Fun With Augented Reality

 Cool Video from PepsiMax demonstrates the power of Augmented Reality

Prospective Students and Social Media

Higher Education Enrollment  - Understanding how prospective students use social media.

Interesting article published yesterday (9/24/12) at Inside Higher Ed.  The article references several studies conducted on how students use social media both in general and, more specifically, how they use it to help make their college decision.  One study examined the social media habits of 7,000 students and found that almost 75% check Facebook every day while less than 50% ever use Twitter.  The article make the point that too many institutions focus on having multiple social medial accounts rather than developing ways to engage with students through social media.  Additionally, not all prospective students are interested in the same social media connections.  Some prospective students are interested in connecting with current students while other prospects prefer to connect with an admissions counselor who can answer specific questions about the process.

What about you....
Did you use social media as a method to help you make your college choice?  If so, which social media too(s) did you use and how helpful was it?

Keeping Connected With Students

As Students Scatter Online, Colleges Try to Keep Up
Interesting article about how colleges strive to communicate with students through social media.  On one hand, students don't all use the same channels to get their information.  So - schools are pressed to use multiple methods to get information out.  On the other hand, students don't like to feel bombarded.  The article also discusses how the nature of social media allows students to comment on announcements put out by the school.  Schools can be put in an uncomfortable position if students trash an upcoming event online. 

1. How often do you check your email?
2. What other tools do you use for information?
3. Does it bother you if you get the exact same message through multiple channels?
4. How should MNU use social media for communication?

For my students ...
Yes - companies are using blogs.  Here is an example of a textbook company.  I received an email from the sales rep this morning.  The email included a video clip of the sales rep telling about her new website.

Here is a link to Ellen's website/blog.
What do you think - will faculty visit the site?  Will they get involved in discussions on the site?

The Gallup Management Journal recently posted an article titled: Social Media: The Three Big Myths. 

Gallup's research appears to imply that social media doesn't help with marketing to new prospects.  At least not social media directly at new prospects. 

One of the key points made in the article is that is that "brand-sponsored social media initiatives don't have much influence on a customer's deep rational and emotional attachment, which we call customer engagement."  In fact, Gallup reports that customer engagement drives social engagement.  They define social engagement as "the degree to which customers will work for or against your company or brand within their social networks". Their point is that people who are already "engaged" will write or comment about your company or products.  So - engagement with the product comes before the social media - not after.

So - what drives customer engagement?  According to Gallup's research, you get that by doing what companies should always be doing - taking care of their customers. 

Gallup reports that "Prospective customers are much more likely to try your product or service or advocate on your behalf if they hear good things about you from an engaged customer in their social network."  Because of this, Gallup encourages companies to focus their social media efforts at their current customers rather than their prospects.

Probably my favorite quote from the article was:

 "...bowing to the argument that "everyone is doing it, so we should too" -- many organizations approach social media as a tactic in search of a strategy."

This approach (operating without a strategy) has never worked well in traditional media and it will rarely work with social media.

So – what should a social media strategy look like?  

Power of Social Media

Today's post is designed to demonstrate the power of social media and to introduce you to a very cool website - Ted.  This site is full of amazing video clips (most are 4 - 20 minutes).

Take a few minutes to watch this Ted video about the power of social media.

• Think about it - what makes people get engaged in an issue? 
• What does it take to get buzz?