Don’t Fear Using Social Media as a Recruiting Tool
Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend the annual eduWeb Conference held in Chicago. For those of you who are not familiar with this conference, you might take a gander from the two root words, edu (short for education) and web that it might deal with online strategies for the higher education industry. That you are right! As the website states, “The eduWeb Conference is an annual, internationally recognized event for the higher education community, attracting those who are involved in online strategy, marketing and technology.”
Anyways, getting back to the point I am trying to make…eduWeb was an impressive conference which taught me a great deal about the higher education recruitment realm. After sitting in a few of the hour long presentations (which were all great I might add!), there was one topic that was continually brought up: social media. How are colleges and universities recruiting and/or talking to prospective students? Is it a good idea to talk to them that way? What percentage of students said they researched a college via Facebook or twitter? These were only a few of the numerous questions that were asked and answered with statistics. To those wondering the answers to these questions, these professionals highly recommended connecting with students via social media. Now, that doesn’t mean that Admission Counselors need to befriend every student on Facebook that they have been in contact with throughout the recruitment process. They aren’t suggesting that at all! Instead, what is HIGHLY recommended is making sure your college or university has a social media page. Maybe you already have one for your school but does your Admissions Department have one? It’s a very important tool for the Admission staff to utilize because high school seniors will be looking for a place to ask questions that could (and will) persuade them to choose your school.
Let’s say you are already on top of the game and have a Facebook page (and maybe multiple ones for each department). Well how often are you actually going on these pages and posting? According to the guys at IU East – John Dalton, Director of Communications & Marketing and RobZinkan, Executive Director of External Affairs, you should be on there every day devoting a few hours to it. I want to give you a little feedback on IU East before I go into any more detail. IU East is a branch of Indiana University located in Richmond, Indiana. It offered 2 year associate degrees and catered toward the non-traditional student. A few years ago, Ivy Tech decided to build a campus in Richmond offering the same thing. Needless to say, IU East was in trouble. The Palladium-Item, the local newspaper in Richmond, reported stories with quotes saying “The sky is falling” for IU East. Therefore, the university had to do something to change so they started targeting traditional students and offering four year degrees. Their marketing campaign changed dramatically since they were no longer targeting working moms and dads going to school after a long days work. They were targeting the 18 years old right out of high school. What’s the best way to get them to notice you?! The internet, of course! Therefore, IU East set out incorporating social media into their marketing strategy to communicate with these individuals and it worked. Enrollment is at an all-time high and those reports that “the sky is falling” are just the opposite.
One thing that John and Rob said that too often managers of the social media accounts like Facebook or Twitter are only reviewing the new content only once a day to answer questions and update statuses. Often times the person who is responsible for the social media accounts only spend a half hour on there BUT these two gentlemen highly suggested having someone spending at least 3 hours a day. Communication is key. If a prospective student or even someone who is a current student asks a question, you should be able to answer it within a few hours – not 48 hours later. Again, communicating with your audience is only what is going to make your school better. You want to create a positive relationship with your student body so they can spread the word about your school to their friends so they will apply and help increase your enrollment. Look at IU East – they know how to do it right (after all they were awarded eduStyle’s People’s Choice Award for Best Integration of Social/Networking). Time to stop reading this and start talking to your prospective students and answer their questions!
