Ologie: Social Media & Higher Education

making digitalconnections in higher educationFour proven models For connecting with people

presents

how people use decentralized, people-based networks toget the things they need from each other.

Bottom Line: social media isn’t just a list of destinations. it’s a new standard of expectiations.

social media: defined

trendtools

What is social media anyway?

del.icio.us

People are taking a new “tac”:

it’s part of how our expectations — our very culture — is shifting.

the vast majority of people report the opinion they trust most is one from “someone like me.” For the first time in our history, peers have bested the wisdom of experts.

no matter how unusual, or obscure the topic, we want — we expect — to be able to find information on it. and not just information, but details, perspectives, and context.

it’s all about how we enter that decision-making situation. We are unwilling to go unarmed, to be at the mercy of the expert on the other side of the table.

trust

access

confidence

t

a

c

growing up online has shaped how teens and young adults receive, process, and act on information. they expect communication to be:

today’s 16- to 24-year-olds have even higher demands.

they send one billion text messages each day.

they don’t even remember B.g. (Before google)

there are no office hours when you’re always connected.

Brief

instant

always on

hoW PeoPle are using social media

the ways people use social media today fall into three key categories:

how We use it

CONTENT Works like: Blogs

YouTube

TwitterWikis

GoogleRECOMMENDATIONS

Works like: diggCONNECTIONS

Works like: Facebook

• Publish a blog or website

• Upload video or pictures

• Create music or mashups

• Write articles or commentary

how We use it


YouTube

TwitterWikis

GoogleCONNECTIONS


1 create content

RECOMMENDATIONSWorks like: digg

• Create online profiles

• Interact with friends

• Seek out new connections

how We use it


YouTube

TwitterWikis

GoogleCONNECTIONS


2 make connections

RECOMMENDATIONSWorks like: digg

• Post a rating or review

• Make a comment

• Tag or rank content

• Contribute to articles or wikis

• Vote

how We use it


YouTube

TwitterWikis

GoogleRECOMMENDATIONS

Works like: diggCONNECTIONS


3 make recommendations

how We use it

69%are “spectators” who

read and use the ideas, reviews, and content

they find

+21% of people create content

37% review and comment

19% tagand collect

35% join and participate

in socialnetworking

how We use it

Social media has reached critical mass• 206 million Americans used the social web in 2008

• the most popular Youtube videos have a wider audience than the most-watched Super Bowls

It’s not just for communicating with potential students• 75% of college students use the social web, but so do 60% of the

wired wealthy

• Facebook’s fastest-growing population is 50+, followed closely by the 41–45 age group

• the average twitter user is 31

hoW colleges use social media

todaY

colleges and universities have been early adopters of social media.

For example, americas colleges out-blog the business world:

Fortune 500 companies

inc. 500 companies

colleges and universities

8%

19%

32%

2007

13%

39%

41%

2008

they use a broad range of tools and tactics

85% of college admissions offices report they use at least one form of social media:

61% Social networking48% Video blogging41% Blogging36% Message boards16% Podcasts10% Wikis

What else: Private schools have been much faster to adopt social communications than public schools.

(umass, 2009)

students are “fans” of the effort.

0 600 1,200 1,800 2,400

1,493april 1

1,814may 1

2,042June 1

2,335July 1

(Blue Fuego, 2009)

average number of Fans (per collegiate Facebook page)

students are “fans” of the effort.

0 15,000 30,000 45,000 60,000

55,686

45,820

42,898

39,456

37,812

35,107

31,526

28,287

21,189

20,994

lousiana state university

university of kansas

texas a&m

ohio state university

stanford university

indiana university

university of missouri

michigan state university

university of Florida

West Virginia University

(Blue Fuego, 2009)*active university-owned accounts onlyn= 1,035

largest number of Fans (as of 7/9/2009, 11:15am est*)

But are slow to get involved

0 100 200 300 400

347

150

144

106

104

100

92

87

75

68

lousiana state university

sunY Plattsburgh

kent state university

ucla

sunY oswego

university of new haven

Penn college of technology

savannah college of art & design

university of missouri

university of central Florida

(Blue Fuego, 2009)

Pages With most Fan Posts – June 2009

the Problem:

colleges — and, most businesses — are quick to test tactics, but aren’t taking a larger strategic view

• so most are doomed to underperform

• or worse: cnet estimated that 50% of social media campaigns launched by Fortune 100 companies this year will fail

deFiningYour strategY

Why do colleges and universities invest in social media?

