Jeff Kirchick is Director of Universities at SCVNGR, the popular mobile game about going places, doing challenges and earning points. He presents regularly about the future of mobile and location-based services in education. You can follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffreyKirchick or e-mail him at jeff@scvngr.com.

Mobile technology is on the minds of higher education professionals more than ever before. At the recent HighEdWeb conference in Austin, the itinerary included several ways schools can use social media, blogs and mobile technologies to better captivate its student body. And last week, hundreds of orientation professionals gathered in New Orleans for the National Orientation Directors Association annual conference, where they discussed how to engage with prospective students in modern and relevant ways — including mobile — to welcome the next freshman class.

It’s no mystery why: The latest numbers show 40% of teens plan on buying an iPhone within the next three months. In the last three years, the smartphone penetration rate among the 18-24 age demographic has risen by nearly a fifth. It’s not unreasonable to expect that nearly all of the Class of 2015 will have smartphones by the time they graduate. At the same time, nearly half of all college students are using their phones to access the mobile web.

There’s a recent debate about whether schools should create mobile apps or mobile websites. Either way, according to Dave Olsen, a web developer at West Virginia University, roughly 15% of colleges and universitieseven have a mobile website, much less an app or set of apps targeted to their prospective, current and/or alumni bodies.

To be fair, universities have come a long way. Nearly all schools are now using social media for everything from brand awareness to event management. And some institutions — for example WVU, William and Mary and Ohio State University — are pioneering and already providing an impeccable mobile experience for students.

As tomorrow’s grads become increasingly married to their mobile devices, here are five ways that mobile tech matters just as much as social technology in the higher ed space.

1. Engaging a Mobile Student Body

Students today seem unable to go five minutes without checking their phones for a text, notification or email. (88% of students even text during class!) The power of that reliance could be harnessed to announce campus events, such as a fundraiser or a special guest lecture, or even incorporate it into the class curriculum.

Technology in education usually means places of higher learning play a bit of catch-up, but those who start embracing mobile now with development and budget resources will be ahead of the curve for years to come. Check out what Purdue University’s done with mobile learning with their remarkable Studio Project. In particular, the project’s Hotseat app takes status updates and creates a “collaborative classroom” by allowing students to provide near real-time feedback during class. The idea is that professors can then adjust the course content and improve the overall learning experience.

2. Providing Real-Time Information that Matters

Even though the latest numbers show only 4% of adults use location services to check in, nearly a quarter of them use it for practical things like getting directions and recommendations. Savvier teens are more likely to use location for fun, but they’re also looking for practical information: campus events, news alerts, social recommendations — you name it, there’s probably a need on campus.

One great example of this is at WVU, where the school’s iWVU app shows everything from athletics to shuttle bus info. Another is Ohio State University’s OSU Mobile app that even gives students their grades and schedules in real-time.

3. Creating a Safer Campus

Just this summer, the University of California, Davis removed more than 100 emergency landline phones from campus — not only to save money, but because the idea of a stationary phone-based system seemed draconian when compared to the ubiquity of mobile. Indeed, a safe student body makes for a happy one, and the rise of mobile technology should empower students more than ever before to report dangerous situations and remain safe from harm.

Many schools, like Princeton University, send their student body SMS alerts for emergency situations. And new apps like MyForce Campus Interface provide crime data about campus and surrounding areas. Mobile technology has enormous potential to bring real-time knowledge and assurance to any college student today.

4. Empowering Mobile Commerce

The idea of paying with your phone is starting to catch on, with Square and Intuit’s GoPayment, as well as LevelUp and Google Wallet. Some early-adopter institutions are already on top of it.

Last year, the University of Denver partnered with Mocopay and a local coffee shop to test things out. Stanford University is experimenting with BlingTag stickers, which charge students’ PayPal accounts for purchases on campus. Embracing mobile payments on a wide scale will result in new levels of data and commerce, for example, giving schools a better read on dense periods of commercial activity. This will help identify the best (and worst) performing kiosks and services. QR-code technology could also securely add value to promotions, such as apparel and attendance at athletics events.

5. University Brand Reputation

All of this doesn’t have to take place in a vacuum. Developing a strategy where mobile activity is easy to share on existing social networks is key. Allow your app to connect with Facebook when possible and appropriate. Your students will be able to share what they’re up to with their friends, mapping directly to the brand of your school.

Adding game mechanics — for example, asking challenge-type questions during an orientation game to baking in reward elements — can encourage even more sharing and memorability.
When creating a mobile strategy, consider these successful social media ideas. Emerson College, for example, has brought big brands in need of social media help together with an eager-to-learn, hyperconnected student body. The process alone earned big social media savvy points for the brand.

Mobile is the next imperative channel. Technology makes things easier and adds new layers of engagement, commerce, safety and knowledge. This provides a better overall college experience, which is increasingly important to college rankings and polls. Putting the right mobile technology in place strengthens overall brand perception and student welfare alike.

