Social media is everywhere. Facebook, Twitter, the Blogoverse, MySpace, and an overwhelming number of other networks pepper the internet. Everything is hash tagged, tweeted, followed and liked. The upcoming generation of students has been inundated with social media since their adolescence. It is a generation of students who are used to being constantly “plugged in”. Social media is all about the quick update. 140 characters to tell your deepest thoughts, updates that can be sent by phone; these examples of instant gratification mean that students have shorter attention spans. If you are trying to grab their attention and get them interested and on board with your university, merely sending them a brochure in the mail or inundating their inbox with form emails is no longer effective.
Being on the forefront of social media marketing can yield impressive results. It can also lead to marketing faux pas that can cause more harm than good to your university.
Don’t Automate Your Posts
It can be an attractive option to automate all of your social media posts. And for some instances it can be an effective way to get information across (announcing the application deadlines for example), however too many automated posts will begin to come across as more SPAM than useful information and with the amount of college SPAM potential students are already receiving, your ploys will fall on deaf ears.
Social media is a great way to connect with your potential students. It allows a way to present a unique voice that lets students relate to your university. This does not mean that you need to have highly personal insights on your pages, but having a university blog that discusses issues that most student face when entering college for the first time is a great way to build a relationship with potential students. Linking your social media to real time events and happenings that you want to promote is another way to effectively use social media.
Keep it Relevant
Jumping on to the latest internet meme bandwagon can be a tempting idea, but you should also be keeping in mind that you are a university with a reputation to uphold. You want to keep a professional persona to your posts. This does not mean that you have to post only those things directly pertaining to your university and keep all personality out of your posts. It means using good judgment and posting those things that are both relevant to your school as well as those things that can help promote your university.
Social media is a great tool to gain exposure and connect with a wide variety of students, but, if used incorrectly it can be a way to shoot yourself in the foot. Use it wisely.