For many of the same reasons they invest in more traditional marketing and advertising:

createawareness

encourageconnection

inspireloyalty

createambassadors

• Recruit best-fit students• Build powerful relationships with alumni• Create stronger reputations

how should you use social media?

there’s really just one essential thing to keep in mind: It should provide value to the customer and to the brand.

looking at it another way, the circles could read:• true to the core of your brand• new or unexpectedeffeCTIVe SoCIal MedIa STRaTegy

ValUe To college

ValUe To audience

ah, the big question.

start with an honest appraisal

What you can

CONTROLWhat you can

INFLUENCE Where you can

PARTICIPATE

LESS RISK

!web!private communities !blogs

! targeted applications ! user-generated content! licensed tools ! social networks

!peer-to-peer

MORE RISK

set a strategy

start with who you want to talk to, not what technology you’ll use.

Your Social Media Strategy

get to know what your audience does on the social web

decide which social technologies to use

define what you want to accomplish

PeoPle

oBJeCTIVeS

tools

foUR PRoVeNmodels

let your audience support and connect with each other.

Pros: • Very authentic way to use the social web• inexpensive to operate and can reduce costs

Cons: • takes a lot of work to seed and build• the crowd can turn on you if you’re

unresponsive

Make sure you: • set expectations: What does success

look like?

1 Build a Community

• connects tens of thousands of employees

• in a forum to talk to and support one another

• Where they can solve problems, share ideas, archive solutions, build a whole new kind of interconnected culture

• and just be people — who make jokes, have complaints, dig new things

Who else is doing it:• TiVo customers solve each other’s technical problems

• Victoria’s Secret Pink fans on facebook vote and chat together

• doylestown hospital connects its mobile workforce of 360 independent physicians via an iPhone application to provide a highly responsive healing environment for thousands of patients

1 Build a Community: Best Buy’s Blue shirt nation

• started with a defined goal: increase the academic quality of the incoming fall class

• created a tiered invitation system: First build relationships with the students we want most; then open it up to the entire class

• dedicated two people to act as hosts and update content

• delivered results: increased the percent of their “highest selectivity” group that made deposits from 30% to 37%

• gave accepted students compelling reasons to spend time on the site. an average visit: nearly 14 minutes.

1 Build a Community: sunY new Paltz

1 Build a Community: executing the strategy

execution must-have: Make it easy

• Be as creative with technology as you are with strategy

• leverage the tools your audience already uses

• don’t ask people to do more than they need to www.realnebraska.unl.edu

Pros: • Builds relationships with influencers • gets real people talking one-to-one

Cons: • scale is limited to personal networks• more difficult to listen to the conversation about

your brand because it is widely dispersed

Make sure you: • encourage fans to be transparent about any

direct contact they have with you, samples they receive, and so on

it’s about inspiring individuals to carry your message into the places they talk, connect, and create.

2 Energize Passionate People

it takes a new way of thinking.

What’s wrong with this picture?


it wasn’t built to be easy to pass on.

• Bold• succinct• action oriented


• Built its social media strategy on a core tenet of the brand: We’re a customer service organization that happens to sell shoes

• hundreds of associates and executives use social media to connect one-on-one with customers

• they answer questions, give advice, solve problems, build relationships

• to create brand ambassadors who cannot stop telling “i ♥ Zappos” stories

Who else is doing it:• Ford Fiesta is offering a six-month test drive

• dell won big with free laptops

• iBm supports its bloggers and alumni

• aurora health and others are “tweeting” cutting-edge surgeries

2 Energize Passionate People: Zappos customer service

• started with a defined goal: Build stronger relationships and reach out to like minds

