Comments on: Social Media Strategy in Higher Ed

By: CollegeSurfing Insider » Carnival of College Admissions: The Six Degrees Edition

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:56:41 +0000

[...] J. Ward poses the question, “”Do you need a social media strategy?” in his post Social Media Strategy in Higher Ed at [...]

By: Ron Bronson

Ron Bronson — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:07:57 +0000

Still dabbling. Or trying to gain a foothold. Or learning how to decide what works for us, versus what doesn’t. I’ve seen this not just here, but other places I’ve been before here. It’s an ongoing thing. As it ought to be. The levels of proactiveness are varied, but the sentiment is the same.. “we need to do this. Not sure why. We just know we do.”

By: Maxell Vhs Videocassette - 160minute - Analog Videocassette

Maxell Vhs Videocassette - 160minute - Analog Videocassette — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 11:14:50 +0000

[...] Social tMedia t Strategy in Higher Ed SquaredPeg.com Thoughts on t… t(07 December 2008) SquaredPeg.com, the higher ed recruitment blog from Brad J Ward…. [...]

By: Bradjward

Bradjward — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:34:25 +0000

Thanks for your comments, everyone! The more I advise schools each week and see where they are, the more I have changed my position on the necessity of a plan.

What *I* have been able to do as a ‘lone ranger’ of sorts has been effective, but as we progress, and ESPECIALLY at larger institutions with more stakeholders and departments involved, the more I see where my past comments have needed adjustment.

Bringing multiple entities in across a broader spectrum requires more planning and thought and less of a ‘figure most of this out as we go’ method.

And as I’ve said many times before: every school is different, every need is different. Research on your target market is imperative.

Tim – comment of the week. Great analysis.

By: Tom Williams

Tom Williams — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:28:27 +0000

I am constantly advising colleges and universities to put Social Media plans together. When I see an institution enter a Social Media channel and ask about the “logic in the decision” I get the answer “well, it looked like everyone else was doing it” 99% of the time. This is the wrong answer. I am not advocating a 1,000 page plan with tons of detail. I tend to agree with Deb Maue (above). Putting together a high-level FLEXIBLE mini-plan can serve you very well and help you avoid pitfalls like running down the wrong channel and wasting time and money. A mini-plan will help you think through your strategy, which should be constantly evolving, as you progress through Social Media.

By: Deb Maue

Deb Maue — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:55:58 +0000

In my experience, the value of the plan is that it starts with the question, “What are we trying to do?” Even if it goes right from objectives to tactics, at least we started with a goal. The danger with social media is that it’s new (not a lot of experience about what really works) and its labor-intensive, so you could spend a whole lot of time doing a whole lot of things that don’t create results. So we’re in the process of doing a “mini plan”, which at leasts gets people to think about goals (beyond “increase enrollment”), which we can then use to prioritize options

By: TimN

TimN — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:50:18 +0000

An interesting piece, Brad. If Hamlet were alive today, he may well soliliquize on to write or not to write a social media strategy; whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of a thousand people resisting buy-in, or to take arms against a sea of shrinking resources.

We’re in the phase of debating whether to debate writing a social media strategy, i.e. out to sea. That said, I think of an SMS informally as a jazz tune: You know a basic set of priorities and structure, where you can improvise along the way.

By: Jess

Jess — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:36:22 +0000

First of all thanks for checking out my field blindness. And again another great post to get us thinking.

I agree that its a difficult thing – writing, or not writing this ‘plan’. I basically put together main strategies (listening, value, integration, governance, etc.) and how I’ll carry them out but dont feel its neccessary to really put a step by step together until things morph a little more.

Working at a big broad university, there are many SNS and media already started but not pulled together into a plan targeted to anyone in particular, nor are they readily accessible. I’m mostly writing something up that will leverage these existing efforts and give everyone’s work more traffic by putting it into a user friendly context. I’ve repeatedly let people know there is a plan and a strategy but the tactics will morph and change as tools get used in different ways by our audiences.

There is so much being done that it just needs to be cleaned up and served up on a platter!

By: NicoleVAnderson

NicoleVAnderson — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:29:31 +0000

Oh yes, I’ve got the entire Communications & Marketing department on board here to develop that 30,000 ft view of how our brand will shape its identity in social media. I’m calling it an ‘interactive strategy’.

They’ve rallied around it for two reasons:
1. Coordination across the university [our web office is exactly two people to run it all]
2. To focus less on the technology, and really plan for how we want the relationships to work, so that when next technology pieces come up, we can quickly evaluate and jump on board if need be according to our strategy

Lack of a strategy is why we were no less than a full year late to join our peers on iTunes U. No one could see the value.