The Students Become The Teachers: University Course Teaches Non-Profits to Use AdWords

Our Ann Arbor office recently launched a pilot program designed to teach high school and university students how to use AdWords, helping them gain valuable skills in online marketing. As part of this effort, our team paired student groups with new Google Grants participants in the area to build their Google Grants accounts together. The students managed the accounts for several months and built their knowledge of AdWords. As the term came to a close, the students then taught the grant recipients how AdWords works and handed the accounts over to them to manage on their own. Some students were offered internships at the organizations to keep working with them and developing expertise.

The pilot classes were great successes for both the students and the non-profits organizations, and gave us the unique chance to help all of them better understand AdWords. One of the courses, held at Eastern Michigan University (EMU), has shared the results of their work on a website looking at innovative initiatives in Michigan. Overall, the EMU students' accounts accrued over 85,000 clicks at a click-through rate of 2.2%, with the participating organizations seeing increases in sales, event attendance, and so on. You can read all about EMU's experience here and watch short videos with students discussing their experiences in the course.

With such positive results from our initial pilot program, we may expand it to other schools and regions. We'll keep you posted on any future plans.

Posted by Kristie, Google Grants Team