University Business - May 2009 - (Page 44)

Five Steps to Developing a Powerful Social Networking Strategy 1. Social networks can strengthen a marketing campaign even in a secondary role. So far, they seem to work best as campaign feeders, though they are now taking the lead role in many corporate efforts. Because of its relationship-building power, social networking could become a brave new tool to help achieve a number of significant goals for a higher ed institution, in particular: • Expanding admissions inquiry pools • Tracking prospective students as they move through the recruiting funnel • Improving yield and conversion rates • Bringing alumni back home and integrating them into recruiting and fundraising • Expanding potential donor pools, particularly for annual funds • Broadcasting your brand through “viral word of mouse” • Expanding the reach and constancy of institutional identity A powerful network can have a positive impact on all of these, but it can’t and shouldn’t replace traditional marketing programs. And it should never be undertaken without a clear strategy. Too many IHEs are jumping into tactics and technology before clarifying their objectives. Focusing on technology first is working backward. Successful social networks are built by people, not the latest gadget. They gain power from the interaction among community members. A viable strategy starts by defining key audiences and assessing their social media readiness and levels of participation. Most IHEs consider a similar set of key audiences, including: • Prospective students and their parents • Current students and their parents • Prospective faculty • Current faculty • Current undergraduate and graduate students • Prospective donors • Donors and alumni • Friends, such as business and community leaders While the generic quality of this list helps limit scope, it also limits network potential. For alumni, would you build one network for all, knowing that younger alums (ages 22-35) will probably not relate well to older, more well established alums? Does the category for business leaders include people from granting agencies? You can build a social network for any number of targeted audiences. The more specific you are in defining them, the greater the chance that your network will engage their common interests and needs. Start with Strategy content. Users create profiles they can individualize through text, photographs, blogs, and other site features and applications. what users want Powerful networks have two big things in common. First, they thrive in today’s web environment. Evolutions in software, networking technology, and hardware have transformed the web into a highly fluid place where individual sites are no longer seen as closed destinations but as open platforms that connect users to a wide world of other sites and services. Your network—and all social networks are really just websites—has to do the same. Second, powerful networks function in line with user expectations. For today’s users—particularly millennials—the web has always been the center of their lives. Social media enables what the authors of the Hanover Research Council’s 2008 report have dubbed “a participatory culture.” This is a culture defined by highly active participants who use it to express themselves and attract others. For many, it’s a virtual social club, journal, filing cabinet, photo album, and up-to-the-minute encyclopedia—that is, if we limit our view to well-known networks like Facebook and MySpace. The social web, however, is much more. It’s a space where people decide what news matters and what doesn’t; where issues can be examined in greater depth than in traditional media; where social and political movements are born, such as Voice of the Faithful (VOTF); and where people have communicated in profound ways, such as the Egyptian journalists fighting for free speech who tracked each other’s whereabouts on Twitter after they had been arrested. Content is active All social network content is designed to elicit reaction. Even YouTube has built-in comment features enabling viewers to praise, critique, dissect, or make fun of videos. Content should be shared through tagging or bookmarking or using mini-applications like widgets that connect users to the internet and enable them to pull content off one site and put it on another. This reacting to and sharing drives traffic to and from social networking sites, blogs, and other social media implementations. When users share content, they give it what Larry Weber calls “viral word of mouse,” building awareness by spreading it through the digital domain. At the heart of Web 2.0 services and technologies, from social networks to open-source software development, is content sharing. Sharing institutional Content Thinking about how content will be shared is as important as enabling users to generate content. How much user-generated content will you allow? This is crucial, because this content will drive the site’s growth and attract other users. And how much institutiongenerated content will you share on the site? This content does not have to reveal anything you wish not to reveal. A social network page does not require this kind of disclosure; instead, it needs transparency, a different thing altogether. universitybusiness.com 2. The key to understanding social media is to remember that content matters most with all transactions in this world. Every social networking site’s primary function is to display user-generated content. They exist for no other purpose, and, contrary to popular but mistaken perceptions, are not simply virtual yearbooks. Social networking sites draw users who want to create Create a Powerful Network Built oN uSer-geNerated CoNteNt 44 | May 2009 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - May 2009

University Business - May 2009
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Money Matters
Viewpoint
Human Resources
Setting the Standard
Manageable Risk
Five Steps to a Powerful Social Networking Strategy
Higher Ed in the Recession
Community Colleges
What's New
End Note

University Business - May 2009