Social Intelligence – Higher Ed

Most Institutional Research Relies on Surveys and Focus Groups

It's not enough to capture only the audience you select and the people who show up. Social intelligence starts somewhere different: the conversation already happening publicly online—among students, parents, alumni, faculty, and media—about your institution. Software alone can identify how often your institution is mentioned or flag whether a post sounds positive or negative, but it can't tell you why or how it’s shifting with current events. That's where our experts come in: They analyze the conversation in context to understand what your audiences actually believe. Then they translate that analysis into focused strategy for your institution.

The Conversation Has Already Shifted. Has Your Strategy?

Word-of-mouth about your institution used to travel through official channels: your admissions materials, your campus visits, and your messaging. Today, it travels through peer conversation and influence. Students, parents, and alumni are shaping perception faster and more publicly than any institution can respond to directly. Institutions that don't have visibility into that conversation are making decisions on outdated assumptions about how they're actually perceived.

Three students looking at their cell phone

Signals You Can Actually Act On

Social intelligence methodology gives institutions a clear, evidence-based read on how they’re really perceived, and where to act on it.

Context that goes deeper

The data without context is just noise. Our analysis builds in cultural competency, so the voices of marginalized communities come through distinctly, not flattened into an average.

Ongoing and cumulative

We analyze data that institutions don't get anywhere else, including owned content and, what your institution says about itself. This is done alongside earned content such as news coverage, forums like Reddit and, social posts. We start with your own voice. Then we widen the lens to your competitors, building a full picture of what your stakeholders believe, unfiltered by your own messaging.

Reliable, not just reactive

This isn't a one-off survey or a single post taken out of context. Our process is consistent and repeatable across every engagement. It's built on more than 10 years of benchmarking data and trend analysis for the higher ed industry so that every finding holds up under scrutiny. What we learn for one question informs the next one. This establishes a baseline that’s measured against historical context.

Industry Expertise

Consultants bring over 35 years of combined social intelligence expertise and 45+ years of campus experience to turn raw conversation into a strategy custom-built for your institution, as well as a partner who helps you act on it.

Meet our Experts