Social Media for Colleges and Universities

there is no silver bullet

©Fluid Studio, 2009

We all have a circle of influence.
People are influenced by those they trust.


Circle of Concern What you
care about.

What you can
do something
about.

Circle of Influence


People do not want to be sold to.
they want to interact anD be heard.

* Enquiro: “Business to Business Survey 2007.”

You cannot control the Conversation,
but you can participate in it.


4 P’S


4 P’S
PRODUCT


4 P’S PRODUCT, PRICE


PLACE


PLACE, PROMOTION


3 R’S


3 R’S
RELEVANT


3 R’S RELEVANT, REAL


RESPONSIVE


RESPONSIVE, RELATIONSHIP


10 Ways Universities Are Engaging
Alumni Using Social Media
(special thanks to Mashable)

1. Helping Alumni Find Jobs: LinkedIn
and Twitter



2. Collaboration and Connecting
With Studentsand Twitter



3. Fundraising: From E-mails to Tweets



4. Training Alumni To Use Social Media



5. Meeting Alumni Where They’re At



6. Providing Tools To Spread
Information (Widget use)
http://www.clearspring.com/widgets/49c013d526cf9aa0/49c3e0b356abf390



7. Alumni-Generated Content



8. Promoting Alumni Networks



9. Mobile Reunions



10. Connecting The Dots: Google Maps


10 Ways Universities Share
Information Using Social Media

1. Gathering and Sharing Information



2. Showcasing Student and
Faculty Work



3. Providing a Platform to Broadcast
Events



4. Emergency Notification



5. Connecting People



6. Producing, Not Just Promoting



7. Creating a Dialogue and
Communicating to Students



8. Facebook Office Hours



9. Coaching for the Spotlight



10. Getting Wired Via Mobile


Youtube Colleges Channel

iTunes U

iTunes U, part of the iTunes Store, is possibly the
world’s greatest collection of free educational
media available to students, teachers, and lifelong
learners. With over 200,000 educational audio and
video files available, iTunes U has quickly become
the engine for the mobile learning movement. It
puts the power of the iTunes Store in the hands of
qualifying universities so they can distribute their
educational media to their students and the world.


How a University Embraced Social Media
and Scored Millions in YouTube Views


Carnegie Mellon University

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Industry: Higher Education

Number of Employees: 4,000


Carnegie Mellon completed a
Web 2.0-focused web site redesign

goal

The campaign’s goal was to increase the
visibility of Carnegie Mellon online and
increase brand awareness among students
and alumni.



Tactics

• Securing 10,000 video views for
each of the three main RoboU vids
• Getting 500 subscribers to the school’s
YouTube channel within a year of the
campaign’s launch
• Garnering 1,000 Facebook fans (followers
of the school on Facebook) within a year
of the campaign’s launch
• Engendering viral forwarding of the
campaign’s videos and having them

picked up by large blog sites


Tactics

The university intended to highlight
its professors, alumni, students, and
curriculum by launching a series of
online videos. It also hoped to connect
on a deeper and viral level with its 70,000+
alumni to help build the university’s
presence and outreach, offline and online.

“We recognized that we needed to engage with our
intended audience on their terms,” said Marilyn
Kail, assistant VP for marketing communications.
“Prospective students are cynical about typical

hard-sell marketing. They trust their peers. They
appreciate entertainment. This is why social media
marketing worked so well.”


Tactics

The school created a YouTube channel
and a Facebook presence as well as
released a series of videos on YouTube,
Yahoo Video, AOL Video, and Carnegie
Mellon’s site, among others.
Carnegie Mellon also released a series
of lectures from professors as part of its
YouTube channel’s playlist.



the results

The Web 2.0 initiatives by CMU continue
to increase awareness about the school
and its offerings.
Within a year of launch, Carnegie Mellon’s
initial goal of 500 YouTube channel
subscribers has been surpassed.
Carnegie Mellon students continue to “blog
forward” the school’s online initiatives, and
word of the videos has spread virally to
more than 290 technology and news blogs,

(including Gizmodo, which averages 50
million+ page views a month).


the results

The initial goal for the three main RoboU vids was
10,000 YouTube video views each. (YouTube views
are counted if a video is played in its entirety.)
All three videos have surpassed that goal.
Carnegie Mellon also released a series of lectures
from professors as part of its YouTube channel’s
playlist, titled “Lectures.” One of those videos,
“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” has had
more than 2.2 million views on Carnegie’s YouTube
channel. The 1 hour, 16 minute lecture was given
by Dr. Randy Pausch. It was tagged and forward-

ed as “The Last Lecture,” which shares the title of
Pausch’s book, released in April 2008.


lessons learned

• In social media, keep your initial goals modest,
because there is no guarantee that an online video,
for example, will go viral. That said, make sure you
understand what social media measurement tools
are available and apply them.
• Enabling collaboration among your organization’s
stakeholders can result in powerful outcomes.
Encourage communication and forwarding of
content to extend the reach of your message.



lessons learned

• Messaging needs to be authentic and engaging;
it cannot be ad- speak or otherwise be contrived.
• Hope for the unexpected. There was no way to
tell that Dr. Pausch’s video would become the
viral success it became. If that does happen, take
full advantage; for example, Carnegie Mellon sub-
sequently adjusted its YouTube channel homepage
by placing the successful video front and center.


SMS (Texting) Services

94% Open Rate

15%-50% Redemption Rate

Connect with your customers and
consumers on a personal level



Recent Campaign EXCLUSIVE NEWS
Examples
TO SUBSCRIBE: Text: Village
To: 29222

MESSAGE: IT’S FREE*
Receiving mobile alerts costs you nothing,
Village aside from your normal text messaging fees.

SEND TO: NO SPAM*
29222 Because of our no-spam policy, you’ll only
receive the messages you’ve subscribed to.

FOR EXAMPLE: To subscribe

1
1 CREATE a new text message

2
2 TYPE “ Village

3
3 SEND the message to “29222
4
4

*This program enforces a strict NO SPAM policy. To cancel at any time text STOP
to 29222 For assistance text HELP to 29222


Recent Campaign
Examples
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