If you are a regular reader of this blog then it is no secret that we often talk about the value of an interactive map to the prospective student. What we don’t really do a good job of is talking about all the other audiences that benefit from this feature on your website. We’ll write the prospective student up as a given, so here are six other audiences that also benefit.

Alumni

We talk about building a case for ROI for this project and usually start it with the prospective student, but alumni can also provide revenue through donations. Simply put, campus changes and if an alumni hasn’t visited a campus in years or decades an interactive map is a very powerful way to keep them updated. Specifically to the donations point, nostalgia is a very powerful string to pull on when asking for donations.

If you have a building that you have a capital campaign to build or renovate then an interactive map can visually display and explain what you are trying to accomplish. Showing this building on an interactive map also gives a point of reference to how it impacts the surrounding campus.

Current Students

Just because a student is on campus doesn’t mean that they completely know all the buildings on your campus. You can also tell history and other detail about buildings or locations that aren’t picked up by someone who might attend class or sleep in a building every day. Also for a new student trying to find where that first class is located an interactive map can be instrumental in that process. Read more about how new students benefit from an interactive map.

Athletic Fans

Sporting events are big draws for colleges and universities. No matter the opponent there is always a group of fans of the opposing team that will be visiting your campus. Some of these fans will be visiting for the first time. An interactive campus map can not only help them easily find the athletic venue on campus but learn about the surroundings.

A packed house at a University of Missouri Tigers football game

A packed house at a University of Missouri Tigers football game

Community & Special Events

What school doesn’t have special events open to the public? Public speakers, community events and even events like commencement pull lots of visitors to campus. We just finished a full election swing where three lucky schools held presidential debates. Do you think Lynn University in Boca Raton, who hosted the final debate, could have benefited from an interactive map of campus?

The debate at Lynn University

The debate at Lynn University

Campers

Many schools hold camps of various shapes and sizes. From a recruitment angle it’s actually quite smart to start this process at an early age and what better way than to have camps on campus where children can go ahead and get familiar with your school. The children and their parents both benefit from an interactive map to explore your campus and learn about the locations.

Guard Campers at WKU

Guard Campers at WKU

Conferences

Not every school hosts conferences but many do. Colleges and universities are great locations for a conference because they tend to have venues that can accommodate the group, and if held during the right time of year the dorms can be used to house the conference attendees.

HighEdWeb Arkansas 2012 was just at University of Arkansas Little Rock a few months ago

HighEdWeb Arkansas 2012 was just at the University of Arkansas Little Rock a few months ago – Photo by ShelleyKeith

Closing

As you can see an interactive map of campus has value to many of your school’s audiences. You could argue that an interactive map is the single most important feature of a college or university’s website because it impacts so many audiences! We’ve been known to argue that a time or two.

What audience did we leave out that could also benefit from this feature?