• attached the campaign to the core of the brand: a unique time, unique people

• 13 talk leaders traveled 8,000 miles to host events in 27 cities

• met more than 1,000 passionate fans

• integrated the “on the road” experience with an online community

• collected stories that will live on beyond the road trip

2 Energize Passionate People: Wittenberg university’s Witt nation

2 Energize Passionate People: executing the strategy

execution must-have: Use a personal voice

• social media rewards casual interactions

• authentic brands are uniquely well-positioned to succeed

• Voice is the single most important element

Pros: • connects you to the best ideas inside your own

company and in your larger community• often very cost effective, leveraging resources

you already have

Cons: • can generate overwhelming content• can take your brand in inauthentic directions

Make sure you: • have a very savvy filter for the input

imagine if you could get the very best development or marketing ideas you’d never thought of from people who actually use your product.

3 Find a Good Idea

• leveraged a idea crowdsourcing engine called innocentive that connects problems to solvers

• took on a sticky problem: how to separate frozen oil from water

• connected with an unlikely “expert”: an illinois chemist from the concrete industry

• got an almost immediate solution to a 20-year-old problem

Who else is doing it:• Bell canada’s employees share ideas and vote the best

ones to the top for executive review

• mini listened to what its customers were saying online to target its marketing

• P&g gets fresh ideas from pet owners who log in to share insights

3 Find a Good Idea: exxon

over the years, many of the most compelling panels and presentations for the sXsW interactive Festival have come directly from the online community. their social strategy harnesses the power of those crowd-sourced ideas both to bring the best content to the conference and to build reputation and attendance.

• Built an application that accepts and categorizes panel ideas from the industry

• in 2009, 100 of the 150 sessions were created and selected by the community

• tens of thousands of attendees and supporters vote

• hundreds of thousands read about the panels on blogs and in other social media

3 Find a Good Idea: sXsW

• inspired by testing various social media tactics

• Found that Facebook groups were more effective than their traditional orientation efforts

• earned 100% participation with right content, right experience

• noticed better teamwork and integration in incoming classes

• refocused staff time and cost savings on curriculum

“We used to worry about learning their names because we didn’t want them to feel isolated. Well, now they know everybody by the time they get here.”

— Barbara Porter, assistant dean for academic and student affairs

3 Find a Good Idea: mayo medical school

it takes a new way of thinking.

What could go wrong with this video? www.youtube.com “Motrin Moms”

3 Find a Good Idea

talking to your audience makes all the difference.

• resonance• authenticity• accuracy

3 Find a Good Idea

3 Find a Good Idea: executing the strategy

execution must-have: Prepare People

• test and roll

• have a response and crisis plan

• Prepare internal stakeholders for what to expect and how you’ll interact

Pros: • creates significant conversation• Builds brand perceptions and attachments

Cons: • hard to do• tends to be a long-term commitment

Make sure you: • test the concept with users of social media

before you go live

the toughest way to use social mediais also one of the best: give people something they need.

4 Meet a Need to Make a Connection

• needed a relevant way to participate in social media

• scanned the various tools and networks people use, looking for a gap

• Found a limitation on Facebook: members can send email-like messages, but can’t add attachments

• Built a branded app that filled the gap — winning 100,000 installs in the first 48 hours, #1 most active page, and lots of repeat users

Who else is doing it:• american express is offering tools for small business

• Brooklyn museum gave new photographers an exhibit curated by a social community

• goodwill of Washington dc is selling hand-me-down fashion

4 Meet a Need to Make a Connection: Fedex

• carlson mBa program needed to make direct connections with more potential students

• overcame the barriers of communicating with non-traditional students

• answered questions in real time and created a searchable archive

• increased the number of applications for the incoming class

4 Meet a Need to Make a Connection: university of minnesota

4 Meet a Need to Make a Connection: executing the strategy

execution must-have: Seed the Destination

• “if you build it they will come” no longer works

• sometimes your best audience is inside your organization

• social tools help propel your growth with transparent choice

case studY

Capital needed to define what it stood for so it could thrive in the future.

The BoTTom Line

it was the ideal time to evolve Capital’s brand for three key reasons:

Since President Denvy Bowman took office in march 2007, his vision and dedication have played an important role in guiding the school from a period of controversy to one of opportunity and alignment.

in recent decades, Capital’s strategic focus started to swing away from classical learning to more professional pursuits. now that pendulum is moving back, emphasizing the liberal arts core while supporting selected professional programs.

