Lansing-Student Connectivity: Messaging to the Majority (part 2 of 2)
In part 1 of this series, I wrote about the importance of Including the Inquisitive. I cannot understate this. If a student is reaching out and exploring our community in proactive ways, the ought to be met with a smile and positive support.
But, what about Messaging to the Majority? Behold! Part Two.
I was recently in a meeting on talent issues in Lansing where a collaborator said something quite insightful: Most MSU students do two things: class and hangout with their friends. This is an over simplification of the college experience, but sadly for the majority of MSU students, this defines their four (or more) years in Lansing. They rarely venture out into the community or travel off the well beaten path of Grand River. Let’s just call this the majority.
The question becomes: how do we reach the majority of students who are unwilling to leave campus?
To put it bluntly, I say forget them. I’m a firm believer that Lansing should focus on including the inquisitive and leave the majority to move to different communities. Let us focus our efforts on those who are making an effort to be invovled. If you don’t believe me, consider for a second if Lansing was able to include even 100 highly involved campus leaders? The results would be immense! As for the majority, if they haven’t added value in the last four years, what is to say that they will add value in future years?
Cynicism aside, messaging to the majority is important for creating perception. I would argue that including the inquisitive can greatly solve the problem of messaging to the majority.
The inquisitive (at least the inquisitive that I know) are not only leaders in their community, but they are leaders among the masses. Peers value their message and try to replicate their experience. For every inquisitor, there are at least 20 close friends who value their opinion, and are close enough to hear the message of what it means to be involved in our community.
To put it a different way, including the inquisitive does not only reach the first level of engaged students, but forming relationships with respected student advocates will increase the message ten fold! Companies like HP, Disney, and the non-profit giant Teach For America adopt this strategy of on-campus peer-to-peer brand representation.
Leveraging relationships with on-campus leaders can first ensure that this inquisitive few considers Lansing as a post-graduation option and by proxy, they can become vital messaging agents on campus.