Are there are other reasons why mobile matters to your college or university? What is your campus doing with mobile? Please share your stories and feedback in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, hellobeautifulworld

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The student group had beef jerky.  Now except for the “SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM!” commercials of the 90′s beef jerky while admittedly delicious has never really been what one would consider Hight Tech, or a candidate for social media marketing.  But a beef jerky mascot on the other hand could be.  I told the group to create a rancher or possibly even a chicken (a la Chick Fil A with their cows) but don’t just create a little image of this mascot, but go full out. Make a backstory for this mascot, mascots are a chance to go completely creative.  Maybe Hotrod the Chicken (maybe it’s spicy jerky) grew up with Monty (the U of MT mascot) and they picked on the younger Slash (the Missoula Mauler’s mascot),and back then he was just called Rod. but one day Monty stole Rod’s girlfriend b/c Rod was just kinda boring. And on that day Rod changed his name to Hotrod and vowed to NEVER be boring again! (ok, yeah, a little simplistic, but you get the point). So now we have this cool backstory and graphics for Hotrod, this is where the new media comes in.  At no point has there existed a technology to immediately connect with people and actually interact with them on the scale that we now have with social media. So use it! Create a twitter feed for Hotrod showing him doing all kinds completely outrageous things (like surfing ON a shark off the Great Barrier Reef). Create a #hashtag for Hotrod’s out there to post about their adrenaline fueled activities. Create a facebook account and fan page. Treat Hotrod like he was a real person, responding to emails, joining adventure clubs and talking with people.  The biggest thing is to treat him as a larger than life celebrity and people will know him, and then by extension your product that Hotrod supports in the same way that sports stars endorse wheaties, or Ashton Kutcher those cameras that he’s got. The great part is that except for some app devo, and some graphics Hotrod could exist completely on free social media sites.  Give him a twitter feed showing pics he took while jumping out a plane, or scuba diving. You could prbly go several months before you would even (if you really want to) need to create a costume for you mascot.

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Sorry for this rant, but I really don’t like Zuckerberg.  His assertions that Facebook is going to topple Google is just for the moment absurd.  You have a social network. Yes, it is the most popular but let’s not trick ourselves into believing things that aren’t true.  Google has a sound biz plan with the assumption that someone searching for a product type might actually want to buy it.  Facebook? Just because I throw up a status update that “I loved my bike ride up Blue Mountain yesterday” does not mean that I’m in the mood to buy a new book.  I just do NOT see how social networks are going to become the next Amazon, or hulu.  Heck, I use Hootsuite and almost never even log in to Facebook to see

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These are just a few tips for a very powerful tool that Google provides. The biggest thing is just to remember, if you are doing your job right SOMEONE is talking about you online even if you aren’t. And in this day and age it is important if you are not the one leading the conversation that you are at least aware of what is being said.

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1. Setup a twitter feed for the restaurant and include the url somewhere in the menu.  The restaurant can use this to keep customers posted on what is going on, can offer promotions unique to twitter followers, let customers know about exciting news  like “just got in 100 lbs of fresh Alaskan crab”.  This technique has two main goals. The first is that the followers feel like they are the In Crowd at the restaurant getting exclusive deals and insider information.  The second is that it keeps the restaurant always on customers’ minds. This way when they are trying to make a decision on where to go for dinner they will remember the tweet from earlier that morning.

2. Keep a Blog. Now this sounds really simple, and not a unique idea, but it is still a fantastic idea for restaurants.  Post about anything restaurant related, whether it is a new recipe the exec chef is working on, a way to add a little unique flair to a normal dish that anyone can make from home.  In the case of this restaurant they are a Silk Road specialist, so a topic for them could be ways to add a little Silk Road flair to any common dish.  A post about something as mundane even as the difference between a smidge and a pinch when cooking.  The idea here is to turn the blog and by extension the webpage into a must visit site.  Especially if you can set up a schedule so every M-W-F there will be a new blog post (remember a post can also be a repost from another blog which will help with reciprocal linking), you will get users checking on a steady basis.  If you use a little bit of know how you can even tie in your blog to you twitter page that automatically informs all followers of the new post.  If you have users checking your blog on a continuous basis, they are also checking your webpage and thinking about coming to your restaurant.  The recipe posts are especially great because people are going to remember that dish and think about getting it that night. Memory is a great thing when it comes to food.

3. Post to Allrecipes.com  There are a LOT of recipe directories.  Use the recipes that you are posting to your blog and post them in these recipe directories.  Make sure to include links to your blog/website/twitter accounts in your signatures so people know where to look as well as increase SEO work.  While on these sites make sure to get involved in the conversation on those sites. Make suggestions to recipes. If someone posts about your recipes be sure to follow up.  The idea is to build your audience and your own web presence not JUST in your local area.

4. Monitor yelp.com and other review sites.  A major task of having a web presence is maintaining that presence and reputation.  For those who don’t know yelp is a social website where users can write reviews mostly of restaurants, bars, etc.  It is really important to make sure that people are posting positive reviews here.  If they are not, this is a much better way to find out then those little cards you have people fill out on your way out the door.  If you have loyalty cards, make sure to post a link to your yelp account so that they can post good reviews.  If a patron wants to send a ‘good job’ to the chefs, let them know they can go on google.com or yelp and post a positive review.  Poll your twitter or facebook followers to find out what review sites they use the most and focus on those.

5. Google Alerts is a GREAT way to keep track of what people are saying online about you.  You can set it to send you emails either once a day or immediately.  For very important keywords like: “The name of my restaurant” you may want that coming ASAP so if it is good you can immediately respond back with a thank you or if bad you can address it immediately.  Other topics you may want to track are “Indian food in Nashville” that way you can see what bloggers are posting about that, or if people are saying there are NO good Indian restaurants in Nashville you can jump into that conversation and tell them where you are located.

6. INSTALL GOOGLE ANALYTICS. In case you missed that it’s: INSTALL GOOGLE ANALYTICS.  You can use GA to track the keywords which is good to know what people are looking for when getting to your site, but even more important is the clickstream.  This lets you follow their course on your website.  If you realize that on average people are going to the blog but are not visiting the menu at all that’s interesting, if people are landing on your specials and not your main beautifully designed page, that’s a problem.  And this will let you determine that and figure out if for some reason other pages on your domain area are ranking higher in google than your main landing page?

Oh, and finally I guess I should probably mention the restaurant that inspired all of these ideas: Silk Road Restaurant.  If your in Missoula, MT I really recommend you stop in. And if you do, mention that Scott sent you.

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