Tic-toc, tic-toc, tic-toc. Advanced classes. Advising meetings. Community service hours. Extracurricular activities. Honor societies. Resumes. References. Interviews. Caps. Gowns. Diplomas… Time has passed and graduation is coming up. What to do? What to do? For most, this is not a very complex decision: they either enter the labor force, apply to graduate school, or both, and commit to a lifetime of monotony right out of college. Nonetheless, there are other options to be explored for those looking to diverge from the “ordinary”. Some might choose to volunteer, travel the world, take a gap year, and so much more. A particular one, however, is English teaching abroad.
Being the second most-spoken language in the world, English is prized knowledge for any non-native speakers. Language comprehension opens numerous doors in life, as well as in any career path. Thus, there is a great amount of possibilities available to pursue teaching English abroad, basically anywhere in the world, for those that speak it as a first language. Not many people think, or know, that they can do this even without having studied education, English, nor anything remotely close to it. Anyone can do it, and more people should! It is an amazing opportunity to live in a foreign country and travel for a prolonged time period, while getting paid to do so.
Despite being a paid opportunity, there are some that think it is not practical, and maybe even a waste of time and of possible career advancement. For example, I have many friends, mostly males, that are desperate to get out into the working industry in the hopes of being at a relatively high position at a younger age. Nonetheless, having seen a close relative of mine choose to teach English abroad with the Fulbright program for a year over multiple job offers right after graduating, has relieved me of that perspective and even inspired me to follow in her footsteps.
I have always been incredibly passionate about traveling the world, getting to know new cultures, exploring new places, meeting diverse people, seeing how backgrounds affects points of view and so forth. Consequently, at twenty years of age I have traveled to nine countries, not including the United States, Puerto Rico, and the British Virgin Islands. Growing up in Puerto Rico, I was raised learning both Spanish and English, which have led me to the places and people I surround myself with today. In ninth grade, I decided to learn Italian, and fell in love with it immediately. Now I am proud to day I am close to being fluent and so much more familiar with Italian culture than I would have ever been without having this knowledge. To continue nurturing my passion for cultures and for traveling, I plan to go abroad to Florence for a semester and to Switzerland for a month and a half during my four years of college. Afterwards, however, I aim to become a Fulbright ETA and live abroad for a full year in Spain.
The Fulbright U.S. Student program is particular because it is government funded. It was proposed as a bill by J. William Fulbright in 1945, after the chaos of World War II, to “[promote] international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture, and science.” (qtd. in Victor) It is the largest exchange program in the United States, which sponsors international graduate study, advanced research, and all levels of teaching in more than 140 countries. (Victor) The participants of the renowned program are known to be intimidatingly brilliant and excelling students and young professionals. This is incredible, yes, but it also causes one of the main problems in the program: reach.
What happens to those who do not have a close relative, as I did, to open their eyes to the Fulbright world? They might not know that it exists, that it is a possibility, nor that it is a beneficial experience to have no matter what career path they will pursue later on. Notwithstanding how amazing this program is, it is not very efficient at getting the word out to all of its possible applicants and candidates.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are 20.4 million college students enrolled throughout the United States. (Fast Facts) As a “marketing” strategy, according to their website, Fulbright utilizes around 1600 on-campus Program Advisors that recruit students. (Victor) 20 million students versus 1600 recruiters: basically nothing. Assuming that they are equally distributed, that would mean that each recruiter has 12,500 students, or that each student has a .00008 part of an advisor. In other words, it is completely impractical unless they are purposefully keeping people in the dark about their program. One person cannot get to know 12,500 others well enough to know which to recruit for the program. Thus, probably only those who look the best on paper are the select few that are contacted; or those who find out on their own contact the recruiter themselves, which defeats the purpose of the recruiter.
My cousin, Christina Carpenter, is a perfect example that these recruiters are not very efficient. She was a high ranking, double major, member of the tennis team, member of two fraternities, Italian tutor, trilingual, among other things, at the George Washington University. (“Personal interview”) Nonetheless, she was never contacted with regards to this program. Ironically, Mr. Fulbright, the creator of this program, even received his law degree from this university. One would think this would make the administration take the program very seriously being that it is of great importance and was created by one of their alumni.
Ms. Carpenter, however, found out about the program from one of her tutoring colleagues, which intended to apply for the program. It was only then that SHE approached the recruiter, letting him know that she was interested. (“Personal interview”) Being that she was accepted and spent her post-graduation year in Madrid, Spain, teaching English as a Fulbright Scholar, she was clearly a worthy candidate that could have easily been lost because of their lack of efficient recruiting. She found out simply because of a situation of right time, right place, not because of Fulbright’s administration or marketing team.
