the unique motivators, priorities, and challenges that influence adult learners as they consider degree-completion options.
Our web development group leveraged insights from the qualitative research to plan and build a program microsite—a hub where students could learn about the program through a Stamats-produced video, access their transcripts, research course options, locate participating schools that offer college credit online at minimal cost, and even register for classes.
Guided by the research findings, Stamats designed and delivered a comprehensive social media ad campaign to build brand awareness and drive traffic to the newly minted site. In this phase of the project, we developed custom messaging for specific audience segments that were then targeted via Facebook, Twitter, and third-party mobile advertising tools.
AlternativeCreditProject.com has been a resounding success. Figures for the first nine months after launch shows that nearly 66,000 users accessed the new site and 69 percent of those users returned.
Our social media advertising efforts produced 2,000 Facebook followers for the project during that same time frame.
Brice Struthers, associate program specialist for the American Council on Education, captures the success of the collaboration well, “Stamats provided an immeasurable amount of support, from high-quality market research to building and maintaining our beautiful website. Their marketing efforts continue to bring a significant amount of attention to the Alternative Credit Project and provide an efficient online interface to help nontraditional students return to college.”
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The Challenge
Founded in 1918, the American Council on Education (ACE) represents approximately 1800 accredited colleges, universities, and related organizations across the United States. ACE conducts higher education research, spearheads a variety of educational initiatives, and serves as an influential advocate in the field.
ACE’s Alternative Credit Project is an initiative funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
This innovative project was designed to encourage broader acceptance of alternative credit and promote new pathways toward postsecondary education for nontraditional students who may have earned some college credit but not completed their degree.
ACE engaged Stamats to develop an integrated digital strategy that would launch the Alternative Credit Project brand, build awareness, and reach those students most in need of its services.
-
The Project
Our team began by conducting in-depth market research with demographically diverse students across the nation. Through focus groups and personal interviews, we identified the unique motivators, priorities, and challenges that influence adult learners as they consider degree-completion options.
Our web development group leveraged insights from the qualitative research to plan and build a program microsite—a hub where students could learn about the program through a Stamats-produced video, access their transcripts, research course options, locate participating schools that offer college credit online at minimal cost, and even register for classes.
Guided by the research findings, Stamats designed and delivered a comprehensive social media ad campaign to build brand awareness and drive traffic to the newly minted site. In this phase of the project, we developed custom messaging for specific audience segments that were then targeted via Facebook, Twitter, and third-party mobile advertising tools.
-
The Results
AlternativeCreditProject.com has been a resounding success. Figures for the first nine months after launch shows that nearly 66,000 users accessed the new site and 69 percent of those users returned.
Our social media advertising efforts produced 2,000 Facebook followers for the project during that same time frame.
Brice Struthers, associate program specialist for the American Council on Education, captures the success of the collaboration well, “Stamats provided an immeasurable amount of support, from high-quality market research to building and maintaining our beautiful website. Their marketing efforts continue to bring a significant amount of attention to the Alternative Credit Project and provide an efficient online interface to help nontraditional students return to college.”