Using Social Media to Meet

Strategic Goals

Tom Wantuck, SR VP Asset Management

KHEAA & The Student Loan People

Veena Garib, Director of Career Services

Everest University, South Orlando Campus

Social Networks• Facebook• MySpace• YouTube• Flickr• Blogs• LinkedIn• Twitter• And much more…

Is Social Networking a Fad? Video:

http://socialnomics.net/2009/08/11/statistics-show-social-media-is-bigger-than-you-think/

It’s Not a Fad Inside Facebook says: “the number of

Americans over 35, 45, and 55 on Facebook is growing fast. In the last 60 days alone, the number of people over 35 has nearly doubled. Developers and marketers may want to think about how to serve this group of new users.” Inside Facebook, March 2009

“Join the Conversation” Dozens / hundreds of conversations

taking place every day online about your organization.

Who is talking? Who is listening? Are you listening?

What are they saying? What are you saying in response?

Why Join the Conversation? To correct misconceptions To provide less formal interaction with

your organization To strengthen connection to your

organization To build community To empower your community to speak

for you …the media is listening, too.

Is there gold in them hills? • Examples of how to use these tools for

business:– Engage in conversations with customers– Build a buzz about a new product or service – Share examples of other people using your

product– Facilitate a contest – Promote an upcoming event– Link to associations or groups to share

values/purpose (sharing company’s e-newsletters or promotions)

Why do schools use Social Media? To connect with key audiences:

prospective students, students, alumni, faculty, staff, employers

To take and keep control of their message

To take advantage of the tremendous opportunity to communicate on a variety of platforms

To make the institution more accessible

Everest University Career Services Phone calls are not as effective any

more Graduates will respond to a face book

message but will not return a phone call Can send a message or if user is online

you can chat live Users will list personal information on

their profile page (employer, phone number, etc.)

Everest University Career Services Face book used to market Career Services

workshops, on campus recruiting events, employer information sessions, job fairs

University face book page must be approved by corporate

Cannot use personal face book page to communicate with graduates

Stalking? Ability to read posts/conversations between a

student and their friend

Linked In Linked in is like face book for

professionals Your resume, your contacts,

recommendations Search for candidates when hiring Career Services

Use to connect with local employers Search for graduates

You Tube Everyone searches you tube Everest created their own you tube

page Marketing tool

Schools/programs to prospective students Community relations/outreach stories

Everest commercials posted on you tube

But how can we use it? “Ignore Friend Request”? Work with schools and student groups

to provide content that they want and let them repurpose it.

Use to bring students to your web pages.

Possible use in the “margins”? Skip Tracing? Creating Collection contact?

To succeed with any of these tools Be a consumer Know your audience Know your goals Be relevant, honest and timely Understand and watch your stats Listen Remember, content is still king

Thank You