Their recruiters are only the beginning of their failure with regards to marketing. Probably the worst part of it is their social media. Being a millennial, I am extremely used to using social media to keep up to date with my friends and family. However, I am also accustomed to having ads thrown in my face and interrupting my day-to-day life in every way possible. This is something that Fulbright does not attempt to do at all, which results in social media marketing and word of mouth marketing that is not exactly up to modern standards.
Focusing at their Instagram page, the_fulbright_program, the viewer can see that they barely have any followers relative to other organizations. The page has 24.7k followers. Meanwhile, the page of a restaurant in the tiny college town of Tallahassee called Madison Social (@madisonsocial) has 16.1k followers. This is a long existing renowned government organization vs. a relatively new and independent restaurant/bar in a small town to give a little perspective. Comparing it to something more similar, @TopdeckTravel is the page of a private tour agency based in London, United Kingdom, which makes trips for 18-30 year olds (approximately the same age range as Fulbright). This page has an astounding 123K followers, almost five times that of Fulbright.
Clearly, the Fulbright marketing team (if there even is one) is doing something wrong. Something to pinpoint is the appeal and correlation of the posts. Although they do post every day, some posts simply make me question why they are there. For example, the post on October 23rd shows a close up of a hand playing a Steinway & Sons piano with the caption “Fulbrighters work hard – even on the weekend”. Piano playing does not relate to Fulbright or its mission. It does not give the viewer any idea of what Fulbright is, or what a Fulbright scholar does. In addition, it does not convey any emotion or make an appeal on the viewer, unless he/she is a piano player that has some previous connection with Steinway & Sons brand, which again has no relation to Fulbright. As proof of this, we can look at the number of likes on the post. Out of its 24.5k followers, only 182 people liked this picture (.7% of followers) and not a single one commented on it. As Kozinets said, “it is necessary to look beyond measures of communication frequency or valence and consider its content.” (73)
On the other hand, we can look at one of my cousins posts while abroad as a Fulbright ETA. A post on April 30, depict Ms. Carpenter in a traditional flamenco-style, floor length, emerald green dress in a balcony overlooking Seville with the location “Feria de Abril”, which means the Seville Fair. (@christimaria1) Any person that has been following her or that looks at some of her other posts, knows that she was living in Europe because of Fulbright, even though she has no relating caption on the specific picture. Thus, this picture represents one of the many experiences one can have being a participant in the Fulbright program. It shows people that it is not going to be all work and no play, that they are going to engage with cultures in unexpected and beautiful ways, that they will have the ability to travel constantly, and so forth. This post achieved 250 likes out of 1,144 followers (22% of followers), and 23 comments. Ms. Carpenter’s post was clearly more enticing to viewers, making them engage in a way the Fulbright page did not.
To ameliorate their social media marketing, they need to use experiences that the viewer will connect to. In addition, they need to embrace and take advantage of word of mouth marketing, which is currently their best strategy. “Positive word of mouth is so simple, basic, and powerful that it’s hard to imagine any company prospering without it.” (Barber, 37) Some of the posts on Fulbright’s Instagram page are of better quality social media marketing. For example, on November third they posted a picture of a black woman with two Asian women, one of which appears to be a member of Fulbright. They appear to be having a picnic, eating Asian food. The caption reads “The #Fulbright Program builds lasting connections between Americans and emerging leaders from around the world.” (@the_fulbright_program). This post has 457 likes and several comments, more than twice than the previously mentioned one. The picture creates a sense of awe and appreciation. It is amazing to see love in diversity, specially with so much hatred in the world. It shows the viewer that Fulbright opens doors to new places and people, and how they come together despite of cultural differences. THIS is something that many people would like to be a part of, as opposed to some hands on a piano.
Another photo, posted three days later depicts the participants and staff of the Fulbright program holding a banner that says “Fulbright Malaysia”. Everyone seems very happy, some wear Americanized wardrobe, while others clearly style Malaysian attire. The caption reads “Fulbrighters not only contribute to their host community, but bring valuable knowledge and “spark” back to their home communities.” (@the_fulbright_program). This has 502 likes and several comments as well. Viewing this, one can feel a sense of community in the picture. It is easy to notice that everyone in that picture is extremely happy with all of their companions and their experience, as well as proud to call themselves Fulbright scholars. Through this, an outsider can experience the warmth and appreciation felt within the Fulbright community: something they would definitely like to experience first-hand.
Fulbright needs to expend more resources on marketing their program to be sure that they are obtaining the best possible candidates and continue to grow for the better. In order to do this, however, they need to increase the number of recruiters they use and/or implement a completely new strategy. In addition, they need to choose quality over quantity. Fewer posts with good content are better that numerous posts with content that has no logic, which might want to make the spectator unfollow them. Lastly, they need to create experiences the viewer might be interested in having, which will give them motive to apply to the program.