Using Facebook For Lead Generation: Underground Elephant CEO Jason Kulpa (Part 3)

Sramana: How do you generate candidates who will remain in educational programs long-term? What are the parameters that you take into account?

Jason Kulpa: We consider factors such as gender, geo-location, ethnicity, and age. Those are just a few of the data sets that we use for some of our media and it can change based on if it is social or not, and if it is display versus content. There are a multitude of data points that we use in our algorithm. We have a technology platform that allows us to manage this content on a massive scale. The end result is better message relevancy.

Sramana: What are the sources of your data? What social media platforms are you exploring?

Jason Kulpa: We use Facebook. The profile information involved is a great platform that allows us to generate user interest. Most social media is attractive to us, but it is not the only area we focus on.

Sramana: Essentially you are using Facebook’s ability to do targeted advertising and applying your algorithms for specific ad targeting. Is that correct?

Jason Kulpa: That is one of the components. The more information we have on a candidate the better. We even go so far as to provide a snapshot or a picture of the person interested. That really creates empathy for the conversation. You get to see who is using your service, and it humanizes the experience.

We have this massive amount of data and it helps us create this persona and deliver that persona to our client. Not only does that increase the likelihood of success but it also increases the likelihood of sustainability in school. That is one of the major issues in the for-profit education space. A lot of students sign up for school and then end up dropping out while owing massive amounts of debt. We think we have found a way to solve that problem.

Sramana: What types of metrics do you have that indicate that by developing these personas you are leading to higher graduation rates?

Jason Kulpa: We participate throughout the entire sales cycle. That is due to our ability to source the media and make changes in real time across all of our platforms. We collect data on the front end and then we receive data back from our clients both during the application process through to the graduation process. We have even gone as far as to hire some of the people who have gone through our program. They give us even better insight into our process.

Sramana: In terms of what you have learned by developing these personas, who are likely people who will stay and finish school? What are some of the nuances that you have learned in this process?

Jason Kulpa: The trend used to be that candidates wanted to go back to school to better their lives. They were not exactly sure what that was going to look like afterward, and they were faced with major choices yet they did not know what they wanted to study specifically. I use the example of the music industry. You used to only have top 20 hits shown at the stores. Now we have online music that has fragmented that industry and given many, many choices to consumers.

We took a similar approach with generating leads. We focused on the niche or the result of what would happen once you succeeded. Our approach might focus on what your life will look like once you get your nursing degree. That is the basis of what we wanted to do. The nuance is that we have limited their choices rather than overloading them. In the past the market trend was to offer as many choices as possible. We base our work on past people who have gone before them in similar geographic areas, certain age groups, and certain interest.

We have found patterns. Certain schools work better with certain ethnic groups or certain areas of the country. We created a map that turned out to be quite accurate in that regard. Because of that, we are able to serve more relevant choices to the reader, and it appealed to them because it was a niche. It was narrowed for the readers and that allowed them to make a serious decision about what they wanted to do, and as a result more of them have stuck with the program.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Using Facebook For Lead Generation: Underground Elephant CEO Jason Kulpa
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