• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, June 7, 2010

How do you boost enrollment at a university in Brazil, a country that's home to more than 2,000 universities?

Offer online enrollment through Facebook, of course.

Anhembi Morumbi is part of the Laureate International Universities Network, offering internationally certified undergraduate and graduate courses.

All courses offered at Anhembi Morumbi are available for registration via Facebook. The university isn't the first Brazilian brand to use Facebook as a sales platform but believes it is the first Brazilian university to offer class enrollment through the social network.

"The concept was to expand the enrollment channel that was already available through the Anhembi Morumbi Web site to include the information-sharing benefits offered by Facebook," said Alexandre Peralta, founder and chief executive officer of StrawberryFrog Brazil, the agency behind the campaign. "Thus, whenever a student enrolls, the news of this action will spread throughout his or her network of Facebook friends, who will all subsequently become aware of this option. This is a totally unique enrollment procedure, different from any other channel offered by any other university."

The campaign, which saves on paperwork and labor, took two months to create and launched one week after garnering approval.

Whenever a Facebook member enrolls in a class, his or her friends will know via newsfeed update. Better than a FarmVille update, right? In addition, the registration tool will be recommended for friends to use.

Anhembi Morumbi offers students who register through Facebook a 25% discount off their enrollment fee. An additional incentive will be added once Anhembi Morumbi reaches a set goal of Facebook "likes."

"Less than three weeks into the campaign, more than 3,200 hits were received on the Anhembi Morumbi Facebook page," said Peralta. "Of these, 43% viewed the different categories of enrollment offered, which indicates that the campaign is attracting a qualified audience intending to find out more about courses offered by Anhembi Morumbi."

Let's see if "liking" a site can drive members to enroll in classes.