success kit part i: quick start guide
TRANSCRIPT
“We are totally obsessed with this software.”
Morgan Sommerville, Stevenson University
Danielle ValentiHead of Customer [email protected]
Great to meet you!You can call us anytime at 800.552. 2194
Jackie VetranoCustomer Success [email protected]
Merit on Twitter: @Merit_Pages LinkedIn: Merit Power Users Group
Erin MarkCustomer Success [email protected]
We want you to be successful.
This guide will show you how to get immediate results with Merit. We’ll provides lots of examples for getting the most out of Merit, tips from other colleges, how-to guides, and more, but the most important thing to know is this:
Just do the basics and you will win.
Welcome to Merit
What are the basics?
Enrollment Recognize incoming freshmen and transfer students to reach their younger peers who are beginning the school search process.
End-of-term Dean’s Lists Broad-based measure of attainment is popular and appreciated, with high engagement rates; core element of Merit page.
GraduationClassic outcome-oriented achievement is a milestone in social and local media, generating discussion among new students and alumni.
Getting started
In this section
•Quick start guide•Badges•Granting your first achievement
‣ Step 1: What is it?‣ Step 2: Who receives it?‣ Step 3: Where else do you want to send it?
Quick start guide
Log in to your Merit account at http://app.meritpages.com(your account info was already emailed to you)
We provide a free orientation and training whenever you or your team needs it.contact us to set something up: [email protected]. Get started with Merit right away:
Go to “Settings,” follow the easy steps to create your badges and set up your Merit page. (to make meritpages.com look the way you want)
Click “Start” on the dashboard and grant your first achievement!(we bet you can figure it out on your own but the next pages will show you exactly how to do it)
1
2
3
Badges
You need badges to send an achievement.
Merit makes it easy to get badges fast!
Whether you decide to create your own badges or not, log in to your Merit account, go to “Settings” click “Branding.” Enter your institution’s primary and secondary colors and we’ll create badges for you and they’ll be in your account in just a few days.
Why badges?
The “badges” that Merit associates with the achievements you grant are important because they carry your brand into social networks and identify students’ accomplishments on meritpages.com. Think of them like your branded apparel, bumper stickers, official documents and other university-approved items. Badges distinguish your achievements and create brand affiliation with everyone who sees them.
Granting Your First Achievement
Achievements have three simple elements:
1. What is it?2. Who receives it?3. Where else do you want to send it?
Granting Your First Achievement
Step 1: What is it?
Describe the achievement.
•Select a badge•Give your achievement a headline•Write a short intro
Granting Your First Achievement
Step 2: Who receives it?
Tell Merit who you’re recognizing.
You can add students on the fly by clicking a button and adding basic information about them.
Better yet, if you’ve ever granted an achievement to a student, you can start typing the student’s name into the achievement granting workflow and Merit will populate the rest of the fields for you.
For big achievements, like the Dean’s List, you can request a list of students in a spreadsheet using an email like this. Your registrar will provide it. They may want to know about FERPA. Merit is 100% compliant with the strictest standards of privacy. Be sure to ask for the students’ first name, last name, email address, hometown, and zip code. This information helps Merit create a unique identify for each student.
Use an email template to collect student information
Granting Your First Achievement
Step 3: Where else do you want to send it?
Now you have a chance to broadcast your achievements to a wider audience than your students and their followers.
Distribution channels
Send to newspapers•National hometown newspapers
Post to social media•Facebook•Twitter
When you choose to include local media as part of your distribution, Merit writes two types of press releases for you:
Press release types
Type one: A press release that includes a list of all the students from the same newspapers coverage area. Rather than send several, identical press releases, Merit combines them into one release with a bullet-point list of students.
Type two: A press release for a single student. If there is only one student in a newspaper’s coverage area.