There’s a new bear in town: Mercer University announces launch of new admissions website

Posted on Jun 14, 2011

Macon, GA—If there is one thing that college and university admissions departments know, it’s that all marketing communications have an expiration date. Current students graduate, degree programs grow and recruitment goals must be tweaked to stay in line with the current trends of prospective students. This was the case for the Office of University Admissions at Mercer University, which today announced the launch of their latest student recruitment tool http://GoMercer.com.

Designed to deliver an immersive and interactive experience, http://GoMercer.com allows prospective students to explore the university through the eyes of current students. This concept, which was successfully utilized by Mercer University’s previous student recruitment website, showcases video tours of actual Mercer students at popular campus locations in a way that allows prospective students to “see” what life is like for a Mercer Bear.

“We received a lot of positive feedback on our old website,” Rachel Garza, Executive Director of Communications for the Office of University Admissions said. “College websites have such a short shelf life, and we were ready for a fresh look to reflect our new direction.”

That new direction, Mercer University’s “Be the Bear” recruitment campaign, served as the focal point for the website’s new design, says Bart Campione, President of Third Wave Digital the Macon, Georgia based website development firm responsible for creating the higher education website.

“We had the opportunity to work with Mercer in 2006 when the first GoMercer.com launched, so when they wanted to update their site to reflect the trends among today’s college bound students we went to work to develop something that took the best of the old site and raised the bar even higher. Mercer University gets it – stay current with your audience in your approach and the students will come,” Campione says.

In addition to student lead video tours, http://GoMercer.com also boasts over 30 minutes of informative videos and streaming media clips, interactive navigation, a custom designed graphic user interface, music bedding and an interactive campus map.

With so many features, http://GoMercer.com is raising the standard for higher education website design and helping Mercer University reach its recruitment and marketing goals. But according to Campione, the effectiveness of the website isn’t reliant on design alone.

“We understood from the beginning of this project that the key to an effective recruitment site didn’t stop with a good design, it started there,” Campione says. “We also included analytics and management tools that allow this website to be updated and tracked.

The new website also boasts a high level of organization makes it easier for prospective students to find the information they are looking for and social media plug ins provide site users with quick avenues to find even more information about all that Mercer University has to offer its’ students.

“There are just so many ways that the new site showcases what it means to ‘Be the Bear,’” Garza says. “We are an exceptional academic institution, we are fun, we are diverse...Mercer University is all of these things and the new site really captured that."

Working with the right website development firm makes all the difference when developing a higher education website, Garza admits. “I wouldn’t have considered working with anyone but Third Wave Digital on this project. There is never a question of quality or creativity with them. They brought a freshness to this site that you just can’t find anywhere else.”

To view all of the new features of Mercer’s latest website or to learn more about the university, visit http://GoMercer.com.

About Mercer University
Mercer University is one of America’s oldest and most distinctive institutions of higher learning, offering rigorous programs that span the undergraduate liberal arts to doctoral-level degrees. With more than 8,000 students enrolled in 11 schools and colleges on campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah, and at four Regional Academic Centers around the state, Mercer is consistently ranked among the nation’s leading institutions by such publications as U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review.

About Third Wave Digital
Third Wave Digital is a comprehensive web design, development and support company specializing in complex web presence creation for small to mid-sized businesses and universities. Third Wave Digital is a division of Colbarton Corporation which offers full service advertising agency services though Third Wave Advertising and complete web hosting solutions through Third Wave Host. Third Wave Digital is headquartered in Macon, Georgia with satellite offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Orlando, Florida. For more information about Third Wave, call 888-578-7865, click www.twd3.com or e-mail info@thirdwavedigital.com.

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