The Microsites module is the Element451-hosted module for building highly personalized microsites. A microsite is a supplemental web page or cluster of pages that can be created to increase interactions and give students more information tailored to their interests.
Microsites are frequently used during the admit phase but can be customized to suit any population or funnel stage of students to provide a unique and personalized experience branded to the institution. Microsites gives us the ability to easily design and implement web microsites with various tools and sections that students can explore. Each section is crafted to provide important information that will benefit the student and help keep the institution top of mind. The microsite can host videos, showcase personalized tools, include links to the institution’s website, and prominently feature a link to pay a deposit online or pursue other calls to action, like scheduling a campus visit.
These sections and tools include, but are not limited to, the following:
Home Dashboard - The student will receive a direct link to the microsite with a username-protected login. Upon entry, the student receives a personalized welcome with eye-catching graphics on the main page, the central hub of the microsite. A diverse sampling of content from the rest of the sections is shown, which can include calls to action, sample career and academics blocks, featured profiles, or survey questions.
Academic Planner - This tool builds a connection from the student’s intended major to a sample academic layout where the student can preview what each year of their college career might look like in terms of course load, required courses, credit hours, and more.
Career Connector - In this section, students can preview sample career options based on their major of interest. This tool provides them with career information such as average salary earnings, sample work settings, examples of internship locations, and more.
Next Steps Checklist - In this section, you can provide a to-do list for students to complete. The checklist is unique to the Microsite, and a label filter can be applied to each to-do item, controlling the audience that sees it. The student checks off the items manually and marks them as completed. The progress or status of the checklist is only visible to the students and not to internal Element users. The microsite checklist is different from the Decisions module checklist feature.
Video Vault - In this section, the institution can upload and display its most popular video clips, organized on one page. These videos could cover topics such as student life, open houses, graduation, major-specific videos, and anything else of interest to your students. Videos like these help admitted students get a look at what life is like on campus.
Document - This tool allows students to upload documents directly or request documents to be uploaded by counselors as applicable. Forms and documents are managed from the Element dashboard similarly to Application451.
Social Media - The Social Media Feed part of this section connects students to a live feed of the institution’s Twitter feed. The Social Media options in the Footer also encourage students to follow the school's social media accounts and join admitted student Facebook groups or other closed groups. Social media engagement gives students a chance to meet their future classmates, get to know one another, and get excited about their future school!
Location Explorer - In this section, your institution can set up a map where you can pinpoint fun and interesting locations near your campus. These locations can include great places to eat, museums, movie theaters, parks, malls, and more. This feature gives the students an idea of where they can spend their free time after class and on weekends.
Survey - The survey asks students one fun question per week over a predetermined period of time (such as favorite movie, artist, TV show, etc.). Results are then displayed immediately to the student so they can identify with future classmates.
General - General sections are the "catch all" of content types. The content here is completely customizable based on available blocks.