Trends in demographics, student preference and even institutional commitment are changing what it takes to be an in-demand university.

The Rebrand

new LeaDerShiP Changing STraTegiC aPProaCh ShifTS in The markeTPLaCe

DiSCoVer Define CreaTe eXTenD

observe

listen

question

organize

align

plan

visualize

verbalize

conceptualize

execute

implement

document

The Process

The Outcome

The offer

The ViSion

The eSSenCe

what we deliver

what we aSPire tO

what we StaNd FOr

the taNgible beNeFit

a relevant liberal arts core and deep professional programs that are taught in a demanding, hands-on environment by internationally renowned leaders who care about just one thing: engaging students.

Transforming lives for the common good.

Critical thinking, critically applied.

focused students ready to begin purposeful careers and lead meaningful lives.

gIVINg The Brand Back

to the students

willyou.capital.edu

Youtube embed

Facebook integration

Facebook Page

Flickr Feed

Flickr tagged search

customized Backgrounds

the seedingstrategY

sidewalk chalk

url on chalkboards

Flyers

desktop Backgrounds

eXtending the strategY toadmissions

extending the strategy

THE CHALLENGE: convince accepted students to com-mit to capital for the coming academic year

• 5 admission counselors

• 5,000 accepted students

• 600 student commitment goal

• 1-month timeframe

Postcards

willyou.capital.edu

Short North Gallery Hop / Columbus Blue Jackets / Easton Town Center

North Market / South Campus Gateway / Huntington Park

Promo West / Drexel Theatre / Hocking Hills / ComFest / Jeni’s Ice Cream

SearCh The CiTY (on YoUr TermS)

STeP inTo oUr STUDenTS’ ShoeS

nameaDDreSSCiTY, STaTe ZiPCoDe

Something interesting is happening all across campus. our students are sharing their career goals and lifelong aspirations (as well as what they’re up to Saturday night). Turns out, they’re a pretty focused bunch.

Take a look at willyou.capital.edu. it’s for our students, but we want you to be a part of it, too.

(we’d love it if you mentioned you’re coming to Capital.)

What will you do?

DeCiSionS. DeCiSionS.

May 1 is the national deadline to submit a deposit and choose the college you’ll attend.

if you haven’t sent a deposit yet, you can submit it online at www.capital.edu/deposits.

admission offi ce1 College and mainColumbus, oh 43209-9987

PreSorTeDfirST CLaSSU.S. PoSTage

PAIDCoLUmBUS ohPermiT no. 944

the social approach

FACEBOOK COMMUNICATIONS PLAN:

• counselor invitation

• share capital Facebook page

• event invitation for “college choice day”

the tools

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

subject: hi, i’m your capital university counselor.

hey ______,

my name is __________, and i’m your admissions counselor at capital university.

any question you have about capital (seriously, anything) i’m here to answer.

i’m sending this email to remind you that the national deadline for enrollment is just around the corner — may 1. don’t forget to submit a deposit. You can submit yours to capital online here: www.capital.edu/deposits

also, the students on our campus just got involved in something i think is pretty cool (even the university administration got involved!)

see it at willyou.capital.edu

if you have any questions for me, the best place to reach me is on Facebook. add me as a friend here: <link>

hope you’re having a great end to high school. let me know what i can do to make your college choice an easy one.

-_________

if you’d rather not get an email from me, i understand. Just reply to this message and type “no thanks” in the subject line. (that way i’ll find it easily.)

results

admissions

capital was able to exceed target enrollment — in a year when most private schools were forced to accept lower numbers.

100%+

traffic

total unique visits to microsite in 3 months. 120,000

engagement

in less than a day, the campaign’s Facebook page gained more fans than any other capital page, and our Facebook presence was second only to capital’s alumni group.

#1 in24 hours

engagement

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

18-Mar 25-Mar 1-Apr 8-Apr 15-Apr 29-Apr22-Apr

Date

Tota

l Fan

s

Participation

of students wrote “Will You” statements on the Facebook page6%

Building brands. With purpose.

Business

Ologie: Social Media & Higher Education