Education

How universities are using Social Media for students at Registration/Administration:

Sasha Peterson, president of the enrollment, management, and technology division at Hobsons, says social media will be an iterative process for most universities, as well as for corporations. “There is no harm in getting it out there, because people will find you,” he says.  “Social media shouldn’t be viewed as a peripheral part of your strategy”. “It should be a coordinated element of communications.”

These social media sites are the most visited by high school and college students:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Flickr

In a 2009 study conducted by the Society for New Communications Research, revealed a significant growth in the adoption of social media, with colleges and universities outpacing corporate America’s adoption of social media tools, and 90 percent of admissions departments saying that social media is “somewhat or very important” to the future of their student acquisition strategy.

Opportunities for customer service:

• Enrollment/Registration questions
• Housing questions
• Job openings posted by alumni or surrounding community

Think of your Facebook and other social media as possible service channels:

Ms Curtis of Mount Holyoke’s said, “What I’m finding…is that prospective students and newly admitted students are going to Facebook to ask questions, which in the past they called the financial aid office or registrar for.”

Benefit:

• Cuts down on calls and reaches others that might have had the same question (so one to many and many to many relationship)
• Building a relationship immediately with new students and new students meeting others
• Creating online open hours allows the students feel they can easily connect since they will on their laptops, phones or public computers

Build your team:

Assign representatives from each department to serve as administrators of the school’s social media pages. These people are responsible for checking in daily to see if any service issues pertain to their departments. They will get into the habit of checking Facebook first thing in the morning before they get into the days activities.

Top 40 Universities ranked for their Social Media use:
Check out what NC is trying to do and/or figured out: http://www.hiceschool.com/100-days-at-nc-state/social-media-leadership-at-nc-state-university-why-cant-we-be-no-1/

Other opportunities:

• Online tools that allow professors to post assignments, schedules, questions, and more information while keeping the conversation with students going outside of class
• Facebook, Second Life, and Twitter to interact with students
• And students can use those tools to enhance their online profile for employment purposes

On LinkedIn:

Allow newly graduating seniors to join alumni group so they can start networking with the alumni early on for tips and advice and collaboration.  If specialized could help in positioning the new graduate in their career or transition more easily.

Emergency and Alerts:

(high level of readiness for all potential hazards, including hurricanes, tornadoes, pandemic flu, and terrorism)

• Reaction vs. interaction (proactive)
• Brand/Image control
• Address appropriate audience with appropriate content
• Out reach and education
• Benefits
• RSS feeds to keep parents and family connected
• Campus/community based recovery/medical/clean up plans and student reunification

If this seems too overwhelming or you are not sure what to do first, contact The Social Expert™ and let us walk you through what you need to do first. As always we suggest creating a strategy for your organization. Next, determine best practices and roles that will establish guidelines for moving forward.

We can work with you and your team to implement your strategy so that you can realize results and measure your success.